IIJ Starts Operation of On-Site Solar Power System at the Matsue Data Center Park

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TOKYO - March 1, 2023 - Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (TSE Prime: 3774), one of Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions providers, today announced the installation of solar power facilities on the administrative building roof and grounds of its Matsue Data Center Park (Matsue, Shimane Prefecture; "Matsue DCP"), where data center services have been provided since April 2011. Solar power generation began in March 2023.

The system capacity of the installed solar panels is expected to be approximately 340 MWh in annual electric power generation, amounting to around 7% of the Matsue DCP server building needs.

IIJ operates the Matsue DCP as facility infrastructure in Western Japan for its own cloud and network services, and as a center for colocation/housing services for the IT equipment of its customers. For data centers, which use large amounts of electricity, achieving carbon neutrality by reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an urgent matter. Toward this end, the latest energy-saving technology has been introduced at the Matsue DCP, including adoption of a modular data center design with direct outdoor air cooling for the first time in Japan on a commercial basis, aimed at optimizing power use efficiency. Then in February 2022, green electricity, electric power essentially derived from renewable energy sources (*1) was introduced, so that today a 100% renewable energy usage rate has been achieved.

Against this background, in October 2022, when the technical criteria of the RE100 initiative promoting the spread of renewable energy (*2) were updated to recognize as renewable energy only the electricity procured from power generation facilities in operation for no more than fifteen years, greater emphasis came to be placed on "additionality," (*3) that is, newly installing renewable energy generation facilities and promoting alternatives to thermal and nuclear power generation.

The onsite solar power facilities introduced at the Matsue DCP, along with those that went into operation at the IIJ Shiroi Data Center Campus (Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture; "Shiroi DCC") in February 2023, are intended to accelerate in-house procurement of effective renewable energy meeting the additionality criteria. IIJ plans to install solar panels also on the second phase building of the Shiroi DCC scheduled to go into operation in July 2023, and on the roof of the Matsue DCP system module building due to start operation in May 2025, aimed at meeting additionality criteria while reducing electric power costs and achieving greater power generation stability.

Installation of these systems was partially funded by an FY2021 program of Japan's Ministry of the Environment for subsidizing measures taken to control carbon dioxide emissions.

• (*1)Electric power that is recognized as effectively 100% renewable energy due to being procured from a supplier source endorsed with an environmental value certificate.
  Press release issued February 4, 2022 : IIJ to Introduce Substantial Renewable Energy at "Matsue Data Center Park"
  https://www.iij.ad.jp/en/news/pressrelease/2022/0204.html
• (*2)RE100 (Renewable Energy 100%): A global initiative encouraging corporations to procure the energy consumed in their business activities from 100% renewable energy.
• (*3)Additionality: The selection of renewable energy sources by businesses in a way that will be effective in encouraging the addition of new renewable energy facilities, thereby contributing to the acceleration of renewable energy generation in society. Since newly building (adding) facilities that generate renewable energy makes available alternatives to thermal and nuclear power generation and has a material impact on reducing CO2 emissions and radioactive waste, additionality is one of the criteria for selecting electricity generated from renewable energy.

Equipment Overview

• Installed locations : Administrative building roof and data center grounds
• Solar panel capacity : 293kWp
• Electric power generation (expected) : 340 MWh (annual)
• Start of operation : March 2023

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Please see the following site for details of the Matsue Data Center Park.

• https://www.iij.ad.jp/en/datacenter/tech/iijdc/matsuedcp.html

With the aim of achieving carbon neutrality, a goal set in the Japanese government's green growth strategy, IIJ will continue procuring electricity from offsite power generation facilities and strengthening other initiatives toward realizing a carbon neutral data center. Future plans, moreover, include building a microgrid for making use of power generation and storage facilities on the premises to realize local energy generation for local consumption with municipalities and businesses in the region, toward achieving greater resilience in the area and helping society solve carbon neutrality and other challenges.

The statements within this release contain forward-looking statements about our future plans that involve risk and uncertainty. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results.

For inquiries, contact

IIJ Corporate Communications

• +81-3-5205-6310
• +81-3-5205-6377
• press@iij.ad.jp

• (*) All company names and service names used in this press release are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.