Sinopec reports doubling of geothermal heating capacity since 2020
Hebei Museum, Hebei Province, China (source: E2568, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Carlo Cariaga
9 Jan 2025
The coverage of geothermal district heating in China has reached 120 million square meters as of the end of 2024, double that of 2020 numbers.
As of the end of 2024, the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) reported expansion of their geothermal heating capacity to cover 120 million square meters. This is effectively double the geothermal heating capacity of the oil and gas enterprise in 2020, which is when the 13th Five-Year Plan ended.
Sinopec has steadily increased its geothermal heating capacity through the years – from 50 million square meters in 2019, 85 million square meters in 2022, and 95 million square meters in 2023. The latest figure, announced on 6 January 2025, accounts for the supply of heating to 1.2 million households in more than 70 cities and 11 provinces. Within the coverage of geothermal heating are major regions that include Beijing, Tianjin, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, and Hubei.
By making the shift to geothermal, Sinopec is helping to replace nearly 2.3 million tons of standard coal each year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 5.9 million tons.
To optimize their heating operations, Sinopec has focus on the digitalization of heating production. Measures such as real-time data collection, monitoring, and temperature control have effectively reduced energy consumption and improved heating quality.
As China’s largest medium-deep geothermal energy development and utilization enterprise, Sinopec has been leading geothermal research and development in the country for the past years. More recently, Sinopec started supplying power to the grid from China’s first geothermal power demonstration project located in Xianyang City in Shaanxi Province.
Source: Xinhuanet
