The search for stable, renewably resourced energy has many working to harness the sun and wind, but beneath the ground is a treasure trove of potential, from elements for battery storage to the subterranean heat within the earth’s constant friction.
A joint venture is working to unlock the latter, geothermal energy, for a new project in northern Japan. California-based TerraScale Inc. and Japan firm Global Family are teaming up to launch the Green Snow development.
Climate Transition Development Corp., the partnership between TerraScale and Global Family, will focus on the energy capacity which lies beneath 113 acres of northern Japanese land recently acquired by TerraScale and partners.
The Green Snow joint venture will build, own and operate a planned series of geothermal generation plants within the earth’s subsurface. The plants should tap heat generated below and bring it to the surface for carbon-free energy capacity.
The announcement by Climate Transition Development Corp. followed two years of planning. It also stems from a pact signed by U.S. and Japanese leaders to collaborate on research and development of geothermal resources as a renewable energy option.
The Green Snow work will begin with a pilot project led by TerraScale, Global Family and CTDC in the pre-development phase.
Oil and gas firms, as well as energy transition startups, also are exploring a return to geothermal projects at a pace not seen since work in the 1970s and 1980s by Unocal and others. Chevron is one of the legacy fossil-fuel developers now considering drilling work to find energy that gets hotter as the dig deepens.
The projects are expensive, though, and not guaranteed to produce an economic return for the heat every time.
