Press ReleasesNippon Paper Group Implements Organizational Change: Energy Business DepartmentPromoting the Energy Business That Leverages the Group's Strengths

Nippon Paper Group, Inc.

On July 1, Nippon Paper Group, Inc. (President: Yoshio Haga) will modify the Energy Business Promotion Office into the Energy Business Department. The new department will be responsible for practical promotion of energy business that effectively leverages the Group's strengths, going beyond the previous job of discussing creation of energy-related businesses.

Many of the Nippon Paper Group's manufacturing sites in Japan are equipped with in-house power generation facilities that use energy sources such as steam and electricity in the process of manufacturing paper, the Group's mainstay product. Utilizing the highest power generation capacity among Japanese businesses apart from electric power companies, the Nippon Paper Group supplies surplus electrical power to utility companies amid concern about electricity shortages following the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The Nippon Paper Group also bears a number of strong points that can be effectively used for developing the energy business in response to social needs, such as the ability to procure wood biomass resources, vast properties in Japan and overseas including company-owned forests, and long-accumulated chemical technology for wood, as well as expertise in operating power generation facilities.

Since establishing the Energy Business Promotion Office last December, the Nippon Paper Group has discussed the energy business using the Group's strengths from a range of perspectives. The office will be expanded into a unit in charge of more specific forms of business promotion. The Fourth Medium-Term Business Plan (FY2012-2014) positions the energy business as a promising area from which early development can be expected within the Group. The Energy Business Department will promote the following activities.

Future development of the energy business

  • Using existing power generation facilities to increase power supply
  • Using wood biomass resources effectively to initiate a new form of power supply
  • Discussing the introduction of solar and wind power generation
  • Promoting research and development of new fuels such as bioenergy