Mott MacDonald has helped BCPG Company Ltd, a subsidiary company of Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Limited, successfully acquire 198MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity on Japan’s Honshu and Kyushu islands from SunEdison. The acquisition is part of BCPG’s objective to expand its renewable energy business in the Asia-Pacific region.
The portfolio comprises 14 projects, made up of 13MW of plants already in operation, 27MW of plants under construction and 158MW of plants in development. Each plant will generate income through electricity sales to grid utility companies, such as Kyushu Electric, Chugoku Electric, Tohoku Electric and Chubu Electric, over a 20-year period.
As independent engineer, Mott MacDonald supported BCPG during the evaluation process by reviewing electrical and civil designs, operational data, interconnection documents and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry certification. The consultancy also estimated energy yields and carried out suitability assessments for each plant through site visits.
Philip Napier-Moore, Mott MacDonald’s project director, said: “Japan established a favourable feed-in tariff for solar PV power in 2012 to promote the development and utilisation of the country’s renewable energy resources.”
“Together with BCPG’s financial and legal advisors, we jointly developed a yield incentive mechanism to base valuation on accurate estimation of the energy yield for each plant, making sure BCPG didn’t overspend on this portfolio. This mechanism was one of the key reasons this acquisition was ultimately successful,” Philip added.