How does China's geothermal industry run out of speed?



"14th Five-Year Plan" and the next period of time, China will resolutely implement the goal of carbon peak carbon neutral tasks, geothermal energy and other renewable energy into a new stage of high-quality development.

On February 11, the second plenary meeting of the Organizing Committee of the Seventh World Geothermal Congress and the 2023 annual working conference of the National Geothermal Energy Center were held in Beijing. Participating experts and business representatives worked together to promote China's geothermal industry out of acceleration, to a new level, to achieve high-quality development.

Rich resources, vast space for development and utilization

China is rich in geothermal energy resources and has a broad space for development and utilization. The annual recoverable resources of shallow geothermal energy in 336 major cities are equivalent to 700 million tons of standard coal, and the annual recoverable resources of medium and deep geothermal energy are equivalent to 1.865 billion tons of standard coal, and the geothermal energy resources of dry hot rock have huge potential.

It is reported that in recent years, with the continuous advancement of China's ecological civilization construction, the control of air pollution and the promotion of clean heating in the north have been strengthened, the development and utilization of geothermal energy has continued to expand, and a number of major projects such as Beijing's urban deputy center, Beijing Daxing International Airport, Xiongan New Area have used geothermal energy for heating (cooling).

The "14th Five-Year Plan" renewable Energy Development Plan jointly issued by the National Energy Administration and other nine departments clearly states that "actively promote the large-scale development of geothermal energy", and proposes the development goal of reaching 60 million tons of standard coal in the scale of non-electric utilization of geothermal energy heating by 2025.

"There is much to be done in the development and utilization of geothermal energy." Du Li, president of the New Energy Research Institute of Sinopec Nova Company, proposed in an interview with reporters that China should continue to strengthen the development of medium and deep geothermal heating projects. Compared with natural gas, biomass, coal, etc., medium and deep geothermal energy heating has obvious economic advantages in the development and utilization of high-quality resource areas, and the operating cost is low. At the same time, geothermal is also a local energy source, which is an important form of energy supply for service heating other than natural gas and coal.

"It is recommended that the state support the construction of shallow geothermal energy heating (cooling) projects in public buildings by means of buried pipes, and dual heating and cooling supply." Dooley added that this approach will both improve the utilization of the equipment and help maintain a balance between the use of underground heat.

At the same time, the role that geothermal energy can play in the field of agriculture should not be underestimated. At present, the use of geothermal energy for aquaculture has spread over more than 20 provinces in China, forming a certain scale, the development of geothermal planting and aquaculture is of great significance to make up for the shortcomings of rural clean energy.

Policy guidance geothermal development momentum is abundant

In recent years, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council on the complete, accurate and Comprehensive Implementation of the new Development Concept to do a good job of carbon peak carbon neutrality", the "14th Five-Year Plan" renewable Energy Development Plan ", "Several Opinions on Promoting the development and utilization of Geothermal energy" and other policies have provided specific basis for local efforts to promote the implementation of energy transformation and development and the implementation of the "dual carbon" strategy.

All localities have incorporated the development and utilization of geothermal energy into the overall energy planning of each province (region and city), urban green building development planning, carbon peak implementation plan and rural revitalization strategy, etc., concretized the top-level design of the national geothermal field, further clarified the management responsibilities and development ideas of the geothermal industry, and helped promote the large-scale development and utilization of geothermal energy. Achieve high-quality development of the industry.

"We should also be soberly aware that our country is still only a big country in the development and utilization of geothermal energy, not a powerful country." Geothermal energy development and utilization still face challenges." Experts at the meeting suggested that they continue to strengthen the research on geothermal application technology and key technologies, further deepen the application research on sandstone heat storage and recharge technology and underground heat transfer technology, focus on the research and development of key technologies for the development and utilization of dry hot rock resources, and tackle key technologies and complete sets of equipment for geothermal power generation.

"As the country pays more and more attention to the development of renewable energy, resource indicators such as geothermal mineral rights, as the fundamental and primary premise of new energy projects, have become important resources that new energy enterprises strive to seize." Dang Liqiang, deputy director and secretary-general of the National Geothermal Energy Center Steering Committee, said that at present, the development of China's geothermal industry is still facing some policy bottlenecks. For example, in terms of geothermal exploration management, local policies are not clear, and only Hebei, Tianjin and Shaanxi have introduced the management process of geothermal mining rights, and there is still overlap between geothermal mining rights and other mining rights such as oil zone mining rights in some areas.

In this regard, Party Liqiang said that the National geothermal Energy Center will promptly and efficiently do policy research and market analysis, actively offer suggestions to the National Energy Administration and provincial and municipal governments, do a good job of regional development planning research, take the initiative to docking and assist relevant provinces (municipalities) to prepare new energy development plans, promote the local introduction of new energy industry favorable policies, and create a policy environment conducive to the development of geothermal energy. Actively strive for geothermal mineral rights, management rights and other basic resources, strive for geothermal resource tax policy support, and constantly win industrial support.

Build a platform to gather industry development consensus

Strengthening the information management level of geothermal energy industry plays an important role in finding out the bottom number of the industry, standardizing the management process, connecting renewable energy consumption and other work, and is the basic work to ensure the sustainable and healthy development of geothermal energy development and utilization.

In August 2022, the National Energy Administration issued the "Notice on Accelerating the Information Management of Geothermal Energy Development and Utilization Projects", and at present, provinces are paying close attention to relevant work.

The reporter learned from the meeting that the construction of the national geothermal energy development and utilization information management platform has been gradually promoted, and the industry's chronic diseases of many geothermal data sources and inaccurate statistical information are being solved, which will provide support for the geothermal development decision-making in various regions.

The participants suggested that it is necessary to continue to promote the deepening application of the geothermal data statistics platform, guide local governments and relevant geothermal enterprises to pay attention to the importance of geothermal energy project data statistics, actively fill in the geothermal information data in the platform, and strive to incorporate it into the national energy utilization statistical system at an early date. At the same time, do a good job of data connection with the renewable energy information management center.

At the meeting, the National Geothermal Energy Center also announced the first batch of selected "China geothermal heating one million square meters Club" list of 20 enterprises, its projects cover Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other major geothermal industry provinces, covering shallow, medium and deep geothermal heating, geothermal power generation, hot spring tourism and other geothermal industry chain, with a wide range of industry representative. It is reported that the establishment of the club will play an effective role in promoting the information interconnection of the geothermal industry, cultivating certified geothermal leading enterprises, enhancing independent innovation capabilities and competitiveness, and will regularly carry out activities such as geothermal data sharing, technology and project exchanges in the future to promote the growth and development of China's geothermal enterprises.