TOKYO –
Murata Manufacturing has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) with Cosmo Eco Power that takes effect on January 14, 2026, under which Murata will acquire non-fossil certificates (NFCs) representing the environmental value from two wind farms operated by Cosmo Eco Power. The transaction covers output from the Oita Wind Farm (commercial operation began April 2023) and the Chuki Wind Farm (commercial operation began April 2021) and is expected to cut Murata’s CO2 emissions by roughly 13,700 tonnes per year.
Murata described the agreement as its third virtual PPA and its first procurement of environmental value sourced from wind generation; the company reiterated a corporate goal of reaching 100% renewable energy use by fiscal 2035 through a mix of on-site generation and contracted renewable procurement.
The move fits within Murata’s stated medium- and long-term environmental targets and capital allocation for energy transition investments. Murata’s published sustainability road map sets interim renewable sourcing targets for FY2027 and FY2030 and maintains a FY2035 objective of 100% renewable sourcing as part of its Vision 2030 framework, aligning with Japan’s broader push to raise the non-fossil share of electricity under the revised Act on Rationalizing Energy Use and Shifting to Non-fossil Energy. (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)
Deal mechanics and assets
Under the virtual PPA structure, Murata will not take physical delivery of electricity from the wind farms; instead the company will procure the environmental attributes-the NFCs-associated with generation at those sites, while the electricity itself is dispatched to the grid and sold into the wholesale market. This structure allows Murata to match certificates against its own consumption elsewhere in Japan without relocating manufacturing loads, a key consideration for large industrial power users.
The two generating sites named in Murata’s notice are:
| Power plant | Location | Facility capacity | Commercial operation start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oita Wind Farm | Ridgeline near the boundary of Oita City and Usuki City, Oita Prefecture | 14.0 MW | April 2023 |
| Chuki Wind Farm | Ridgeline of the Shirama Mountain Range across Hirogawa, Hidakagawa and Aridagawa, Wakayama Prefecture | 48.3 MW | April 2021 |
Cosmo Eco Power, the counterparty named by Murata, is a wind-focused developer and operator within the Cosmo Energy Group and operates a nationwide portfolio of onshore and offshore wind assets. The company reports several corporate PPA and virtual PPA transactions in recent years and lists more than 100 turbines across multiple projects as part of its operating base, positioning it as a key aggregator of wind-related environmental attributes for Japanese corporates.
Regulatory drivers and market context
The structure of Murata’s transaction depends on Japan’s system for trading environmental attributes and recent regulatory adjustments to the Feed-in Premium (FIP) and non-fossil certificate frameworks. Japanese authorities have been expanding the scope for virtual PPAs and direct transfers of NFCs, including regulatory changes introduced in 2025 that relaxed earlier operational-start-date constraints on which FIP projects can be used for corporate PPA arrangements. Those modifications have enabled corporate buyers to contract environmental value from a broader set of existing wind projects while keeping compliance with Japan’s energy and climate policy architecture. (Japan Renewables Alert)
Non-fossil certificates in Japan are tradable instruments representing the environmental value of electricity generated without fossil fuels; they can be transferred independently of the physical power and are commonly used by corporations to report reductions in CO2 intensity for their purchased electricity in line with disclosure expectations under Japan’s energy conservation regime. Market participants and policy analysts note that variations exist in certificate types and tracking mechanisms, and that NFCs are one of several domestic instrument types used by Japanese companies to meet renewable sourcing disclosures and satisfy non-fossil-ratio benchmarks set by the central government.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, acting through the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, has in parallel been tightening requirements on large industrial power users to raise the share of non-fossil electricity they procure, using NFC retirement and off-site PPAs as core compliance tools. This has contributed to a more liquid market for certificates tied to wind and other renewables, and has made long-term virtual PPAs a governance and risk-management instrument as much as a decarbonization lever for listed manufacturers.
Corporate strategy and market implications
For Murata, the PPA supplements on-site energy measures and in-house generation initiatives the company cites as part of its decarbonization program. Murata is a globally integrated supplier of electronic components and modules with a large manufacturing footprint and multi‑billion‑dollar annual revenues; securing tradable environmental attributes via PPAs is consistent with capital-light approaches multinational manufacturers use to meet renewable sourcing targets while preserving operational flexibility and managing exposure to power-market volatility.
The agreement also interacts with Murata’s corporate governance obligations: as reporting standards tighten around Scope 2 emissions and non-fossil ratios, long-dated contracts for NFCs provide more visibility over the company’s ability to hit interim milestones embedded in its Vision 2030 framework and in investor-facing climate disclosures.
Cosmo Eco Power’s recent deal activity-announced corporate PPAs with multinational and domestic industrial counterparts-illustrates a broader trend in Japan where corporate demand for renewable environmental attributes is increasing as firms pursue net-zero and RE100-style commitments. That corporate demand has supported multiple commercial structures, from on-site power purchase arrangements to virtual PPAs acquiring NFCs from off-site generation, and is reinforcing policy efforts to expand the role of market-based instruments in Japan’s energy transition.
The agreement is effective January 14, 2026, and Murata expects the NFC transfers from Oita and Chuki to yield an emissions reduction of approximately 13,700 tonnes of CO2 per year for the portion of electricity covered by the certificates. The PPA represents a contractual procurement of environmental attributes rather than the physical offtake of electricity; the transaction’s near-term procedural milestone is the initiation of NFC transfers under the terms agreed with Cosmo Eco Power, consistent with current Japanese NFC transfer mechanisms and registry-based tracking.
Confirmed business status: the virtual PPA was executed and became effective on January 14, 2026. Confirmed regulatory position: NFC transfers and expanded FIP rules enacted in 2025 permit the use of the identified wind farms’ environmental attributes in corporate PPAs, within the framework overseen by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Confirmed next procedural step: initiation of NFC transfers from Cosmo Eco Power to Murata under the terms of the agreement, after which Murata can begin booking associated CO2 reductions against its renewable energy and non-fossil-ratio targets.
