Future prospects for geothermal energy development and utilization

"A large amount of thermal energy brought about by the fall of a large number of meteorite in the ancient times; the thermal energy generated by the constant emission of radioactive nuclear elements inside the earth; the frictional heat generated by the slower and slower rotation of the earth caused by the gravitational tides of the sun and the moon." The three major sources of geothermal energy, and in our country, the majority of the geothermal energy generated by the radioactive elements inside the Earth.

Geothermal resources are abundant in China

Geothermal exploration and development in China started late. Geothermal resources exploration in Beijing began in the 1950s. The real-scale exploration and development and utilization started only in the early 1970s, and was initiated by the famous geologist Mr. Li Siguang. The exploration of deep geothermal resources in the plain area. Since the 1990s, under the impetus of the market economy, the development and utilization of geothermal resources have been more vigorously developed. In recent years, in order to reduce air pollution, the government has vigorously promoted the use of clean energy, including geothermal, and further promoted the development and utilization of geothermal energy.

According to geothermal survey data, China has abundant geothermal resources. The total amount of geothermal resources is equivalent to 853.2 billion tons of standard coal, and the amount of recoverable resources is equivalent to 256 billion tons of standard coal, mainly concentrated in the eastern and southwestern regions. Among them, the eastern region is dominated by low- and medium-temperature geothermal resources, which are mainly distributed in the Songliao Plain, Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, Jianghan Plain, Shandong Peninsula, and the southeast coastal areas. The high-temperature geothermal resources with a heat storage temperature of more than 150°C are mainly distributed in the southwest regions of southern Tibet, western Yunnan, western Sichuan and Taiwan provinces. Located in the Bohai Economic Zone, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong provinces and municipalities have many geothermal reservoirs with large reserves and are widely distributed. They are the largest geothermal resources development zone in China. According to statistics, most of the outlet temperatures of thousands of hot wells in the country are below 90°C, and the average temperature is about 54.8°C. They can be directly exploited and used for power generation, heating, hot water supply, bathing, medical treatment, etc. Greenhouse, drying, breeding, etc. On a nationwide scale, high-temperature geothermal fields are only Tibet Yangbajing and Yangyi Geothermal Field. The rest are medium-low temperature geothermal resources with a thermal storage temperature of 25°C to 150°C.

Geothermal development and utilization have not yet reached scale

Although the development and utilization of geothermal resources is increasing at an average rate of 12% per year, geothermal utilization has not yet reached the scale compared with abundant geothermal resources. At present, China's annual development of geothermal energy is less than five-thousandths of the annual amount available, and the potential for further development, utilization, and substitution of coal is enormous. In Guizhou alone, for example, Guizhou’s underground hot water resources amount to nearly 170 million cubic meters per year, while the use of natural underground hot water is less than 0.1 billion cubic meters per year, and the use of artificial boreholes only uses 0.02 billion cubic meters per year. It can be said to be minimal. Even according to the “Special Plan for the Exploration and Development of Underground Hot Water Resources in Guizhou Province”, by 2020, the annual demand for underground hot water developed in Guizhou will be 83 million cubic meters, which is still less than 50% of the storage capacity.

Sun Zhentian, an expert from the Beijing Institute of Geothermal Research, believes that the development, utilization, and management of geothermal resources in China are still in a spontaneous, extensive, and extensive stage. There are still many problems at present. Due to the lack of scientific understanding of geothermal resources and geothermal industries, the combination of geothermal resources with general mineral resources or water resources cannot fully grasp its comprehensive utilization value and industrial development and utilization, resulting in abundant geothermal resources in many regions and it is difficult to Its advantages combine with economic development, ecological environment and social progress, and establishes its own geothermal industry.

Ni Weidou, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that “developing renewable energy is a very difficult task. Intermittent and volatility are key issues for whether renewable energy can be used in a wider range.” Geothermal energy, a type of renewable energy, is used for geothermal power generation. It is relatively economical to have a relatively high fluid temperature, which is generally 180°C or even above 200°C. Therefore, China's geothermal power generation industry has been in a state of stagnation for a long time.

There are also views that the country has abundant reserves of underground hot water resources, as well as strong market demand, but its large-scale development and utilization have been constrained more because of weak exploration and mining links. Due to the constraints of various factors, the current domestic geothermal exploration is basically in the stage of “heating for heat”. There are few geothermal fields that have undergone systematic exploration and evaluation, less evaluation in the development phase, and dynamic monitoring and research of geothermal resources are only In a handful of cities.

