Mitsubishi Corporation

Press Room

October 14, 2011

New Construction of Two Gas-fired Power Plants to Support the Introduction of Renewable Energy

Diamond Generating Corporation (DGC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), has developed two gas-fired power plants in California to support the integration of intermittent renewable energy into the grid. The construction cost for the two plants is estimated at 90 billion Yen, and the total generating capacity is one gigawatt.

1. Mariposa Power Plant (Alameda County, California)
This is a 200 megawatt plant, 100% owned by DGC. The construction cost is approximately $240 million. The plant will start operation in July 2012 and provide electricity to Pacific Gas & Electric.

2. Sentinel Power Plant (Riverside County, California)
This is an 800 megawatt plant co-owned by Competitive Power Ventures(The lead developer), GE Energy Financial Services and DGC. The construction cost is approximately $920 million. The plant will start operation in August 2013 and provide electricity to Southern California Edison.

Renewable energy generation, such as wind or solar, is growing rapidly in the United States. In order to address intermittent wind and solar generation and to support periods of peak electricity demand, quick-starting gas fired plants called "peaker plants" are also starting to play an important role, as they can quickly replace solar and wind when the wind stops blowing or the sun stops shinning. In 2004, DGC acquired a 100% share of two peaker plants in California - the Indigo Power Plant and the Larkspur Power Plant - accumulating operating knowledge. The company is now adding two new plants to its portfolio.

DGC is supporting the introduction of renewable energy by constructing these new peaker plants and also by operating two wind farms: Goshen II Wind Farm, in operation since October 2010; and Rockland Wind Farm, which will start operation in the fourth quarter of 2011. DGC currently owns operating assets with a net generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts and will add a further 640 megawatts to this upon commercial operation of the new Mariposa Power Plant, (200 megawatts) the Sentinel Power Plant (400 megawatts net equity basis) and the Rockland Wind Farm (40 megawatts net equity basis).

MC, under the Midterm Corporate Strategy 2012 which was announced in July 2010, has designated global environment business as a strategic domain and is actively promoting the power generation business, including renewable energy. We are aiming to expand our power generation capacity from the current operational level of 3.7 GW to 6GW (with 1GW from renewable energy and 5GW from thermal power) by 2015.

〔Reference〕
1.Outline of new power plants
Name
Mariposa Power Plant
Sentinel Power plant
Construction cost
US$240 million
US$920 million
Power generation capacity
200 Megawatts
800 Megawatts
DGC’s equity
100%
50%
Partners
CPV、GEFS
Construction site
Alabama county, California
Riverside county, California
Buyer
Pacific Gas & Electric
Southern California Edison
Start of generation
July, 2012
Aug, 2013
 

2.DGC
(1) Head office: 333 South Grand Avenue, Suite 1570, Los Angeles, CA
(2) Date of Establishment: October, 1999
(3) Shareholder: Mitsubishi Corporation 100%
(4) Business: Development and operation of power generation
(5) Representative: Yasuyuki Asakura
 
3.MC
(1)     Head office: 3-1, Marunouchi 2-Chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8086, Japan
(2)     Date of Establishment: July 1, 1954
(3)     Capital: 203,598,076,906 yen (JPY)
(4)     Main business activities: Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has six Business Groups which develop operations in the diverse fields of Industrial Finance, Logistics & Development, Energy, Metals, Machinery, Chemicals, and Living Essentials. In addition to these Business Groups, MC has also established the Business Service Group and Global Environment Business Development Group.
(5)     Sales: 19,2334,000,000 yen (JPY)
(6)     Number of employees: 58,470 (as of March 31, 2011)
(7)     Representative: Ken Kobayashi, President and Chief Executive Officer

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Mitsubishi Corporation
Telephone:+81-3-3210-2511 / Facsimile:+81-3-5252-7705
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