Japan's Mitsui Chemicals Inc, Mitsui & Co and Toshiba Corp plan to construct the country's largest solar power facility with an output of 50,000 kilowatts (KW), the Nikkei business daily reported.
The project is in anticipation of the passage of a bill that will require utilities to purchase electricity from renewable sources at fixed rates, the paper said.
The daily said the proposed plant will be built on 800,000 square meters of land owned by Mitsui Chemicals in Aichi Prefecture and have a 6,000 KW wind farm.
The companies, which plan to sell the power produced at the plant to Chubu Electric Power Co from 2013, have asked Chubu to participate in the project, while Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co and Toagosei Co may also join the project, the Nikkei said.
The government-backed Development Bank of Japan is to provide a low-interest loan to cover about 90 percent of the project's estimated 20 billion yen ($262.3 million) cost, the business daily added.
The renewable energy legislation is currently being discussed and is expected to take effect in July 2012, the paper said.