In addition, there is a lack of a unified exploration and evaluation system. At present, the development of geothermal resources in China is limited to the development of discovered resources, and no system of exploration and evaluation has yet been formed. As a result, the development and utilization of geothermal resources cannot achieve the expected social and economic benefits.

Geothermal Energy Development and Utilization Prospects

In January 2013, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development and Utilization of Geothermal Energy, and clearly put forward the development goals for geothermal energy during the “Twelfth Five-year Plan”: by 2015 In 2005, the geothermal heating area in China reached 500 million square meters, the installed capacity of geothermal power generation reached 100 megawatts, and the annual geothermal energy utilization reached 20 million tons of standard coal. By 2020, the development and utilization of geothermal energy will reach 50 million tons of standard coal.

To achieve the above objectives, we must break the bottleneck of the development of geothermal energy, geothermal development and utilization of relatively high requirements for technology and equipment, especially in geothermal power generation is even more so. The large investment, long cycle, and high risk means that the state must promote the development and utilization of geothermal resources through national planning, technology introduction, project demonstration, and preferential policies. Wu Xinxiong, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission and director of the National Energy Administration, at the national geothermal energy development and utilization on-site meeting held in February 2014, emphasized that the following tasks should be focussed on the exploration and evaluation of geothermal energy resources to clarify geothermal energy resources. Regional distribution and potential for development and utilization; Good geothermal energy development and utilization planning, overall development and utilization of geothermal energy; Active promotion of shallow geothermal energy development and utilization, encourage the promotion and utilization of heat pump systems, and improve the popularity of heat pump systems in urban heating and refrigeration Rate; accelerate the development of geothermal energy in the middle and deep layers; establish a sound industrial system for the development and utilization of geothermal energy, and provide strong industrial support for the development and utilization of geothermal energy.

At present, it is necessary to realize the scale and industrialization of geothermal resources in China, and to change the status quo of the unreasonable production layout, product structure, and utilization mode of the company, and to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in technology, capital, and resources so as to better share other issues. The state's technology in geothermal research and utilization absorbs the advanced experience of other countries and uses the basic form of clean production technology to realize the healthy development of circular economy.

"A large amount of thermal energy brought about by the fall of a large number of meteorite in the ancient times; the thermal energy generated by the constant emission of radioactive nuclear elements inside the earth; the frictional heat generated by the slower and slower rotation of the earth caused by the gravitational tides of the sun and the moon." The three major sources of geothermal energy, and in our country, the majority of the geothermal energy generated by the radioactive elements inside the Earth.

Geothermal resources are abundant in China

Geothermal exploration and development in China started late. Geothermal resources exploration in Beijing began in the 1950s. The real-scale exploration and development and utilization started only in the early 1970s, and was initiated by the famous geologist Mr. Li Siguang. The exploration of deep geothermal resources in the plain area. Since the 1990s, under the impetus of the market economy, the development and utilization of geothermal resources have been more vigorously developed. In recent years, in order to reduce air pollution, the government has vigorously promoted the use of clean energy, including geothermal, and further promoted the development and utilization of geothermal energy.

According to geothermal survey data, China has abundant geothermal resources. The total amount of geothermal resources is equivalent to 853.2 billion tons of standard coal, and the amount of recoverable resources is equivalent to 256 billion tons of standard coal, mainly concentrated in the eastern and southwestern regions. Among them, the eastern region is dominated by low- and medium-temperature geothermal resources, which are mainly distributed in the Songliao Plain, Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, Jianghan Plain, Shandong Peninsula, and the southeast coastal areas. The high-temperature geothermal resources with a heat storage temperature of more than 150°C are mainly distributed in the southwest regions of southern Tibet, western Yunnan, western Sichuan and Taiwan provinces. Located in the Bohai Economic Zone, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong provinces and municipalities have many geothermal reservoirs with large reserves and are widely distributed. They are the largest geothermal resources development zone in China. According to statistics, most of the outlet temperatures of thousands of hot wells in the country are below 90°C, and the average temperature is about 54.8°C. They can be directly exploited and used for power generation, heating, hot water supply, bathing, medical treatment, etc. Greenhouse, drying, breeding, etc. On a nationwide scale, high-temperature geothermal fields are only Tibet Yangbajing and Yangyi Geothermal Field. The rest are medium-low temperature geothermal resources with a thermal storage temperature of 25°C to 150°C.

