Fuji Geothermal ORC Power Generation System

Abstract

Geothermal energy is recognized as one of the important renewable energy also in Japan, however the current generating capacity is only about 0.2% of total electricity generation. After the Great East Japan Earthquake followed by the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, Japan’s government accelerated various deregulation and incentives to promote usage of the renewable energy. However there still are some difficulties to expand the geothermal energy development in Japan. Large capacity geothermal resource developments are still ongoing, and recent developments are mainly small capacity such as 100kW class “Onsen” power generation or 2,000-5,000 kW size power plants. Under this situation, Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (FE) had constructed two ORC power plants as the EPC contractor in 2017 and 2018. One is Takigami binary power plant (5050kW) which Idemitsu Oita Geothermal Co., Ltd. started commercial operation at Oita Japan on March 2017. The other is Yamagawa binary power plant (4990kW) which Kyuden Mirai Energy Co., Inc. started commercial operation at Kagoshima on February 2018. Both power plants generate electricity using reinjection brine of the existing geothermal power plant. On the other hand, there are differences such as cooling system, working fluid between these two plants. This paper introduces the overview of two plants with these difference, construction works, etc.