Mitsubishi Motors Energy Solution Service At Okazaki Plant in Japan to Reduce Carbon Emissions by 1600 Tons A Year

Mitsubishi Motors announced today its decision to introduce an energy solution service provided by Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Corporation Power at Okazaki Plant in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, one of MMC’s main electric vehicles production plants. The energy solution service aims to reduce carbon emissions through the introduction of renewable energy. Specifically, MC and MCP will install a utility-scale rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system and battery energy storage system (BESS) composed of used batteries from electric vehicles. The PV system and BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) will reduce carbon emissions approximately by 1,600 tons a year and avoid peak demand of power consumption at Okazaki Plant.

The construction of the rooftop PV system began in October 2019 and the scheduled commercial operation will start in May 2020. MC and MCP will install an initial capacity of 3MW (annual power generation: 3GWh) and plan to gradually increase the capacity. Okazaki Plant will then use the power generated from the PV system, thereby contributing to a sustainable approach to the production of MMC’s electric vehicles. The energy solution service thus enables MMC to use carbon-free electricity from the rooftop PV system without initial investment or possession of equipment, only by bearing electricity charges. 

MC and MCP will install a battery energy storage system (BESS) and conduct a verification test in fiscal year 2020. The system is composed of used batteries from MMC’s Outlander PHEVs, with a maximum capacity of 1MWh. Once completed, the installed capacity will be one of the largest among non-FIT (Non-FIT is a renewable power generation business that does not rely on the subsidized FIT (Feed-in Tariff) scheme) rooftop PV system projects in Japan.