Estimation of new markets - geothermal energy development

On February 5, the NDRC, the Energy Bureau and the Ministry of Land and Resources jointly issued the "13th Five-Year Plan" For the Development and Utilization of Geothermal Energy. They proposed that the growth of new geothermal heating (cooling) area reach 1.1 billion square meters during the “13th Five-Year Plan”, the geothermal power installed capacity reach 500MW. By 2020, geothermal heating (cooling) area should up to 1.6 billion square meters with geothermal power installed capacity of 530MW.

Geothermal energy is a green, low-carbon dioxide, recyclable and renewable energy with characteristics of large reserve, wide distribution, clean and environmentally friendly, stable and reliable. It is a practical and competitive clean energy.

According to the survey and evaluation results issued by Ministry of Land and Resources China Geological Survey in 2015, the total exploitable shallow geothermal energy distributed among all the 336 prefecture-level cities in China equals to 700 million tons of standard coal; national hydrothermal geothermal resources equals to 1.25 trillion tons of standard Coal, the amount of mining resources can be converted into is equivalent to 1.9 billion tons of standard coal; the 3000-10000 meters deep buried hot dry rock resources are equivalent to 856 trillion tons of standard coal.

At present, shallow and hydrothermal type geothermal heating (cooling) technology are basically mature. Shallow geothermal energy applications mainly use heat pump technology. In 2004, the annual growth of shallow geothermal energy excelled 30% and the scope of application extended to whole nation. By the end of 2015, the country's shallow geothermal heating (cooling) area reached 392 million square meters, the national hydrothermal geothermal heating area reached 102 million square meters. Geothermal energy annual utilization equals about 20 million tons of standard coal.

In geothermal power generation, high-temperature dry steam power generation technology is the most mature and cost lowest, followed by high-temperature humid steam power generation technology. The maturity and economy of low-temperature geothermal power generation technology need to be improved. Due to the characteristics of geothermal resources and other heat source demand in recent years, the whole power generation has made rapid development in China.  The dry heat power system is still in the research and development stage. In the early 1970s, low-temperature geothermal power stations were built in Guangdong Fengshun, Hebei Huailai, Jiangxi Yichun and other places. In 1977, China built a 24-megawatt medium-high temperature geothermal power station in Yangbajing, Tibet. At the end of 2014, China's total installed capacity of geothermal power generation is 27.28 megawatts, ranking the world's 18th.

According to preliminary estimates, if the goal of geothermal heating (cooling) area increase of 1.1 billion square meters and the geothermal power installed capacity increase of 500MW during "13th Five-Year Plan", the shallow geothermal heating (cooling) project can attract investment about 140 billion Yuan, hydrothermal geothermal heating can attract investment about 80 billion yuan, geothermal power can attract investment about 40 billion yuan, totaling about 260 billion yuan. In addition, geothermal energy development and utilization can also lead to geothermal resources exploration and evaluation, drilling, heat pumping, heat transferring and a series of manufacturing industry development of key technologies and equipment