CASE STUDY:

THE KITSUNE POWER PLANT

 

 Geothermal Power from Traditional Japanese Onsen Spa

  • APPLICATION

    GEOTHERMAL

  • LOCATION

    JAPAN

OUR PARTNER

Baseload Power Japan is a Japanese project developer and plant owner that focuses on harnessing geothermal resources in areas where heat temperatures are approximately 100°C. Baseload Power Japan develops, finances, constructs and operates small scale geothermal facilities in Japan.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Located on the “Ring of Fire,” Japan has 10% of the worlds active volcanoes, which provides the country with significant geothermal activity. Geothermal hot spring baths, known in Japan as onsen spas, have been a part of Japanese culture for thousands of years and are a popular getaway for locals and tourists to soak up the warm mineral-rich waters of Japan’s active landscape. More than 27,000 hot spring resources exist in Japan with over 3000 onsen spa resorts.

By utilizing access heat from an onsen spa’s geothermal well, it is possible to produce renewable electricity which can support the resort operations or be sold to the local community’s electrical grid.

The Kitsune power plant is a hot spring binary power plant connected to the Japanese onsen spa, Midori, in the village of Okuhida in the Gifu region of Japan. Using the spa’s geothermal well water heat to produce electricity gives the spa a reliable source of renewable electricity, while maintaining stability in the water supplied to the onsen spa.

OUR SOLUTION

The 50 kWe power plant is compact in size and consists of an intermediate hot water circuit, one Climeon HP150 unit, a cooling circuit with dry cooling tower and a transformer.
Climeon provided the HP150 heat power system including commissioning and site control software.

The site began operation June 2020.

CASE OVERVIEW

  • POWER PLANT NAME: The Kitsune Power Plant

  • LOCATION:  Okuhida, Gifu, Japan

  • STATUS: In operation since June 2020

  • APPLICATION: Binary Geothermal Power

  • CUSTOMER/END USER: Midori Onsen Spa

  • MODEL: Climeon HP 150

  • HOT WATER TEMPERATURE: ~90°C

  • COOLING AGENT: Dry cooling towers

  • GENERATOR VOLTAGE: 400 V

READ MORE

BASELOAD POWER JAPAN’S KITSUNE GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT

Check out this great film by our customer Baseload Capital Japan and learn how they realized an opportunity to produce renewable electricity using Climeon HeatPower and support the traditional onsen spa community.

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WANT TO LEARN MORE?

To find out more about HeatPower technology, discuss an upcoming project or request additional information, get in touch with our team today: