The National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations (JA ZEN-NOH) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) reached an agreement in July 2012 to jointly promote the solar power business by using the rooftops of facilities owned by farmers around the country and JA group’s shared facilities. The partners subsequently established the joint venture, “JAMC Solar Energy Company (JAMC Solar)”, in October 2012 to oversee the implementation of the system.

 

JAMC Solar will hold a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of developments at  ZEN-NOH Iwate's facility on June 5^th In Hanamaki, Iwate. This is the first project to be implemented by JAMC Solar. The system will be installed on the rooftops of ZEN-NOH Iwate's rice warehouses, with plans to start selling electricity to Tohoku Electric Power Company from this September. With a generation capacity of 799 kW, this is the largest installation among those set up on the rooftops of agricultural facilities, sufficient to supply the equivalent of about 130 households.

 

Since its establishment, JAMC Solar has been promoting these projects all over Japan, and some 80 sites, roughly 30MW of capacity, have been eligible for the feed-in tariff since 2012. This first project marks the start of JAMC Solar’s efforts to develop further projects in this area.

 

In addition to targeting livestock barns and warehouses for developing this installation method, JAMC will expand its potential locations to other unused non-farm lands, thereby raising its potential generation capacity by an additional 90MW during the course of this year. JAMC has also designated the period from April to June as their main promotion period, during which the main focus will be to identify appropriate locations for additional facilities.

 

The JA group agreed at their 26^th National Convention held last October to fully promote the introduction of renewable energy at agricultural facilities. By implementing this decision, JA ZEN-NOH will support the revitalization of local community while reinforcing their agricultural business infrastructure. MC will take advantage of the broad experience and networks it has obtained through involvement in the PV business. The project is yet another example of MC’s efforts towards creating sustainable economic, societal and environmental value, one of the main tenets of its New Strategic Direction, released in May.

 

〔Reference〕

(1) Name       ：	ZEN-NOH Iwate Facility
(2) Date       ：	June 5th, 2013
(3) Place      ：	165, 5 Jiwari Nimaibashi, Hanamaki-City, Iwate
(4) Capacity   ：	799kW（242W×3,300 pieces）
(5) Generated Electricity ：	744MWh/year

 

(1)Establishment   ：	2012.10.22
(2)Description     ：	Installation and O&M of PV systems, and settlement of income sales of generating electricity to electric companies.
(3)Capital        ：	JPY 10 million
(4)Investors      ：	JA ZEN-NOH 45%、MC 45%、JA Mitsui Lease10%

 

①Headquarter        ：        1-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

②Establishment     ：        1972.03.30

③Capital            ：        JPY115.3 billion

④Description        ：        Provide production materials and daily necessities, and process and market agricultural products.

⑤Sales                  ：        JPY6,086.3 billion (As of March 31, 2012, consolidated basis)

⑥Employees         ：        8,310 (As of March 31, in 2012, unconsolidated basis)

⑦Representative      ：        Chairman Yoshimi Nakano　President Hitomi Narikiyo

 

 

①Headquarter       ：        3-1, Marunouchi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

②Establishment     ：        1950.04

③Capital           ：        JPY203.3 billion

④Description        ：        With six Business Groups which develop operations in the diverse fields of Industrial Finance, Logistics & Development; Energy; Metals; Machinery; Chemicals; and Living Essentials, and two additional groups of Business Service Group and Global Environment & Infrastructure Business Development Group, MC serves customers  around the world in virtually every industry

⑤Sales             ：        JPY19,233.4 billion (As of March 31, 2012, consolidated basis)

⑥Employees        ：        5,940 (As of March 31, 2013, unconsolidated basis)

⑦Representative    ：        President & CEO Ken Kobayashi

 

 

①Headquarter       ：        2-10-2 Higashi Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo

②Establishment    ：        2008.04.01

③Capital           ：        JPY32 billion

④Description        ：        Leasing, installment sales, financing, other associated business

⑤Sales             ：        JPY408.6 billion (As of March 31, 2012, consolidated basis)

⑥Employees        ：        874(As of March 31, 2012, unconsolidated basis)

⑦Representative    ：        President & CEO　Yoshinori Yasuda