Joint Venture To Add Solar To Japan's Farmers

The National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations (JA ZEN-NOH) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC）have reached an agreement to jointly promote the solar power business by using the rooftops of facilities owned by farmers around the country and JA group's shared facilities (such as large livestock barns, sorting stations, logistics facilities, and food and beverage plants). Established within the framework of the Feed In Tariff (FIT) enacted on July 1st, 2012, this initiative seeks to reactivate the agricultural sector and revitalize farming communities as well as to expand renewable energy options in the future.

JA ZEN-NOH and MC will establish a joint venture, tentatively named "JAMC Solar Energy Company", which will set up the mechanism for facility owners to establish solar power businesses. The company plans to invest a total of JPY60 billion installing solar power systems of up to 200 thousand kW on JA group's facilities in all prefectures from Hokkaido to Okinawa by the end of 2014. This is an epoch-making business scheme in that it establishes a nationwide solar power network, and will be one of the largest rooftop solar power businesses in Japan. Farmers or JA group entities that seek to establish their own solar power businesses will receive support from JA ZEN-NOH in the form of optimal solar components and lease products to be developed by financial institutions within the JA group.

Expanding renewable energy options and dispersed power generation sources is of increasing importance from three perspectives: as a measure against global warming; as a policy for energy security; and as a tool for managing natural disasters. Within this context, JA ZEN-NOH has made "aggressively working to protect the global environment" central to its management philosophy. Likewise, MC has established strategic business domains in the environment and infrastructure field, and both partners have since last year been discussing measures for addressing the current energy situation in Japan. Given Japan's land space constraints, they came to the conclusion that making effective use of the roofs of existing facilities would be a very desirable way to enter the solar power business, while at the same time conserving agricultural land. Both MC and JA ZEN-NOH plan to continue developing new initiatives for making the renewable energy business a reality.