Curie Point Depth Analysis for Assessment of Supercritical Carbon Recycle CO2 Geothermal Power Generation

Abstract

Since 2011, the Japanese government has begun a policy to enhance renewable energy. This includes a project of supercritical carbon recycle CO2 geothermal power generation. Okubo et al. (2023) calculated Curie point depths (CPDs) of Japan using the method developed by Bouligand et al. (2009) for a new type of geothermal resources assessment. CPDs performed in the case of 50 km window size ranges 6-9 km deep in volcanic areas and is deeper than 9 km in non-volcanic areas. The result shows an average effect of 50 km window size. The result was compiled with the cutoff depth of earthquakes, low frequency earthquakes and drillhole data. The comparisons indicate that the Curie point depths represent reginal geothermal structures but fail to delineate local anomalies due to the average effect.