Five Japanese companies have formed two joint ventures to construct and operate the world’s most advanced coal-fired power plants in Fukushima, Japan.

Approvals received for the project will be transferred to newly established companies, Nakoso IGCC Power GK and Hirono IGCC Power GK.

The joint ventures have been set up by Mitsubishi Corporation Power, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, along with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings and Joban Joint Power.

The five companies will finance a portion of the project, which is expected to cost more than JPY300bn ($2.8bn).

The remaining part of the project’s cost will be met through a number of domestic financial institutions, including The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Development Bank of Japan, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Fukushima’s The Toho Bank.

A joint statement from the companies said: “In terms of project financing, this is considered to be one of the largest ever of this scale domestically.

“All the contributors have signed on to providing financing within the context of their support for recovery in Tohoku following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011.”

The new companies will each set up and operate a 540MW plant.

While a plant will be located next Joban Joint Power’s Nakoso Power Station in Iwaki City, the other will come up at the site of TEPCO Fuel & Power’s Hirono Thermal Power Station in the Futaba District.

The new facilities will feature next generation clean coal technology based on the Integrated coal gasification combined cycle.

The Nakoso plant will commence operations in September 2020, while the Hirono plant will start operating in September 2021.

The statement said: “With the support and cooperation of the community and the national government and that of the prefectural and local governments in Fukushima, Nakoso IGCC Power GK and Hirono IGCC Power GK will leverage the experience and know-how that their parent companies have developed in the power generation business to procure the relevant materials and execute construction as well as to undertake follow-up surveillance assessments once operations get underway.”