OREANDA-NEWS. Toyota Tsusho Corporation announces that it will build and operate the Shore Natural Gas Power Plant (Shore Power Plant a.k.a. CPV Woodbridge Energy Center project) in New Jersey, the United States, with aims to expand its electric power business and ensure a stable power supply to the local market. Toyota Tsusho executed shareholders agreement with Competitive Power Ventures Holdings, LLC (CPV) and ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC (ArcLight) as of September 20th, 2013.

The Shore Power Plant will be a natural gas-fired combined-cycle power generation facility with a capacity of 700 megawatts. Construction begins in September 2013, aiming for a start of commercial operations in January 2016. Once online, the plant is expected to supply power to the northeastern United States via the wholesale electricity market for a long period of more than 30 years.

The total cost of the project will come to approximately US\\$840 million (approximately 84 billion yen) with Toyota Tsusho jointly investing in the project together with CPV-- a company with an extensive track record in power plant development in the United States and ArcLight.

The Shore Power Plant will supply the PJM wholesale electricity market which is largest market in North America (total generating capacity is approximately two thirds of Japan). There are concerns that the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants will lead to a shortage of supply resources in the region and therefore the Shore Power Plant will contribute to stable power supply in the region as a new electricity source.

Toyota Tsusho views North America as a major market for its electric power business and will continue to promote environmentally friendly power generation in the market through the use of natural gas, the adoption of highly energy-efficient systems and the use of renewable energy.