Mitsubishi Power Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. has appointed Akihiro Ondo as Managing Director and CEO on April 1, 2023. He succeeds Osamu Ono, who is currently Senior Vice President, Chief Regional Officer, Asia Pacific & India, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
Based in Singapore, Ondo will oversee a team of about 1,200 employees across Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. They will deliver best-in-class energy generation technologies that help countries in the region balance energy security and reliability with sustainable development. He will also further strengthen close relationships with local public and private stakeholders in the region to drive decarbonization of Mitsubishi Power’s operations and value chain, towards attaining MHI’s “Mission Net Zero” goal by 2040.
Prior to assuming this role, Ondo was the Director of the International Sales & Marketing Department at MHI’s Power Systems division based in Japan since 2021, where he was responsible for business development and commercial operations for the Asia Pacific region. Osamu Ono, said, “Ondo has close to three decades of regional sales and management experience, leading business development and commercial operations in America, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has also forged close relationships with key energy stakeholders in ASEAN and Asia Pacific and is best positioned to bring the team forward and realize the region’s energy ambitions. I am confident that his deep experience and network will help lead Mitsubishi Power Asia Pacific toward even greater success in delivering reliable and sustainable decarbonization solutions.”
Akihiro Ondo said, “Balancing energy security and reliability with sustainable action and decarbonization in Asia Pacific’s ever-changing energy landscape is a complex task, and each nation faces their own unique set of challenges. It is a privilege to lead our teams in the region to address the specific needs of our customers with progressive solutions, including high-efficiency gas turbines, hydrogen, ammonia and biomass co-firing, operation and maintenance (O&M) of existing power plants and more. Together, we are committed to bettering the communities we operate in and charting a net zero energy future.”
Ondo began his career at MHI in 1996 and has held several leadership roles in sales and commercial operations for power generation systems. In 2007, he was responsible for the development of new and innovative business areas including IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle), CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization Storage), BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) and geothermal power generation across North America, including Canada. He was then appointed Section Head of the Nagasaki Power Systems International Business Department where he oversaw commercial operation projects in Asia, Middle East and Africa, in 2012. In 2017, he was appointed Section Head of International Sales and Marketing for the ASEAN region, where he was in charge of business development, sales and marketing activities. Ondo graduated from Keio University with a bachelor’s degree in Law.
About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world’s leading industrial groups, spanning energy, smart infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world. For more information, please visit www.mhi.com or follow our insights on spectra.mhi.com
About Mitsubishi Power
Mitsubishi Power is a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI). Across more than 30 countries worldwide, Mitsubishi Power designs, manufactures and maintains equipment and systems that drive decarbonization and ensure delivery of reliable power around the world. Among its solutions are a wide range of gas turbines including hydrogen-fueled gas turbines, solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and air quality control systems (AQCS). Committed to providing exemplary service and working with customers to imagine the future of energy, Mitsubishi Power is also spearheading the development of the digital power plant through its suite of AI-enabled TOMONI solutions.
For more information, please visit https://power.mhi.com.
Press Contact:
Corporate Communication Department Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Email: mediacontact_global@mhi.com
Sophia Wee APAC Communications Mitsubishi Power Asia Pacific Email: sophia.wee.3z@mhi.com
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., as part of its All-Product Recycling Initiative, conducts the “Power of Clothing Project” in cooperation with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Through this program, elementary, middle, and high school students collect children’s clothing that is no longer needed, to be provided to refugee children facing a chronic clothing shortage.
Left: High school students in Tokyo visit a local elementary school to collect children’s clothing; Center: Junior high school students in the Gifu area of Japan packing collected clothing in the gymnasium; Right: Fast Retailing employee presenting the “Power of Clothing” using Google Earth to high school students in Tokyo
Since the project launched in 2013, a total of around 380,000 students from 3,600 elementary, middle, and high schools throughout Japan have participated in this project, learning about the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and refugee issues. In fiscal 2023, the tenth anniversary of the project, Fast Retailing is partnering with Google Japan G.K. in a new initiative to conduct classes using Google Earth and expanding the project to schools in Asia.
For the Power of Clothing Project, Fast Retailing employees conduct classes on SDGs and refugee issues at schools that want to participate in the project, including elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as special needs schools. Students then take the lead, collecting children’s clothing that people no longer need, developing campaigns to call on people to participate, and handling the collection and sorting.
With the current focus on aid to refugees from the Ukraine crisis and the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, by learning about the difficulties facing children their own age and collecting clothing for them, Japanese children come to regard world problems as their own and have an opportunity to learn through experience. Fast Retailing sends the clothing that has been collected directly to refugee children around the world through UNHCR.
