A total of $867m has been secured by the firms in project finance loans from a syndicate of banks that include Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, UFJ, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.
GE Energy Financial Services will hold a 60% interest in the 231MW plant which will be constructed in Setouchi City, Okayama Prefecture.
Toyo Engineering and Shimizu will begin construction in November on the solar photovoltaic plant, which will feature GE’s 1MW Brilliance Solar Inverter to eliminate the need for an intermediate transformer.
The project, which is expected to start commercial operations in the second quarter of 2019, will comprise a new 110kV, 16km underground transmission line, which will travel through a residential area and cross various major rivers.
Chugoku Electric Power will buy the electricity generated from the plant under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Kuni Umi Asset Management president and chief executive officer Yasuyo Yamazaki said: "In addition to the Setouchi solar project, we developed a mega-solar power plant in Mito-city Ibaraki Prefecture and started the construction of a woodchip biomass fuel power plant in Kawaminami-cho, Miyazaki Prefecture.
"Now we are planning a wind farm in Nakadomari-cho, Aomori Prefecture. With these projects, we are contributing to the Ideal Region Development with renewable energy."
GE Energy Financial Services managing director and Japan business leader Sushil Verma said: "For us, the Kuni Umi project expands our international and renewable energy footprints, which already include investment commitments of $1.8 billion in equity and debt in more than one gigawatt of solar power projects worldwide."
