Japan Geothermal Power Plants Zoomed To 92 From Only 20 In 2010

The number of geothermal power plants in Japan has quadrupled since the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, northeastern Japan, according to industry data, Kyodo News reported.

Photo Insert: A pipe of a geothermal plant in Beppu, Japan

Despite the surge shown in the Thermal and Nuclear Power Engineering Society data, geothermal power accounts for only 0.3 percent of the country's total power output because many of the plants are small scale.

With world leaders calling for urgent action to rein in global warming at UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, analysts say it is vital for Japan to accelerate the introduction of renewable energy.

Japan has the third-largest geothermal resources in the world after the United States and Indonesia, with the country possessing an amount equivalent to an estimated generation of 23.47 million kilowatts.

Despite the abundance of geothermal resources in Japan, the development of geothermal power has stagnated but it is now attracting renewed attention as a renewable energy source, with the government aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46 percent from fiscal 2013 levels in fiscal 2030.

As part of the goal, the Cabinet approved a plan in October to double Japan's geothermal power facilities by 2030.

Geothermal does not emit greenhouse gases, but it takes time and money to develop, and the national budget continued to decline until the 2011 disaster involving Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

A geothermal plant generates electricity by extracting the steam heated by high-temperature magma deep underground through winzes to rotate turbines. Geothermal power generation is more stable than wind or solar generation, which are vulnerable to weather changes.

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