A Review of Small-Scale Geothermal Power Plants in Japan and Its Opportunities for New Zealand’s Geothermal Business

Abstract

The word ‘Onsen’ can be found in the oldest Japanese historical documents called ‘Kojiki’ written in the early 700s. As of the end of March 2019, there are 27,421 Onsen hot spring wells all over Japan. Historically, Japanese people have used these hot springs for bathing, and this is associated with tourism and in many cases, they are used for medical purposes. These historical Onsen are specifically defined by Japanese law in the Hot Spring Act 1948 and these hot springs are subject to protection. Today, 87% of direct use cases of geothermal energy are for those Onsen while its use has also diversified to a variety of purposes such as greenhouses for horticulture, aquaculture to grow not only prawns but also eels, tilapia, softshell turtles, tiger puffer and sturgeon at different locations. In recent years, hot spring water has also been used to generate electricity and there are 60 such power plants in Japan. All of them are less than 2 MW installed capacity and most of them were built after 2011 when the Japanese government introduced the Feed-In Tariff system.
What does this mean for New Zealand’s geothermal businesses? There may be hints for the direct use of geothermal energy in New Zealand since in the Japanese case use is unique, very diversified and the number of those direct uses is greater. The author is very confident that Japan and New Zealand can fruitfully collaborate in this area in terms of direct investment. Indeed, The author is very positive for this and it is a chance for New Zealand business to expect some return and trade benefits. We can also sell our advanced New Zealand technologies and services in Japan such as subsurface analysis and any other hot-spring-related services.
In this paper, we want to share some hints for New Zealand businesses wishing to work in Japan and identify any possible opportunities for New Zealand businesses to work in Japan.