IHI Corp makes first venture into power generation

• 12 years ago (2012-08-25)
• Junior Isles

Asia 892 North America 1021 Renewables 776

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IHI Corp. has announced it has acquired a 50 per cent stake in each of US utility Exelon Corp’s five power plants in California. This move is IHI's first entry into large-scale commercial power generation.

IHI also acquired the Exelon subsidiaries in charge of operation and maintenance for the plants and established a new subsidiary, IHI Power Services Corp, to operate them.

Although undisclosed, the total amount of IHI's investment, including stake acquisitions, is estimated to be a few billion yen (1 billion yen = $12.75 million).

IHI group has previously used its privately-owned industrial power generation facilities to supply Japanese utilities in emergencies, and has participated in some limited heat supply projects but this is the group’s first foray into managing a power generation business of some scale.

Three of the plants are wood chip biomass-fired power plants and a further two are coal-fired power plants. Through IHI Power Services, IHI has expressed its intention to participate in the operation of coal and biomass-fired power plants owned by Exelon and other US utilities. It projects reaching US sales of 4 billion yen ($50.8 million) for fiscal 2015 if all goes well.