New Zealand's Tauhara Geothermal Power Station - One of the World's Largest Geothermal Power Stations - Comes Online- Sumitomo Corporation has now contributed to 17% of the total global installed capacity of geothermal power stations -

Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Shingo Ueno) announced the contractual hand-over of the Tauhara Geothermal Power Station (hereinafter, "the Power Station") in June 2024. In early August, major final adjustment work was completed, and the Power Station commenced stable operation. Sumitomo Corporation was awarded the contract to construct the Power Station by Contact Energy Limited (Head Office: Wellington, New Zealand; Chief Executive Officer: Mike Fuge; hereinafter, "Contact Energy"), a major private power producer in New Zealand. The Power Station boasts the world's largest single-shaft geothermal steam turbine generator with a capacity of 184 MW.

The New Zealand government has set a goal of achieving 100% renewable energy utilization by 2030. With the world's fifth-largest geothermal power generation capacity, New Zealand has placed a particular focus on geothermal power generation as this type of power provides a stable source of electricity not overly affected by time of day, weather or season.

The Power Station has a generating capacity of 184 MW, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 200,000 households. This represents approximately 3.5% (*1) of New Zealand's total electricity generation.

Construction of the Power Station, which Sumitomo Corporation began in February 202f1, was completed 41 days earlier than the contract deadline, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was handed over to Contact Energy on June 24, 2024. Since becoming the first Japanese company to be contracted for the engineering, procurement, and construction of a geothermal power plant in New Zealand – the Kawerau Geothermal Power Plant completed in 2008 – Sumitomo Corporation has been involved in two more projects, both of which were completed ahead of schedule, including the Nga Awa Purua Geothermal Power Plant completed in 2010. These achievements were made possible by Sumitomo Corporation's global expertise in power plant construction and over 40 years of collaboration with Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer of steam turbines for geothermal power plants.

With the completion of the Power Station, the total installed capacity of geothermal power plants that Sumitomo Corporation has contributed to in the form of construction and equipment supplies reached 2,700 MW, equivalent to 17% of the global total (*2). Sumitomo Corporation has positioned businesses related to renewable energy as a priority area in its medium-term management plan, and will remain involved in the construction of new geothermal power plants in order to further develop new sources of renewable energy.

(*1) According to the research of Contact Energy
(*2) Estimated by Sumitomo Corporation based on data from the research company ThinkGeoEnergy

---