Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 45 2021

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Japan’s geothermal

energy boost

JAPAN IN the decade since the 2011 nuclear disaster at geothermal generation units at 17 sites in Japan.
Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP), With generation from geothermal sources
the world’s third-largest economy has been qui- more reliable than both solar and wind, the
etly expanding its geothermal capacity. industry has focused much of its attention in
Data released by the nation’s Thermal and Japan on Kyushu, the southernmost of the large
Nuclear Power Engineering Society indicate islands making up the 3,000-km archipelago.
that the current scale of geothermal output still Tohoku, too, a huge area of open plains and
only accounts for a fraction of total power out- precipitous mountains west and north of the
put – 0.3% – but on the back of the UN Climate Fukushima NPP, 250 km north of Tokyo, is
Change Conference in Glasgow, UK, domes- another area being prospected for more geother-
tic industry analysts are pushing for increased mal potential.
investment in geothermal in the years ahead. The largest obstacle to date in expanding geo-
Expansion and investment into small-scale thermal across Japan has been the nation’s highly
geothermal infrastructure and know-how have restricted FiT policy covering renewable energy.
already taken place, with the total number of Now, however, with the first large-scale geo-
geothermal power plants now four times higher thermal plant in Japan in its third year of oper-
than when the March 11 earthquake rocked ation in Tohoku – the Wasabizawa Geothermal
Fukushima. Power Plant, but still only producing 46 MW –
At present, all of these plants are limited liberalisation of FiT policy is being seen as the
in output, although in the coming years, the key to expanding overall geothermal capacity.
national government has committed to a plan At present, Japanese FiT regulations date
to double again the total number of such facili- back to 2012, and have seen scant modification
ties, as one of the world’s most seismically active since.
nations continues to tap areas near its 111 poten- Current rules limit power purchase agree-
tially active volcanoes. ments (PPAs) to generators with hard-to-
It is thought that with Tokyo looking to achieve government certification, but with PV
reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions plants much cheaper to install and operate, early
by 46% by 2030, when compared to 2013 num- interest in geothermal installations fell away as
bers, geothermal will now start to attract more solar boomed.
and more investment as a non-solar, non-wind Only recently, with large swathes of north-
alternative. ern Japan in particular already taken up by solar
Estimates show that Japan has in excess of farms, has the geothermal option started to be
23 GW in annual geothermal generation capac- considered once more as requiring limited acre-
ity, thought to be the third-largest geothermal age to set up, but offering potentially high return
potential in the world after the US and Indone- options on infrastructure laid down.
sia, two other nations on the infamous Pacific As such, a trio of new geothermal plants are
Ring of Fire. expected to come into operation by 2030, across
Current figures indicate that output has been Tohoku – each with a 15-MW capacity. When
hovering around the 0.5-GW level in recent years added to existing and other smaller-scale pro-
despite increasing numbers of power plants, due jects, the regional output is expected to surpass
to a recent lack of governmental interest in the 320 MW.
industry and issues with FiTs. And while this is still relative small-fry when
Cabinet support for upgrading and increas- looking at overall figures, other sites are known
ing geothermal output will now be seen as cru- to be in the early stages of planning and develop-
cial to boosting the nation’s 92 current facilities ment as Japan looks underground to maintain
in 70 locations across Japan. energy requirements – and keep promises made
Just a decade ago there were only 20 at COP26.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 10•November•2021