Assessment of Geothermal Resources in China

Abstract

Firstly the geological features of the geothermal resources in China have been analyzed. The geothermal resources were then characterized of different categories such as shallow, hot spring, sedimentation basin, apophysis mountains, and hot dry rock (potentially for enhanced geothermal systems, EGS). The potential geothermal resources of different types in China have been assessed on the basis of the geological analysis by using different methods and models. The calculation results are summarized as follows. China's key cities have shallow geothermal resources of about 2.78× 10^20 J, of which approximately 2.89×10^12 kWh might be utilized annually. The geothermal resource in the main sedimentary basins in China is about 2.5× 10^22 J, the quantity of allowable exploitation is close to 7.5 × 10^21 J. The total heat discharge from the hot spring areas is roughly 1.32×10^17 J, the recoverable resource is about 6.6×10^17J / year. The geothermal resources in hot dry rock (or EGS) areas at 3.0-10.0 km depth in mainland China is around 2.5×10^25 J. The geothermal energy is equivalent to 5300 times of China's current annual total energy consumption if only 2% of the EGS resources can be recovered.