2020 China geothermal energy development and utilization industry development



Multiple factors promote the development and utilization of geothermal energy

In recent years, the state has issued a number of policies and regulations to support the development and utilization of geothermal energy in China, and gradually clarified the important position of geothermal energy as a renewable energy in China's power generation and heating, how to efficiently use and develop geothermal energy is the subject that relevant departments have been thinking about.

In addition to policy factors, the development and utilization of geothermal energy is also driven by commercial interests and environmental factors.

(1) Driven by commercial interests based on tourism and agriculture

Hot spring tourism, agricultural planting, and municipal heating are traditional projects of heat energy utilization, and they are also vigorously developed projects in recent years. With the improvement of living standards, people are no longer satisfied with the basic attributes of geothermal energy "heat", and the pursuit of deeper values. Therefore, the development of geothermal energy should actively integrate cultural, biological, geographical knowledge, in-depth exploration of the natural charm carried by hot springs, people's emotional sustenance of hot springs and surrounding scenery, and geothermal energy can give products specific biological properties.

(2) Based on the pressure of air pollution, energy conservation and emission reduction

Geothermal power generation and geothermal refrigeration technology are one of the effective ways to solve the current haze problem, especially in the winter climate, the effect of water power generation is poor, and the haze is serious. However, in order to achieve a breakthrough in geothermal power generation and geothermal cooling technology, we must first increase the exploration of geothermal resources, fully tap the geothermal resources in areas with poor geothermal resources, and balance the distribution of geothermal resources in China as much as possible.

Geothermal resources are widely distributed and dry hot rock resources are abundant

According to the 2015 survey and evaluation results of the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Land and Resources, the annual exploitable resources of shallow geothermal energy in 336 cities at or above the prefecture level in China are equivalent to 700 million tons of standard coal, which are mainly distributed in the southern part of Northeast China, North China, Jianghuai River basin, Sichuan Basin and eastern Northwest China.

The annual recoverable resources of hydrothermal geothermal energy in China's mainland is equivalent to 1.865 billion tons of standard coal (under the recharge scenario). Among them, the geothermal energy resources of medium and low warm water accounted for more than 95%, mainly distributed in North China, Songliao, Northern Jiangsu, Jianghan, Ordos, Sichuan and other plains (basins) and mountainous and hilly areas such as the southeast coast, Jiaodong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula, which can be used for heating, industrial drying, tourism, health and planting and breeding. High-temperature hydrothermal geothermal energy resources are mainly distributed in southern Tibet, western Yunnan, western Sichuan and Taiwan Province. The annual recoverable resources of high-temperature hydrothermal geothermal energy in Southwest China are equivalent to 18 million tons of standard coal, and the power generation potential is 7,120 MW. The cascade and efficient development and utilization of geothermal energy resources can meet the electricity and heating needs of about 50% of the population in western Sichuan and southern Tibet.

The hot and dry rock resources in China are mainly distributed in Tibet, followed by Yunnan, Guangdong, Fujian and other southeast coastal areas. In view of the difficulty of exploration and development of geothermal energy in hot dry rock and the trend of technological development, geothermal energy in hot dry rock buried in shallow depths of 5500m will be the key field of exploration and development of geothermal energy in China in the next 15-30 years.

China is rich in geothermal energy resources, but the proved rate and utilization degree of resources are low, and the exploitation and utilization potential is great.  The annual recoverable resources of hydrothermal geothermal energy in China is equivalent to 1.865 billion tons of standard coal. Buried depth 3000-10000m dry hot rock geothermal energy basic resources of about 2.5×1025J(equivalent to 856 trillion tons of standard coal), of which buried depth of 5500m shallow basic resources of about 3.1×1024J(equivalent to 106 trillion tons of standard coal).

The development and utilization of geothermal energy has become a national strategy, and the industry has gradually grown

In the process of human development and utilization of all kinds of energy, geothermal energy has gradually been paid attention to by all countries in the world. Since the middle of the 20th century, the exploitation and use of geothermal energy has become a key point in the field of new energy. The development process of China's geothermal energy industry is mainly divided into the following three stages:

(1) Initial stage (1971-2003)

The successful drilling of the first hydrothermal well in Beijing Oxygen Plant in 1971 and the launch of Houhao Kiln geothermal power generation experiment in Huailai County, Hebei Province in February that year, opened the curtain of large-scale development and utilization of geothermal energy in China. At this stage, the development and utilization of geothermal energy initially received attention from the energy sector, individual regional decentralized development appeared, and the exploration and evaluation of geothermal energy resources were gradually carried out. In this period, the development and utilization of geothermal energy has not yet formed a large-scale industry. From the statistical point of view, the proportion of commercial geothermal energy in the final energy consumption is basically zero, and the relevant technology is still in the primary stage of research and development.

