Abstract:

As a clean renewable geothermal resource, the hot-dry-rock has been more and more maturely utilized because of its
obviously increasing values. The extensive volcanic activities and upwelling flow of deep-seated thermal energy in Jiangsu Province
during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic time provided abundant hot-dry-rock storage. Based on an analysis of the heat flow, rock thermal conductivity at different depths, radioactive heat generation, and the temperatures at different depths in Jiangsu Province are calculated using the contribution rate of the superposition method. The calculated results are compared to the data from thermal gradient method in 5~8 km, eventually the hot-dry-rock resource amount at the depth of 3~8 km in Jiangsu Province is estimated by means of the volume method. The results show that the resource amount at the depth of 3~8 km could reach 2.18×1021 J, which is equivalent to the heat of 7.49 billion tons of standard coal. On the basis of 2% of the exploitable rate, the resource is estimated to be half of the current total energy consumption of Jiangsu Province in a year (about 0.15 billion tons of standard coal), thus demonstrating a promising potential for utilization.

Key words: hot-dry-rock, heat reservoir temperature, resources potential estimation, Jiangsu