The first biofuel plant of the company will be built on its former former Ohgimachi plant at the Keihin refinery complex. The facility will use woody biomass – palm kernel shells as input.
Showa Shell power business division general manager was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the company is intending to invest nearly JPY16bn ($164m) to develop the biomass plant
The construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in May 2014, with operations expected by December 2015. It is estimated to have annual production capacity of 300,000MWh, equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power 83,000 homes.
The fuel producer stated that the project’s coastal location is convenient for ships to deliver fuel which makes the project logistically sound.
The biofuel plant in addition with its LNG-fired Ohgishima Power Plant and solar power plants represents company’s significant diversification of its power generation portfolio in the next few years, the company added.