Short film Closer Through Our Clothes – How the recycled clothes from Japan went to a young refugee
The need for IT education at schools has also increased in recent years, and in fiscal 2023 Fast Retailing will partner with Google Japan for the first time to use Google Earth during the outreach classes. Students will be able to see with their own eyes the locations and conditions in the refugee camps, making the far-away camps feel more real, and energizing the program activities. Fast Retailing is also expanding the Power of Clothing Project to schools outside Japan, mainly in Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Also, a new initiative is planned to conduct online classes jointly with schools in Japan and Taiwan on May 30 and June 2.
Number of Participating Schools and Project Details
Fast Retailing launched its Fleece Recycling Initiative in 2001, paving the way for the All-Product Recycling Initiative. Through these programs, in partnership with UNHCR and NGOs, Fast Retailing has donated clothing to refugees and others in need around the world. The Power of Clothing Project, launched in 2013 in partnership with UNHCR, aims to address the chronic shortage of clothing for migrant children, who account for around half of all refugees. Through hands-on experience, Fast Retailing provides opportunities for children and students to learn and think about the conditions facing refugee children their own age, as well as such issues and recycling and SDGs. An online class was introduced as an option in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The collected clothing is sorted in Japan according to cultural norms and local clothing needs, and in cooperation with UNHCR is sent directly to refugee camps for distribution. The process is carefully managed to ensure that refugee camps are not burdened with unneeded items, or that the donated clothing does not end up in secondary markets.
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. is a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing Group, the others being GU, Theory, PLST (Plus T), Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand, and Helmut Lang. With global sales of approximately 2.3 trillion yen for the 2022 fiscal year ending August 31, 2022 (US $16.6 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2022 rate of $1 = 138.7 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies. With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about Fast Retailing, please visit www.fastretailing.com.
For media queries, please contact: Fast Retailing Global Corporate PR at fr_corporate_pr@fastretailing.com
Toyo Seat Co., Ltd., Choshu Industry Co., Ltd., The Chugoku Electric Power Co.,Inc., and Mazda Motor Corporation have today concluded an offsite corporate power purchase agreement (PPA)(1) on solar power generation, a renewable source of energy, to help support the transition towards a carbon neutral society.
Parties involved in the offsite corporate PPA agreement
Under the PPA, Choshu Industry will serve as the electric power producer, with Choshu Industry and Mazda installing new solar power generation facilities on unused land in the Chugoku Region, using those facilities to generate electricity, which will then be sold to Chugoku Electric Power. Chugoku Electric Power will then supply this electricity to Toyo Seat and Mazda as a source of renewable energy.
This agreement represents the Chugoku Region’s first offsite corporate PPA involving more than one electric power consumer. From April this year, under the PPA, Chugoku Electric Power will commence, in stages, the supply of approximately 4,900 kW in renewable energy generated by solar panels to plants and other places of business belonging to Toyo Seat and Mazda. These arrangements are expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2,610 tons.
The arrangements described above will benefit from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry subsidies(2) (2022) for the promotion of new solar power generation installations led by electric power consumers.
The four parties to this agreement, as businesses involved in supplying and consuming electric power, remain committed to encouraging the further use of renewable energy in the Chugoku Region, aiming through such activities make to further contributions to the sustainable development of the local economy and the achievement of a carbon neutral society.
Toyo Seat launched its Carbon Neutral Promotion Office in 2021 to accelerate our adoption of carbon neutral policies. As a company, we are taking on the challenge of reducing our carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050 under the slogan “Challenge Zero”. This activity focuses on two major areas: reducing our energy usage and contributing to sustainable power generation.
As a major first step, we are delighted to participate in this offsite corporate PPA, working together with regional partners to increase the supply capacity of sustainable energy resources.
We will continue driving forward with carbon neutral activities to benefit communities around the world and create a brighter future for the next generation.
Ochiai Norihiro, Section Chief, Industrial Systems and Business Section, Sales Department, Energy Devices Division, Choshu Industry Co., Ltd.
As a Japanese manufacturer of solar power generation modules based in Yamaguchi Prefecture, we are pleased, together with Mazda, Toyo Seat, and Chugoku Electric Power, to announce our participation in this agreement, our company’s first-ever participation in an offsite corporate PPA, which serves as a major step towards achieving a carbon neutral economy in the Chugoku Region.
As we aim to reach carbon neutral status by 2050, we are fully engaged in these efforts, leveraging our advantages as a Japan-based manufacturer and working together with other stakeholders in the region, including partner companies and local authorities to provide products and services that our customers can use with confidence.
