Etrion Corporation today announced that the first site of the Mito solar project in Japan has been connected to the grid and is fully operational. Mito is a 9.3MW utility-scale solar PV power project including five sites in the Ibaraki Prefecture with staggered connection dates expected through August 2015.
The first Mito site connected represents 2.7MW of the 9.3MW total planned capacity. This site includes 5.6 hectares and is expected to produce 3.1 million kWh of clean electricity per year. The 9.3MW Mito project includes a total of 28.3 hectares and, once fully operational, is expected to produce a total of approximately 10.5 million kWh of solar electricity per year.
The Mito project is owned 87% by Etrion and 13% by Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation. The solar project is being built by Hitachi High-Tech using Canadian Solar poly-crystalline PV modules and Hitachi inverters. The project company has entered into a long-term, fixed-price operation and maintenance agreement with Hitachi High-Tech. The Mito project company has also entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement ("PPA") with Tokyo Electric Power Company ("TEPCO") under which the project will receive ¥40 per kWh of electricity produced. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited provided 80% of the financing for the project with an 18-year, non-recourse loan.
Marco A. Northland, Etrion's CEO, commented, "We completed the first site of the 9.3MW Mito solar project on schedule and on budget thanks to the hard work of our superb local team, our partner, Hitachi High-Tech, and the local utility, TEPCO. We are on track to have all five sites of the Mito project connected by the end of August 2015. In parallel, we look forward to advancing our Japanese development pipeline in the months ahead."