Geothermal development and utilization have not yet reached scale

Although the development and utilization of geothermal resources is increasing at an average rate of 12% per year, geothermal utilization has not yet reached the scale compared with abundant geothermal resources. At present, China's annual development of geothermal energy is less than five-thousandths of the annual amount available, and the potential for further development, utilization, and substitution of coal is enormous. In Guizhou alone, for example, Guizhou’s underground hot water resources amount to nearly 170 million cubic meters per year, while the use of natural underground hot water is less than 0.1 billion cubic meters per year, and the use of artificial boreholes only uses 0.02 billion cubic meters per year. It can be said to be minimal. Even according to the “Special Plan for the Exploration and Development of Underground Hot Water Resources in Guizhou Province”, by 2020, the annual demand for underground hot water developed in Guizhou will be 83 million cubic meters, which is still less than 50% of the storage capacity.

Sun Zhentian, an expert from the Beijing Institute of Geothermal Research, believes that the development, utilization, and management of geothermal resources in China are still in a spontaneous, extensive, and extensive stage. There are still many problems at present. Due to the lack of scientific understanding of geothermal resources and geothermal industries, the combination of geothermal resources with general mineral resources or water resources cannot fully grasp its comprehensive utilization value and industrial development and utilization, resulting in abundant geothermal resources in many regions and it is difficult to Its advantages combine with economic development, ecological environment and social progress, and establishes its own geothermal industry.

Ni Weidou, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that “developing renewable energy is a very difficult task. Intermittent and volatility are key issues for whether renewable energy can be used in a wider range.” Geothermal energy, a type of renewable energy, is used for geothermal power generation. The higher the fluid temperature is, it is generally more economical than 180°C or even 200°C. Therefore, China's geothermal power generation industry has been in a state of stagnation for a long time.

There are also views that the country has abundant reserves of underground hot water resources, as well as strong market demand, but its large-scale development and utilization have been constrained more because of weak exploration and mining links. Due to the constraints of various factors, the current domestic geothermal exploration is basically in the stage of “heating for heat”. There are few geothermal fields that have undergone systematic exploration and evaluation, less evaluation in the development phase, and dynamic monitoring and research of geothermal resources are only In a handful of cities.

In addition, there is a lack of a unified exploration and evaluation system. At present, the development of geothermal resources in China is limited to the development of discovered resources, and no system of exploration and evaluation has yet been formed. As a result, the development and utilization of geothermal resources cannot achieve the expected social and economic benefits.

Geothermal Energy Development and Utilization Prospects

In January 2013, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development and Utilization of Geothermal Energy, and clearly put forward the development goals for geothermal energy during the “Twelfth Five-year Plan”: by 2015 In 2005, the geothermal heating area in China reached 500 million square meters, the installed capacity of geothermal power generation reached 100 megawatts, and the annual geothermal energy utilization reached 20 million tons of standard coal. By 2020, the development and utilization of geothermal energy will reach 50 million tons of standard coal.

To achieve the above objectives, we must break the bottleneck of the development of geothermal energy, geothermal development and utilization of relatively high requirements for technology and equipment, especially in geothermal power generation is even more so. The large investment, long cycle, and high risk means that the state must promote the development and utilization of geothermal resources through national planning, technology introduction, project demonstration, and preferential policies. Wu Xinxiong, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission and director of the National Energy Administration, at the national geothermal energy development and utilization on-site meeting held in February 2014, emphasized that the following tasks should be focussed on the exploration and evaluation of geothermal energy resources to clarify geothermal energy resources. Regional distribution and potential for development and utilization; Good geothermal energy development and utilization planning, overall development and utilization of geothermal energy; Active promotion of shallow geothermal energy development and utilization, encourage the promotion and utilization of heat pump systems, and improve the popularity of heat pump systems in urban heating and refrigeration Rate; accelerate the development of geothermal energy in the middle and deep layers; establish a sound industrial system for the development and utilization of geothermal energy, and provide strong industrial support for the development and utilization of geothermal energy.

At present, it is necessary to realize the scale and industrialization of geothermal resources in China, and to change the status quo of the unreasonable production layout, product structure, and utilization mode of the company, and to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in technology, capital, and resources so as to better share other issues. The state's technology in geothermal research and utilization absorbs the advanced experience of other countries and uses the basic form of clean production technology to realize the healthy development of circular economy.