Governor of Fukushima inaugurates Asia’s first E3 (biomass-based) power plant

Six years after the natural disaster and the reactor catastrophe in the Fukushima prefecture today governor Masao Uchibori has launched a biomass-based power plant by pressing the button that starts the operations.

The clean energy power plant produced by UK-based Entrade, located at the small health resort Nishigo, uses biomass which is available in the region – for instance pellets derived from waste wood and saw dust – to provide a hotel and a spa resort with electricity and heat.

After the successful start-up of the pilot plant further E3 power plants shall be set up during the following weeks.

“By using biomass from the region we protect the environment together with Entrade and in addition create jobs,” said Mitsuo Fujita, managing director of the building company Fujita Construction and operator of the hotel and spa resort Abukuma.

He added: “In the future we plan to derive a third of the energy which is required here around the clock from E3 power plants (25 electrical, 55 kW thermal).”

The first power plant, which was installed by Entrade, supplies enough heat to bring the water for the healing treatments to a pleasant temperature and to heat the rooms of the hotel.

This means going easy on the resources, saving costs and besides that strengthening the regional economy.

“Besides delivering clean energy to large industrial estates in Great Britain, we now demonstrate a further application of our innovative power plants here in Japan: in the energy-intensive hotel and tourism industry,” said Julien Uhlig, CEO at Entrade.

“As of today we start to reduce the load on the Japanese power grids together with our partners and still make even more renewable energy available. Our special thanks go to the governor Masao Uchibori, entrepreneur Mitsuo Fujita but also to the government of North-Rhine Westphalia, which has been cultivating a close cooperation with the Fukushima prefecture.”