Geothermal Energy Research & Development (GERD) is a Research & Development and consulting company involved in subsurface survey and development, focusing on four areas to solve global environmental problems.
1. Renewable Energy (Geothermal & Hot spring etc.)
Geothermal power is a purely domestic renewable energy source with very low carbon dioxide emissions, known to be one of the causes of global warming. Among the many renewable energy resources, geothermal power is capable of providing a stable supply of baseload power throughout the day and night and throughout the year. It is also an excellent energy source because it can be used for multiple phases of energy utilization in addition to power generation .
On the other hand, since geothermal resources are underground resources, it is necessary to evaluate the amount of resources and the potential for power generation through stepwise investigations such as surface exploration, drilling surveys, and fumarolic test surveys.
We provide consulting services and conduct research and development at various stages of geothermal resource development, from surface exploration in the early stages of development to resource assessment, with the aim of making extensive use of geothermal resources.
2. Underground Resources
We provide consulting services and R&D for various underground resources, such as oil and natural gas, metals, groundwater, and methane hydrate, by utilizing our underground exploration and investigation technologies cultivated through geothermal resource development. In the field of oil and natural gas, we provide services such as directional borehole drilling services and wellbore logging and monitoring services.
Recently, we have been providing simulation technology for resource assessment of methane hydrate, which is attracting attention as a new resource lying on the seafloor in the seas around Japan.
3. Ecology and Living environment
In our modern life, various underground environmental pollutions and disasters have occurred along with the progress of science and technology and national land development. In particular, efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming are accelerating, as evidenced by the “2050 Carbon Neutral Declaration” made by Prime Minister Kan at a special session of the Diet in October 2020. We are providing reservoir pressure and temperature monitoring technology and simulation technology to realize CCS and CCUS.
In addition, in FY2021, we were contracted by the Japan Energy, Metals & Minerals National Corporation to develop “Carbon Recovery CO2 Geothermal Power Generation Technology” (contractor: Geothermal Technology Development Corporation and Taisei Corporation). This project aims to establish a technology for geothermal power generation by injecting CO2 into geothermal reservoirs, which have heat in the ground but lack hot water, and recovering the high-temperature CO2. We are mainly responsible for the overall system design for CO2 geothermal power generation and the development of artificial geothermal reservoir creation technology using CO2 as the fracturing fluid.
4. Earth Sciences and Disaster Prevention
The Japanese Islands are located where the Pacific Plate is subducting beneath the Eurasian Plate, making it a place of great academic interest. It is also a place where people’s lives are threatened by natural disasters such as active earthquakes and volcanoes. We are contributing through our seismic monitoring wells and volcano monitoring technology.
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