Eco Power plans to triple wind power capacity

Japan's Eco Power Co plans to increase its share capital and work with project financing to triple its current wind power capacity to 300 MW by the end of the 2010 fiscal year, says company boss Toshio Katano. Eco Power's owner, Ebara Corp, already raised ´500 million by selling a 20.6% stake in Eco Power to Kansai Electric Power at the end of March. Ebara Corp is seeking ´500-800 million from shareholders to build 200 MW of wind plant. Eco Power is already forging links with the oil industry and other sources of equity. Together with oil company Cosmo, it is now installing a 1.5 MW turbine at Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture. For a 15 MW project at Hazaki in Ibaraki Prefecture, Eco Power worked with NTT Leasing to arrange the financing for the 12, 1.25 MW turbines based on Dewind technology from Germany. The project went online in March. Eco Power plans to invest ´7 billion in developing three wind farms in the greater Tokyo and Shikoku regions, as well as in central Japan. These projects -- 20 MW in Shikoku, a 100 MW wind farm in the Tokyo region and 2 MW in Chuba -- are slated to come online as soon as the end of next year. All wind projects are to use 1.5 MW turbines, based on technology from German wind turbine maker Fuhrländer. Completion of the projects is dependent on public subsidies from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which are to be decided in October. Eco Power hopes to add ten new wind plant to the 100 MW it operates today to reach its 300 MW target.