Japanese trading company Sumitomo has established a joint venture to develop renewable energy projects in Virginia, USA.

Through Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCoA) and its Perennial Power Holdings subsidiary, it has formed a joint venture with local company CEP Solar to deliver clean energy projects across the state.

The investment enables both Perennial and CEP to commercialise its portfolio of solar and battery storage assets, which exceeds 1.5GW, with construction expected to start in late 2025. The company will seek to originate projects to support one of the fastest growing power markets in the USA.

The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) aims to transform Virginia’s electric grid to 100% clean energy by 2050, requiring large-scale deployment of renewable generation resources. In addition to robust policy support, Virginia hosts the largest data centre market in the world, with up to 70% of the world’s internet traffic passing through its data centres each day. As a critical hub of IT infrastructure, this increases the demand for new renewable power to meet net zero emissions targets.

The new company will leverage CEP’s local development expertise and network, combined with strengths in project finance arrangement of SCoA, to undertake simultaneous development of multiple projects across Virginia. Building on SCoA’s early-stage projects in the midwest and north-eastern USA launched in 2023, this partnership with CEP should further enhance SCoA’s ability to respond to the rapidly growing demand for renewable energy in Virginia.

“CEP’s goal is to enable Virginia’s successful transition to a clean economy by developing the highest quality solar and storage projects through long-lasting relationships,” said Tyson Utt, co-founder of CEP. “This partnership with Perennial aligns with our core values and will accelerate our ability to deliver a scale-diversified portfolio, which consists of both solar and battery storage projects, providing long-term economic and environmental benefits for our partnering communities, landowners and customers across the commonwealth.”

Takuya Yoshizawa, president of Perennial, added: “Our partnership with CEP provides Perennial with greater geographic diversity and exposure to highly attractive end markets, and further accelerates our efforts to expand renewable footprints in the USA. We’re excited about the new capabilities and market expertise the team brings to our platform.”

To achieve carbon neutrality in its activities by 2050, Sumitomo (www.sumitomocorp.com) is working to establish businesses that serve as the foundation for a sustainable energy cycle by promoting fuel conversion, expanding renewable energy supply and advancing CO₂ capture, storage and use. In the renewable energy business, Sumitomo aims to supply more than 5GW by 2030.

In the USA, SCoA (www.sumitomocorp.com/en/us/scoa) has achieved investment and operation of seven renewable energy businesses since its first investment in the onshore wind power generation business in 2009. Through US power development and investment company Perennial Power (www.pph-americas.com) established in 2002, SCoA maintains five renewable energy projects, mainly onshore wind power generation with an approximate total generation capacity of 640MW and net owned generation capacity of 313MW. It aims to expand the net ownership generation capacity to 1GW by 2030.

CEP Solar (www.cepsolar.com) is a clean energy company based in Richmond, Virginia, that partners with landowners, communities and customers to originate and manage solar and storage projects across Virginia that deliver long-term economic and environmental benefits.