Maehara Toshihiko, General Manager of Green Solution Office, Energy Sales Division, The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
Chugoku Electric Power announced the “Chugoku Electric Power 2050 Carbon Neutral Challenge” in February 2021, and this PPA forms part of our efforts to address that challenge. In the years ahead, we are aiming to further develop and improve our services as we endeavor to achieve a fossil fuel free society through the provision of renewable energy while also meeting the diverse needs of our customers who hope to make effective use of these renewable energy resources.
Hironaka Taketo, Executive Officer, in charge of Production Engineering, Business Logistics, Carbon Neutrality and Cost Innovation, Mazda Motor Corporation
Mazda began using renewable energy on site in July 2021 with the installation of solar panels on the roof of our plant. To become carbon neutral throughout our supply chain by 2050 and at out plants throughout the world by 2035, it is essential for us to work together with various stakeholders to promote the wider adoption of offsite corporate PPA, and we believe that this project will serve as a valuable first step towards the wider use of renewable energy sources within the Chugoku Region. Since November 2021, we have been one of the initial companies participating in the Chugoku region’s committee for the promotion of carbon neutral electric power generation (Committee chair: Shobuda Kiyotaka, Representative Director and Chairman of the Board, committee organizing office located within Mazda). The committee has been working together with its 75 member organizations to address issues associated with the why do use of renewable energy sources and discuss roadmaps for renewable energy use. Through Mazda’s previous sustainable energy activities and the committee’s discussions of them, we strive to achieve the committee’s vision of “a positive cycle of regional investment and value”, working together with suppliers of electric power in the region to encourage even wider use of renewable energy resources.
(1) An Offsite Corporate PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) is a long-term contract for the purchase of electric power under which a company producing electric power through solar power generation facilities agrees to provide power generated using those facilities to a designated user or users based in a location separate from the solar power generation facilities, supplying that power to them via an electric power transmission network operated by an electric power retailer. (2) In 2022, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry provided subsidies to cover a portion of the expense of installing solar power generation facilities in cases where consumers of electric power coordinated with an electric power producer to establish such facilities. These subsidies are intended to promote such collaborations and encourage wider adoption of independent initiatives to establish renewable energy sources, contributing to a reliable, long-term, supply-demand balance in energy use during the period up until 2030, thereby supporting the achievement of ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), and PT. PLN Nusantara Power, a sub-holding of Indonesia’s state-owned electricity provider PT. PLN (Persero) (PLN), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to commence three technical studies related to co-firing of less carbon intensive fuels at power plants owned and operated by Nusantara Power. The three studies will be conducted jointly by Nusantara Power and MHI with support from Mitsubishi Power, MHI’s power solutions brand. This MoU follows a similar agreement concluded with PLN Group company PT. PLN Indonesia Power in November 2022, and will further aid in the advancement of solutions to accelerate the decarbonization of energy systems in Indonesia.
MOU Signing Announced at AZEC Public-Private Investment Forum
A pair of studies to be conducted at the Muara Karang Power Plant, located on Java approximately 10 kilometers from the capital city of Jakarta, will examine the potential for introducing hydrogen co-firing for an M701F Series turbine currently in operation, and ammonia co-firing in a gas-fired boiler. MHI has supplied many of its principal equipment in the power station, including several gas turbines, boilers, and steam turbines.
A study at the Paiton Coal-Fired Power Plant, also located on Java and owned by Nusantara Power, will evaluate the technical aspects for the feasibility of biomass co-firing.
The signing of this MoU was announced at the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Public-Private Investment Forum held on March 3 in Tokyo by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Several initiatives for decarbonization in markets across Asia, supported by the technology and expertise of Japanese companies, were proposed during this event.
This MoU builds on strong existing cooperation between MHI and PLN in Indonesia. Since 1971, MHI’s power solutions brand Mitsubishi Power has been supporting PLN and its organizations with solutions for power plants across the country, including the Muara Karang, Gresik, Tanjung Priok, Suralaya, and Grati power plants. In March 2022, MHI and PLN, together with Institut Teknologi Bandung, prepared a joint proposal on biomass co-firing adoption at Indonesia’s thermal power plants and presented their findings to the national government.
Through this MoU and other ongoing initiatives, MHI, with support from Mitsubishi Power, will work to help Indonesia achieve its 2060 Net Zero Emission target.
About MHI Group
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world’s leading industrial groups, spanning energy, smart infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world. For more information, please visit www.mhi.com or follow our insights and stories on spectra.mhi.com.
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