Transition into Sustainable Energy Systems in Japan: A Case Study of Geothermal Development

The Higashi Nippon (Great East Japan) Triple Disaster on March 11th 2011 was initiated from 9.0 magnitude earthquake followed by a series of tsunamis, which caused a series of melting-through and explosions in Fukushima nuclear power plant. This disaster all together made a huge impact on Japanese economy and the society as a whole. It is reported that this disaster costs Japan between 5-7% of its GDP in 2010. Japanese energy sector is also expected to see a paradigm change in the near future. Though Japan may still maintain its nuclear program as one of its energy sources for the time being, but its further development and capacity increase may be halted and reduce gradually in long run. On the other hand, Japan as one of the country with high volcano activities, there is a huge opportunity to introduce geothermal as substitute for nuclear in electricity power generation. Several barriers already identified in this geothermal development: for example tight regulation on nature conservation and strict environmental impact assessment procedure add up geothermal project risks to the developers. Also, resource competition with hot spring business operators often becomes highly sensitive issues upon geothermal development. As a contribution to making a transition to sustainable energy systems, this paper is going to apply stakeholders’ analysis to a case of Japan by applying strategic management as conceptual framework. The result of the analysis will have valuable implications for the future energy development, through identifying the key driving forces for the emergence of effective local energy governance.