Mitsubishi Research Institute, UFJ Morgan Stanley to raise 50 billion yen fund to revive Japanese solar projects

By Staff Writer

Jan 20, 2016 01:19 AM EST

Mitsubishi Research Institute partnered up with UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities to raise 50 billion yen, or $426 million, this spring to revive struggling Japanese megasolar power plants.

Bloomberg News reported that Mitsubishi Research will head the asset management of the fund and choose which power plants. Meanwhile, the security firm will be in charge with soliciting investors. Financial terms, however, weren't officially announced yet.

See News wrote that Morgan Stanley Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group have entered a securities joint venture, which is called Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. The firms aim to fund and buy more than 10 struggling solar power plants that produces 100 MW in a span of three years. The two firms aren't the only ones planning to fund renewable energies, as the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and Japan Wind Development Co are also planning to raise 50 billion yen to help wind power projects.

The Nikkei reported that Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley plans to raise the money by soliciting investment from domestic institutional investor and pension funds. Mitsubishi Research will look for plants that are for sale. It will also look for sites where new facilities can be built. The firms will put up a special-purpose company for every project that it will support.

Mitsubishi Research will collaborate with solar power plant operators and contractors from various regions in the country. These power plants will help optimize the power that the plants must generate. One of the companies Mitsubishi Research will partner with is the Kyuden Mirai Energy.  Mitsubishi Research is presently working with megasolar power plant companies in the Kumamoto and Hyogo prefectures.

Industrial solar power plants that produce a total of 20 million KW went online as of September. These companies operated under the feed-in tariff system imposed by the Japanese government. However, these power plants failed to generate enough power due to poor maintenance and cheap foreign solar cells.

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