(2) Growth Stage (2004-2016)

At this stage, the development and utilization of geothermal energy showed the characteristics of scale and specialization, and the production capacity was gradually released, and a large number of representative enterprises began. Under the promotion of relevant industrial policies, the development of geothermal energy industry has entered the fast lane, and a series of qualitative changes have occurred: the scope of development and utilization has been expanded at different levels, the equipment has gradually completed the transition from small to medium and large, from rough to professional, and the pace of marketization and industrialization of technology research and development results has accelerated. In this period, China has rapidly grown into the world's largest direct use of geothermal energy countries.

(3) Rapid growth stage (2017-present)

With the introduction of programmic documents such as the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development and Utilization of Geothermal Energy and the Clean Heating Plan for Winter in Northern China (2017-2020), the development of geothermal energy industry has entered the national strategic level, and industrial planning, industry supervision, technology research and development, and personnel training have begun to become formal, and the industrial scale has rapidly increased. A variety of operation models such as project-oriented, profit-oriented and technology-oriented PPP have emerged.

Geothermal energy is widely used in many fields, and the direct utilization of geothermal energy has achieved remarkable results

1. Geothermal energy is widely used

The utilization of geothermal energy can be divided into two ways: geothermal power generation and geothermal direct utilization. Among them, direct geothermal applications are mainly used in geothermal heating, geothermal industry, geothermal agriculture and geothermal medical treatment.

In recent years, the development and utilization of geothermal energy in China has accelerated with remarkable results. In the direct utilization of geothermal energy, our country has achieved good results; In terms of geothermal power generation, power generation technology maturity and economy need to be improved.

2, the direct utilization of geothermal energy is good, and the installed capacity of ground source heat pump ranks first in the world

According to the "China Geothermal Energy Development Report (2018)" data show that China is the world's largest direct utilization of geothermal energy, as of the end of 2017, China's installed capacity of ground source heat pump reached 20,000 megawatts, ranking first in the world; In terms of shallow geothermal energy utilization, in 2019, the heating (cooling) floor area of shallow geothermal energy buildings in China reached 841 million square meters; In terms of the utilization of hydrothermal geothermal energy, as of the end of 2018, the construction area of hydrothermal geothermal energy heating in the country exceeded 165 million square meters, of which Shandong, Hebei and Henan saw rapid growth.

3, the scale of geothermal power generation is small, and the development of geothermal power generation is stagnant

Compared with other clean energy sources such as solar energy, water energy and wind energy, geothermal power generation has a higher cost, mainly because the development and utilization of geothermal energy in China is in its infancy, and key technologies need to be broken through. At present, China's geothermal energy development is mainly concentrated in heating, cooling and shallow geothermal development, due to technical reasons in recent years, the development of geothermal power generation is stagnant, according to the data of the International Renewable Energy Agency, 2009-2018, China's cumulative installed capacity of geothermal power generation has been in the range of 24-26MW. There was no change from 2011 to 2018, and it is expected that in 2019, China's installed capacity of geothermal power generation will be about 26MW.

The development goal of the industry is clear, and the dry hot rock geothermal energy is the main direction of future development

In recent years, China has strengthened the construction of the energy system, optimized the energy consumption structure, and increased the proportion of clean energy. As a clean renewable energy source, geothermal energy has received the attention of the state, and the state has issued a series of policies to point out the direction for the development of the industry. According to the "Medium and long-term Strategic Plan of Geothermal Resources in China" issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012, in terms of direct utilization of geothermal energy, the utilization of shallow geothermal energy in China will reach 5000MWh by 2020, and the direct utilization of geothermal (hot springs) will reach 4000MWh; By 2030, the utilization of shallow geothermal energy in China will reach 10,000 MWH, and the direct utilization of geothermal (hot springs) will reach 6,500MWh; By 2050, the utilization of shallow geothermal energy in China will reach 25,000 MWH, and the direct utilization of geothermal (hot springs) will reach 10,000 MWH, and the space for direct utilization of geothermal energy will be huge.

In terms of geothermal power generation, the installed capacity of dry hot rock geothermal power generation in China will reach 25MWe by 2020, the installed capacity of dry hot rock geothermal power generation in China will reach 100MWe by 2030, and the installed capacity of dry hot rock geothermal power generation in China will reach 300MWe by 2050.