EDPR to begin building its largest Japanese solar plant this year

The Asia-Pacific forms about 6.6% of the firm's total energy portfolio.

The renewables unit of Portugal's largest utility, EDP, will start building its largest solar power plant in land-scarce Japan this year to sell power directly to a company, a senior executive said.

With the majority of its projects in Europe and North America, EDP Renovaveis SA (EDPR), is betting on power deals with companies to expand in the Asia-Pacific as it shifts focus from distributed solar installations to large projects.

"It is a 44 MW (megawatt) project, which, in Japan, essentially is a mega project," Pedro Vasconcelos, Asia-Pacific chief executive of EDPR, said, adding construction would begin in the next one or two months, with operations to start in 2025.

He declined to identify the company, however.

Major investments in renewable power projects in Singapore and Vietnam helped boost the firm's installed capacity in Asia Pacific to 1 gigawatt this month, doubling from February 2022, when EDPR took over solar firm Sunseap.

The Asia-Pacific forms about 6.6 per cent of the firm's total energy portfolio.

Vasconcelos said the company was not facing curtailments exceeding 5 per cent in Vietnam, its key regional market, in which it operates 500MW solar plants.

Solar power forms a quarter of Vietnam's installed capacity after a surge in investment in renewable power in the previous decade, but critics say regulatory uncertainty has crimped its potential.

Separately, Vasconcelos said EDPR and four members of a consortium had received conditional approval from Singapore's Energy Market Authority (EMA) to supply power from Indonesia's Riau Islands.

"The consortium aims to meet Singapore and EMA's target of 1 GW by late 2027, early 2028," he said, referring to annual imports of electricity.