Nippon Paper Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation announce that they have agreed to establish Nippon Paper Ishinomaki Energy Center Ltd. (tentative name), an electric power generation business company that will construct and operate a thermal electric power generation facility using mixed fuel of coal and biomass in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.
The new company will set up the electric power generation facility on the Hibarino site owned by Nippon Paper Industries' Ishinomaki Mill. The operation and maintenance of the electric power generation facility will be contracted to Nippon Paper Industries, and electricity will be sold to a Power Producer and Supplier. The business is scheduled to commence in March 2018.
Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, was devastated by the tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake, and Ishinomaki Mill, which is central to Nippon Paper Industries' paper business, was also forced by the tsunami to suspend its whole operations. However, its recovery work has been carried out by the end of August 2012, around 18 months after the disaster, the facilities of Ishinomaki Mill were fully restored.
Nippon Paper Industries is working to transform its current business structure into a comprehensive global biomass business. Developing other strategic growth fields in addition to the paper business, the company is committed to expanding its energy business by utilizing locational advantages of its mills and its techniques in operating power generation facilities developed over many years, as well as its advantages in the procurement of fuel and woody biomass both in Japan and overseas. In addition to paper business, Ishinomaki Mill is now engaged in the recycling business. Nippon Paper Industries adds this new business of electric power generation in Ishinomaki Mill, and will assist in the stable supply of electricity, as well as promoting forestry in the Tohoku area and contributing to local community development.