The plant is located in the Hachimantai Plateau, in the Ōu Mountains. After seams of steam were found at the Matsuo mine in 1952, plans began to utilize this resource for the generation of electric power. The plant was completed in 1966 with a total construction cost of 2 billion yen by Japan Metals & Chemicals Co., Ltd. was operated by the same company. After a corporate reorganization, the plant was turned over to Tohoku Geothermal Energy Company, a subsidiary of Tohoku Electric.