Although geothermal is quiet in Oz - its still on the move...

Although geothermal is quiet in Oz - its still on the move around the world... inevitably its day will come. Maybe just not yet!

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Japan’s first new geothermal power plant in 15 years to open next month
By Danielle Demetriou, in Tokyo 9:15PM GMT 16 Mar 2014

Japan’s first new geothermal power plant in 15 years will open next month, heralding the start of a new chapter for the nation’s nuclear-hit energy industry.
The new geothermal plant is located in a region famed for its natural hot springs and volcanic activity in Kumamoto prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu.
The project has been masterminded by the Chuo Electric Power Co, which has set up a dedicated company devoted to geothermal activities and plans to open five further plants over the next five years.

The plant - the first to open in Japan since 1999 – will mark the start of a flurry of geothermal projects launching across the country, with a string of other companies following suit from northernmost Hokkaido to southern Kyushu.
These include Toshiba and Orix, who set up a joint geothermal power generation company last November with the goal of opening their first project in a hot spring area in Gifu prefecture next year.

The government is also monitoring the potential geothermal power boom, with recent media reports that more than 60 spots around the country are currently being tapped by businesses and officials as possible sites for plants.
“It is much better for nations to have their own energy resources in terms of national security, and geothermal is a domestic and abundant energy source in Japan,” Masaho Adachi, geothermal energy expert and former chairman of Japan Geothermal Developers Council told the Telegraph.

“Even though its contribution to Japan’s electric demands may be very small, it is valuable if it helps the understanding and familiarity of large size geothermal plants which are currently undergoing exploration and development.”
Japan is famously one of world’s most seismically active nations, with its geothermal resources estimated to be able to generate as much as 23 million kilowatts of energy, the third largest amount in the world after the United States and Indonesia.

A string of Japanese companies including Fuji Electric, Mitsubishi and Toshiba have also emerged as leading pioneers of sophisticated technology relating to the construction geothermal power plants in recent years.
However, with as little as two per cent of Japan’s potential geothermal power generation is currently being used, the nation’s power plant technology has most frequently being used to build projects overseas.

The reason for this has long been attributed to strong resistance from local communities who are protective of their hot spring industries and associated tourism, with many potential sites for plants located in government protected areas.

However, three years after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the mood has shifted and opposition lessened, resulting in a growing number of companies seeking to diversify into alternative energy sources such as geothermal power.
Many of the projects in the pipeline – including the new Kumamoto plant – are circumventing local opposition to geothermal plants by limiting the size of operations and working closely with the community.

The Kumamoto plant is being developed alongside the local company Waita-kai, in the small hot spring resort Oguni, with a planned maximum output of 2,000 kilowatts to cater for 1,500 households.

The launch of such small-scale geothermal power plants is key to its expansion plans, creating a new energy source while revitalising local communities at the same time, according to Chuo Electric power Co.

Writing on the company’s website, Hiroto Kobayashi, an associate professor at Keio University, said: “Such a small-scale geothermal power generation approach is an epoch-making, future-oriented project, which not only is able to exploit the potential of numerous hot spring towns in Japan and allow the supply of energy in the next generation with the lowest environmental impact possible, but also takes the revitalisation of decaying local communities into consideration.”