Green Power is electric power that is generated by means of renewable energy such as biomass, wind and solar power etc., which do not contribute to increase CO2 in the atmosphere. Among them, power generation by means of woody biomass has been gathering attention from eco-businesses, because it has a great advantage that it can provide steady supply of electricity free from changeable weather conditions. Today, two different business models are working in Japan for expanding the woody biomass power generation.

The first business model is based on “Locally-produce and Locally-consume Policy” for electricity, in other words, to supply electricity by means of locally obtainable biomass resources. Yamagata prefecture has rich woody biomass resources. Especially, Murayama City and its surrounding areas are famous for cherry fruits and cherry trees. In this circumstance, waste woody biomass resources such as thinned wood and cut-down aged trees have been generated as much as 130,000 ton annually. In order to utilize the waste woody biomass for supplying electricity to the district, Yamagata Green Power Co. installed a gasification-type power generation plant that has a capacity of 2,000kW and supplies 15 million kWh per year in 2006.

For making use of the power, Murayama city and Yamagata GP concluded a trade contract in February 2010. The city intends to use this electricity at city offices, community center, gymnasium, seven elementary and middle schools of the city. This green power can fulfill 70 to 80 % of power demand of the city area. Murayama city’s “Locally-produce and Locally-consume” of electricity is the first venture of this sort in Japan, and the city expects that it may be possible to reduce CO2 emission by 1,280 ton per year.

The second model is a scheme based on the Tradable Green Certificate System, where businesses and private persons who want to use green-power bear the cost for power generation, and consign the power generation to professional power businesses. This system makes it possible for green power users to use green power even if the user’s location is distant from the power generation sites. Besides the Green Certificate can verify the business’s contribution to cutting down CO2 emission.

SONY Co. has become the largest contractor of the Tradable Green Certificate in Japan. The amount of domestic TGC of SONY has been increasing every year, scoring 20.4 million kWh (=GWh) in FY2006, 36.4 GWh in FY2007, 55.45 GWh in October 2008, and 70.94 GWh in July 2009. About 49% of the green power used by SONY is supplied from woody biomass power generation plants. Owing to the domestic TGC system, it is now possible to use at SONY’s Tokyo Office, the green power generated at Tsubetsu town, a remote forestry industry town of Abashiri-gun in Hokkaido.

Table TGC Woody Biomass Power Contracted by SONY

Location of Green Power Station	Name of Power Station	Annual Contracted Quantity
Noshiro City, Akita Pref.	Noshiro Biomass Power Station	16 million kWh
Tsubetsu Town, Abashiri-gun, Hokkaido	Tsubetsu Biomass Power Station	18 million kWh
Shirakawa Town, Gifu Pref.	Shirakawa Biomass Power Station	1 million kWh

Fig. Amount of SONY’s TGC Contract

Table Amount of SONY’s TGC Contract (July 2009)

Cf. Nikkan Mokuzai Shimbun, Kahoku Shinpo, website of SONY