(Yicai) Aug. 4 -- The installed capacity of geothermal power in China is much lower than that of other renewable energies such as wind and solar, as the costs to produce and transport it make it much more expensive than other forms of electricity.

China has around one sixth of the world’s geothermal resources and yet its installed capacity of geothermal power generation, which boasts zero emissions and is very stable, is extremely small, accounting for less than one percent of the globe’s, according to data released by the World Geothermal Conference.

“At present, there are 160,000 megawatts of installed capacity of geothermal power in the world, of which China only has 59.6 MW and only 20 MW of this are in operation,” said Zhang Dawei, dean of the Institute of Urban Underground Space and Energy Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

By contrast, China’s newly installed capacity of wind and solar power reached 125 million kilowatts last year, exceeding 100 million kilowatts for three consecutive years.

But the country’s direct use of geothermal energy, which means using the heat from underground sources directly rather than converting it to electricity, is the highest in the world.

China’s direct geothermal utilization was 40.6 gigawatts as of the end of 2020, accounting for 38 percent of the world’s, according to the World Geothermal Conference. The area supplied directly with geothermal energy has grown by an average 23 percent a year over the past five years to 1.3 billion square meters.

The high price and geographical distance are the main factors hindering the development of the geothermal power sector.

In the early stages, the price of geothermal electricity needs to be subsidized, just as wind and solar power is, Wang Shanmin, president of the Tibet Geothermal Industry Association, told Yicai. Costs cannot come down until it reaches a certain scale. Installed capacity needs to reach at least 200 MW for the price to be on par with coal-fired electricity.

Geothermal power plants that are already in operation are losing money as there are no national subsidies for this form of electricity, said Deng Zhuang, executive president of Nanjing Tica Energy. And so it is hard for new geothermal power plants to find the investment they need to be built.

Most of China’s geothermal resources are in western Yunnan and southern Tibet, which are both very far from the economically developed coastal areas where there is large electricity demand, Deng said. If electricity is transmitted over a long distance, costs increase, he added.

In recent years, the government has incorporated geothermal energy development into the overall energy plan. The National Energy Administration issued guidance in April to promote the use of renewable energies such as geothermal energy and solar heating.

Editor: Kim Taylor