August 30 (Renewables Now) - Japan’s Electric Power Development Co (TYO:9513), operating as J-Power, has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vietnam Forestry Corporation (Vinafor) to jointly explore opportunities for biomass business in the Southeast Asian country.

Under the MoU, the companies will study the potential collaboration in areas such as power generation and fuel production, J-Power said in a press release.

While J-Power has experience in the biomass sector, both in and outside Japan, state-owned Vinafor with its 43,000 hectares of forests brings to the partnership its expertise in managing, harvesting and processing plantation wood in Vietnam.

The Japanese company noted that the demand for electric power has been increasing by nearly 10% a year in Vietnam and is expected to continue growing in the next ten years. In order to meet the demand, the local government plans to introduce more renewable energy projects, including the use of biomass fuels from wood, as part of the National Power Development Plan (PDP) VIII.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!