Development of Geothermal Resources in China: A Review

Geothermal resources in China are distributed throughout the country, with hydrothermal systems of high temperature in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province and Taiwan Island and hydrothermal systems of low-medium temperature mainly in various sedimentary basins. Development and exploration of geothermal energy in China are below expectations. The purpose of this study is to comparatively review the characteristics (geology, hydrogeology, hydrochemistry and geophysical data) of typical hydrothermal fields/areas and suggest development and utilization approaches in the future. Hydrothermal systems formed by mountain lifting contain a considerable amount of energy for geothermal power generation, especially in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province and Taiwan Island. However, geothermal water in the Tatun geothermal field has high TDS (total dissolved solids), an issue that requires more research to resolve this problem for power generation. The large storage of geothermal resources has been investigated in Meso–Cenozoic sedimentary basins; it is basically used for heating, bathing or greenhouse plantation. Moreover, hydrothermal resources of low-medium temperature can also be used in binary power plants. Although the enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in China are promising, the resources have not yet been commercially exploited, because the emerging technologies (hydraulic fracturing) and concerns over environmental impacts (induced micro-seismicity) lead to slow development. On the contrary, shallow geothermal energy has been directly utilized mainly for heating and cooling buildings. Cities like Beijing, Tianjin and Shenyang have established a series of ground-source heat-pump systems, which has led to a massive reduction of CO2 emission of 19.87×106 t.