Government and Policy

China to further develop geothermal energy

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-22 20:49

BEIJING - China will further develop geothermal energy in the next five years as it steps up efforts to cut carbon emissions, an official with the Ministry of Land and Resources said Friday.

China will increase the proportion of geothermal generated power in its energy mix to 1.7 percent, more than 10 times the current amount, by 2015, said Guan Fengjun, head of the geological environment department of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

China is already the world's largest consumer of geothermal power. It used five million tonnes of coal equivalent of geothermal energy in 2010, Guan said.

Geothermal energy enjoys great potential as it takes up only a fraction of the country's overall energy consumption - 3.25 billion tonnes of coal equivalent. In addition, technologies in the field have matured over the years, Guan said.

The ministry expects China's consumption of geothermal energy to reach  68.8 million tonnes of coal equivalent by 2015, he said.