Japanese energy company Jera and the City of Yokohama have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the development of a data center at the site of Jera’s thermal power station in the Port of Yokohama, Japan.

The project would examine ways to supply the data center with low-carbon or decarbonized electricity. If developed, the project would integrate power and telecommunications infrastructure in the waterfront area.

The Yokohama thermal power station is a 3,016MW Combined Heat and Power station located in the waterfront of the Port of Yokohama. It has eight operating units that run off liquefied natural gas. The plant used to have ten units; however, two of its steam turbine units were retired in 2022. Jera is the sole owner of the power station.

The Port of Yokohama is already the focus of a city-led decarbonization plan aimed at creating a “Carbon Neutral Port (CNP).” The collaboration with Jera is intended to align with those efforts while ensuring the port’s role as a logistics hub is maintained.

The CNP aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the waterfront area by the year 2050. In March, the city released its "Port and Harbor Decarbonization Plan," which outlined 121 projects across various sectors aimed at promoting carbon neutrality.

With a population of 3.7 million, Yokohama is one of Japan's largest cities. Its data center market is relatively small, with Data Center Map reporting seven facilities in the city, including operators such as NTT and Digital Edge.

Earlier this year, a consortium of Japanese companies and financial institutions announced plans for an offshore floating data center demonstration project off the coast of Yokohama. The project aims to test the viability of an offshore data center that is fully powered by renewable energy.

Jera is Japan's largest power generation company, with more than 67GW of capacity in operation or under construction. The company has both thermal generation and renewable assets, intending to install 20GW of renewable capacity by 2035.

Last month, the company signed a 15MW virtual Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Google to supply non-fossil fuel certificates to a Google data center in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.