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Sinopec to focus on geothermal heating in quest to cleaner air in China

Sinopec to focus on geothermal heating in quest to cleaner air in China Smog over Beijing, China (source: flickr/ gmetrail, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 18 Nov 2016

In a quest to fight smog in Chinese cities, Chinese oil giant Sinopec is planning to utilise geothermal heating to create 20 smokeless cities in China over the next five years.

Chinese oil company Sinopec is planning to build “20 smokeless cities” utilising geothermal energy during the next five years, as part of the government’s 13th five year plan.

The company plans to increase space heated by geothermal by 100 million square meters of geothermal heating & cooling, with the addition of 500 MW of installed geothermal capacity,” Wang Zizong, Deputy Chief Engineer of Sinopec Group, said at the 2016 China Geothermal International Forum in Beijing this week.

Sinopec built China’s first smokeless city using geothermal power in Xiong county, Baoding city, Hebei province, making it a replicable and sustainable demonstration project. At present Sinopec has expanded its geothermal development projects to 14 provinces and cities in China, with geothermal heating area exceeding 40 million square meters.

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The aerial view of Xiong county, Hebei (source: Sinopec)

Source: Sinopec