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Reuters has a report on interest in developing geothermal power stations in the Fukushima area - Japanese firms considering geothermal plants in Fukushima.

Japanese firms are looking at building several geothermal plants in a volcanic zone in the area worst hit by last years nuclear disaster, a project that could gain momentum after the government eased restrictions on drilling this week.

The head of a group of firms that have studied the potential of a geothermal project in Fukushima said on Friday a consortium of about 10 companies would meet local people by early May to explain their plans to build plants with a total capacity of 270 megawatts, which would be Japans biggest.

The consortium plans to work with local communities, including those who run hotels and inns at hot springs, to develop geothermal energy, Masaho Adachi, the chairman of Japan Geothermal Developers Council said.

The council has already held a meeting with local government officials in the central zone of Fukushima, home to the nuclear plant crippled by an earthquake and tsumani last year, he said.

Along with high costs, protests by local communities fearful of the impact of a geothermal plant on hot springs have prevented such projects from taking off in the past.

"We should spend together a period of more than 10 years before having geothermal plants running," he said in an interview with Reuters on Friday, referring to activities such as collecting data, test drilling and environment assessment. Adachi declined to name the companies forming the consortium.

The Nikkei newspaper earlier said that the Fukushima project by a consortium of companies including Idemitsu Kosan Co and Inpex Corp would cost around 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion), with operations set to start in 2020.

Since the crisis, interest in renewable energy has jumped and a government subsidy scheme, similar to those in many countries in Europe, to force utilities to buy renewable electricity is due to start in July. ...

Studies show Japan, a land of volcanoes, ranks as the worlds third-richest nation in geothermal power. A government study last year showed it has the potential for business to derive 14,000 MW of energy, but it currently has only 540 MW worth of commercial plants due to restrictions on development in national parks, where most resources lie.

BusinessWeek has a report on Kenyas plans for exploiting geothermal power - Kenya Aims to Make Geothermal Energy Main Power Source By 2014.

Kenya, Africa’s largest producer of geothermal power, is aiming for the energy supply to surpass hydro as the top contributor to the country’s electricity grid by 2014, said Silas Simiyu, chief executive officer of the state-owned Geothermal Development Co.

A 10-year, $2.6 billion exploration plan will involve sinking 566 wells in the Great Rift Valley, where shifting tectonic plates provide a key source of the energy, the company said in a statement yesterday. GDC is expected to begin drilling in Menengai in central Kenya this week, with an initial aim to find sufficient reserves to feed a 400-megawatt facility by 2014, Simiyu told reporters yesterday.

Over the next decade, the company aims to discover 2,336 megawatts of steam produced by hot underground rocks that boil water. The vapors are used to power turbines. Geothermal energy currently accounts for 12 percent of Kenya’s 1,405 megawatts of generation, including an installed capacity of 212 megawatts at a plant at Olkaria, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) outside of Nairobi, the capital.

“We should not see a situation of power shortages like we had before,” Simiyu said.

Drought in Kenya two years ago depleted water levels at hydropower dams, which supplies 55 percent of the country’s electricity. The resulting power rationing between August and October 2009 hindered growth in East Africa’s largest economy.

Kenya estimates the extent of its unexploited resources ranges between 7,000 megawatts and 10,000 megawatts at 14 “high- potential” locations valued at $30 billion, according to the statement.

The ABCs "7:30 Report" program has an update on the state of the Australian geothermal power industry - Geothermal industry pushes for more power.

MIKE SEXTON, REPORTER: Every year thousands of punters head to Birdsville in Outback Queensland for the annual races. Perhaps few would be aware though their tinnies are being kept on ice in part thanks to electricity generated from scolding hot water coming from deep beneath the desert floor.

CHRIS SMITH, ERGON ENERGY: The water comes up from the Artesian Basin at 98 degrees Celsius. The water then passes through a gas field heat exchanger which heats the gas and pressurises it and then it goes through a turbine and produces electricity.

MIKE SEXTON: The engineerings relatively simple and the outcome is emission-free power 24 hours per day that doesnt rely on the wind blowing or the sun shining.

CHRIS SMITH: The plant at Birdsville was custom-made when it was done, so its done quite some time ago. But technologys changed now and theres - this sort of plant is readily available and is being used throughout the world.

MIKE SEXTON: This is just one form of whats known as geothermal energy where the heat stored in subterranean rock formations is harnessed to generate electricity. Although the Birdsville plant is tiny, the geothermal potential in Australia is huge.

SUSAN JEANES, AUST. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ASSN: The resource is vast. If we mined just one per cent of the national - the nations geothermal heat, in the top five kilometres of the crust we could make 26,000 times Australias annual energy supply. So theres no limitation on the resource.

MIKE SEXTON: Given the need for clean baseload power and the size of the resource, its no surprise that more than 50 geothermal licences have been issued in Australia. One of the more advanced is Petratherm, which has drilled shafts into hot rocks at Paralana in outback South Australia. The next step is to pump water down which converts to steam which is then used to drive turbines.

TERRY KALLIS, CEO, PETRATHERM: We estimate at Paralana alone we could produce 13,000 megawatts of power. Now thats about four times the power requirement of South Australia.

MIKE SEXTON: Excitement about the potential initially attracted investors prepared to take a risk on a new industry. But drilling wells hundreds of metres into granite in remote locations is a difficult and expensive business, and after years of promise, the industry has delivered only modest results. That, coupled with the GFC, has seen investors turning their backs on geothermal companies.