TY - GEN
T1 - Status of Japanese Supercritical Geothermal project in FY2018
AU - Asanuma, Hiroshi
AU - Mogi, Toru
AU - Tsuchiya, Noriyoshi
AU - Watanabe, Noriaki
AU - Naganawa, Shigemi
AU - Ogawa, Yasuo
AU - Fujimitsu, Yasuhiro
AU - Kajiwara, Tatsuya
AU - Osato, Kazumi
AU - Shimada, Kuniaki
AU - Horimoto, Seiki
AU - Sato, Takashi
AU - Yamada, Shigeto
AU - Watanabe, Kimio
AU - Gotoh, Yoshiharu
N1 - Funding Information:
Using MT surveys and analyses of earthquakes (Ogawa et al., 2014), we discovered a rock body beneath a volcano, with high temperatures (possibly >400℃) and several percent of brine having an origin in ancient sea water. We understood that such rock bodies originate as magma created by subduction of an oceanic plate. We also inferred that this rock body in the BDT should contain supercritical liquid. Such supercritical geothermal resources should contain a huge amount of energy, capable of generating more than several tens of gigawatts of electricity for 30 years for each rock body. Geological investigations from various aspects have also revealed that the emplacement depth of a subduction-related supercritical rock body in Northeast Japan (Tohoku) is less than several kilometers. This is much shallower than supercritical rock bodies occurring in other subduction zones. These supercritical rock bodies are therefore accessible by current drilling technologies. The Japanese government has recognized that the geothermal power generation using supercritical rock bodies as energy sources (“supercritical geothermal power generation”) is one of the eight key technologies in their strategy to drastically reduce CO2 emissions in or after 2050 (NESTI2050, CAO, Japan, 2107). These studies to deepen understanding of nature of supercritical rock bodies and engineering investigations to extract thermal energy are underway as a national project (Supercritical Geothermal Project) funded by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan (Asanuma et al., 2018).
Funding Information:
This study was supported by NEDO " Research and Development for Supercritical Geothermal Power Generation", and METI “International collaborative research on innovative E&E technologies”. The authors also acknowledge all the supports from related people.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Geothermal Resources Council. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Japanese scientists have estimated that nationwide potential of "Supercritical Geothermal Resources", which has an origin in subduction of oceanic plates, reaches hundreds GWs in Japan. Power generation using supercritical geothermal resources (supercritical geothermal power generation) in Japan can significantly contribute to energy security and reduction of emission of CO2. Temperature range of the target supercritical rock body is around 400-500 deg-C and depth is expected to be less than several kilometers. The depth of the supercritical rock body is much shallower than the other area in the world, and it brings advantages in accessibility, economy, and safety. However, there are a lot of scientific unknowns about the nature, especially in rock-mechanical and geo-chemical behavior under supercritical conditions. We also need technological breakthroughs, because temperature and pressure conditions in the supercritical geothermal systems are far beyond the current technological limitations and experiences in the foregoing ultra-high temperature geothermal drillings suggests that presence of acidic geothermal fluid should be expected. Japanese government identified the supercritical geothermal power generation as one of the key technologies in their strategy to drastically reduce emission of CO2 in/after 2050 (NESTI2050). Studies mainly to deepen understanding of nature of the supercritical rock body and engineering investigation have been conducted as NEDO-funded feasibility study until FY2017. In FY2018, NEDO has initiated six 2-3 years national projects related to supercritical geothermal development in addition to on-going METI funded two projects. Outline of the supercritical geothermal projects is described in this paper.
AB - Japanese scientists have estimated that nationwide potential of "Supercritical Geothermal Resources", which has an origin in subduction of oceanic plates, reaches hundreds GWs in Japan. Power generation using supercritical geothermal resources (supercritical geothermal power generation) in Japan can significantly contribute to energy security and reduction of emission of CO2. Temperature range of the target supercritical rock body is around 400-500 deg-C and depth is expected to be less than several kilometers. The depth of the supercritical rock body is much shallower than the other area in the world, and it brings advantages in accessibility, economy, and safety. However, there are a lot of scientific unknowns about the nature, especially in rock-mechanical and geo-chemical behavior under supercritical conditions. We also need technological breakthroughs, because temperature and pressure conditions in the supercritical geothermal systems are far beyond the current technological limitations and experiences in the foregoing ultra-high temperature geothermal drillings suggests that presence of acidic geothermal fluid should be expected. Japanese government identified the supercritical geothermal power generation as one of the key technologies in their strategy to drastically reduce emission of CO2 in/after 2050 (NESTI2050). Studies mainly to deepen understanding of nature of the supercritical rock body and engineering investigation have been conducted as NEDO-funded feasibility study until FY2017. In FY2018, NEDO has initiated six 2-3 years national projects related to supercritical geothermal development in addition to on-going METI funded two projects. Outline of the supercritical geothermal projects is described in this paper.
KW - JBBP
KW - Supercritical geothermal development
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85096139359
T3 - Transactions - Geothermal Resources Council
SP - 427
EP - 433
BT - Geothermal
PB - Geothermal Resources Council
T2 - Geothermal Resources Council 2019 Annual Meeting - Geothermal: Green Energy for the Long Run, GRC 2019
Y2 - 15 September 2019 through 18 September 2019
ER -
