The companies have signed a collaboration agreement in December 2013 to explore ways to reduce global warming while effectively using domestic sources of energy.
The evaluating committee of Minamiaso village has approved the companies proposal, which was submitted on 14 January 2015.
The proposal was in line with the village’s rule for the effective use of geothermal resources.
Mitsubishi and Kyushu Electric plan to undertake surface investigation including gravitational and electromagnetic methods to know the subsurface structure, the actual conditions of surrounding hot springs, and how they have changed over time.
The companies will further go ahead towards developing geothermal resources, including the excavation of exploration wells, if the study reveals that the subsurface structure features appropriate geothermal resources.
Mitsubishi and Kyushu Electric did not mention the power generation capacity of the facility but the Nikkei newspaper reported that it would have around 15MW of capacity.
