The meeco Group has made a significant step forward in its penetration of the Japanese solar market by agreeing on Terms for a new joint venture (JV) with BIJ Corporation, a solar energy system provider based in Yokohama, and finergia advisory and finance, an Italian broker and financial advisor for renewable energy projects based in Laives.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed on February 22 covers the venture's aim, which is to cooperate in the installation of solar photovoltaic capacity both in Japan and neighboring markets such as the Fiji Islands. The meeco Group will bring along its know-how to the joint venture to deliver quality PV Solar projects in Japan thanks to its previous experiences in the domain.

Further to Fukushima's nuclear incident, Industry Minister Yukio Edano approved Japan's feed-in tariffs for renewable energy in June 2012, granting 0.40 euro per kWh for photovoltaic systems above 10 kW and for a period of 20 years. With tariffs situated among the highest in the world, the government wants to actively increase the share of green energy in national energy production.

"As a global player in the solar energy market, it was important for The meeco Group to take part in this significant evolution in Japan by assigning resources and skills to market cooperation involving qualified local companies" says Dieter Trutschler, Sales Director of The meeco Group.

"The opportunity to be present in the market came through finergia's CEO, Mr. Andrea Gatti, a long-term partner of meeco who has previously been involved in solar energy projects in Italy" explains Dieter Trutschler.

The aim of the JV is to initially deploy 30 MW of grid-tied photovoltaic installations as well as provide off-grid solutions made available to the JV by The meeco Group such as sun2live (solar and energy storage), sun2go (portable solar), sun2flow (solar water pumping) and sun2com (telecommunication solutions).

The BIJ Corporation's pivotal and crucial role in the venture will be to provide and manage all the local resources in Japan, identify suitable land and roof surface for the installation of photovoltaic plants as well as to supervise / manage the implementation while The meeco Group and finergia will be in charge of providing adequate solutions and experienced professionals for each project as well financial advisory services under project finance schemes.

About The meeco Group: The meeco Group was consolidated in 2000 and oriented its main focus towards the energy sector. With world headquarters located in Zug, Switzerland, the group currently has over 50 employees working across 4 continents.

Thanks to a structured but flexible approach based on its core competencies, meeco has delivered over 250 MW of clean, renewable energy solutions across four continents. The meeco Group accomplishes its mission by providing project developers, investors, governments, and private businesses with the services necessary for timely financing, installation, and operation of clean energy assets.