I can upgrade the shelter

Deep geothermal energy is an emerging energy technology that began being researched in the Federation around the 1970s.

Its main principle is to guide the heat contained in dense and impermeable high-temperature rock located 2000~3000 meters underground to the surface using methods such as drilling and injecting water, and then apply it in areas such as heating and power generation.

This technology is favored for its low cost, cleanliness, and recyclability, and has quickly been promoted and applied in many countries rich in geothermal resources. However, due to the slow development at the technical level, a relatively mature utilization system for this technology wasn’t formed until this century.

"The utilization of deep geothermal energy started late in our country and only recently formed a considerable scale after the technology matured." The person in charge seemed to know a lot about this area and talked non-stop to Chen Xin, "A few years ago, a national new district in Chang’an adopted this kind of deep geothermal well for heating, which is considered a successful case of utilizing deep geothermal resources in our country. Later, a high-temperature dry hot rock was discovered in Qinghai, and we are at the forefront of the world in this area."

"Our country only started using deep geothermal energy in recent years? But I remember when I was in elementary school, the geothermal power station in Yangbajing, Tibet Province, should have already been established, right? Doesn’t that count as deep geothermal resource development?" Chen Xin was a bit puzzled; in his memory, Yangbajing was already quite famous when he was in elementary school.

Faced with this question, the person in charge shook his head with a smile and then explained, "Yangbajing in Tibet Province belongs to medium-temperature shallow geothermal energy. The geothermal resources there are basically ready-made and do not require deep drilling to utilize. However, it is true that geothermal power generation in Yangbajing started quite early and achieved megawatt-level geothermal power generation in the 1990s, making it a famous case of geothermal development."

"I see, shallow geothermal and deep geothermal are indeed different things." Chen Xin nodded knowingly, with a sense of sudden realization, but he continued to ask, "The high-temperature dry hot rock discovered in Qinghai, is it really valuable? Is the country mature with technology in this area?"

Chen Xin was very concerned about this issue; if the country has mature technology, his idea of building an Energy Tower to construct greenhouses or even regional heating facilities would be easier to achieve.

"Haha, you’ve hit the nail on the head with this question!" The person in charge seemed tickled by the question, became excited, adjusted his sitting posture, took a swig of his drink, and was evidently planning to discuss it with Chen Xin at length.

Seeing this, Chen Xin also adopted a serious listening posture, wanting to understand the knowledge in this area better.

"For many years, our country has been the first in the world in terms of total geothermal energy utilization, but it has mainly focused on the exploitation of shallow medium and low-temperature geothermal energy. As for deep geothermal resources, on one hand, we lack the necessary technology, and on the other hand, there’s insufficient resource exploration. It wasn’t until recently that the country made significant breakthroughs in this area." Talking about this, the person in charge seemed a bit wistful and sighed, "Geothermal resources are wonderful! Their application cost is much lower than solar and wind energy, and they are clean, environmentally friendly, with enormous reserves!

Especially in our country, the continental dry hot rock resource at a depth of 3~10 kilometers is approximately equivalent to 856 trillion tons of standard coal, accounting for about one-sixth of the world’s resources. Unfortunately, our country did not research and develop this kind of energy in the past, and it was not until the discovery of dry hot rock resources on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that we filled the gap in not finding any previously."

"Given that, why didn’t the state consider large-scale mining of dry hot rocks to use deep geothermal for building shelters to avoid this crisis?" Chen Xin found it strange; according to the person in charge, the exploitation of dry hot rock resources is easy, with low application costs. Logically, the state should exploit it on a large scale, so why is coal still being burned now?

Regarding this issue, the person in charge wore a wry smile, "Do you think the state doesn’t want to? The southern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau accounts for about one-fifth of the total dry hot rock resources on our mainland. The state’s plan for establishing planting and breeding areas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is to use geothermal energy for heating and power generation, but the harsh construction environment on the plateau severely slows this plan.

Moreover, our dry hot rock resources are primarily distributed in regions such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Songliao Basin, Bohai Bay Basin, and the southeast coast. Apart from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Songliao Basin, Bohai Bay Basin, and the southeast coast are all frozen by the rising sea level. Under such circumstances, large-scale development and application of deep geothermal resources are extremely challenging."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xin nodded knowingly. The seawater had already reached Dongting Lake, and the Shandong Peninsula had become Shandong Island. In such a situation, developing geothermal resources in coastal areas was obviously impractical.

However, despite many difficulties, the prospects for utilizing deep geothermal energy remain broad.

After thinking about it seriously, Chen Xin started to speak, "Since the country has this technology, it should be no problem for me to use geothermal resources to construct a planting greenhouse, right?"

"That’s really hard to say." The person in charge shook his head, refilled Chen Xin’s glass, and then continued, "The current deep geothermal technology applied by the country is mainly for developing dry hot rocks, which are non-permeable rock layers without fluids or with minimal fluids.

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The specific method is to inject water into deep wells to create fissures, forming a planar artificial dry hot rock heat storage structure, and then recover high-temperature water or steam to extract heat. This technology has requirements for geological structures, and in places like Xiang Province, where underground water resources are too abundant, extracting deep geothermal energy requires technical adjustments, which poses many problems!"

"I’ll handle the technical issues. As long as we can set up the framework, I have ways to make it practical." For this issue, Chen Xin did not see it as a problem.

With the system as a backup, extracting deep geothermal energy wasn’t a difficult task.

"I almost forgot Mr. Chen, your expertise is in technological improvement!" The person in charge laughed, tapped his head, and then made a promise, "Since Mr. Chen has such an idea, I am naturally willing to give full support. I will report this to higher authorities and strive to create a pilot project here. When the time comes, Mr. Chen, we will need you to improve the technology.

If this succeeds, the development technology for deep geothermal resources can be widely promoted. This is a great benefit for the country and its people!"

"Then I’ll be looking forward to that!" Chen Xin raised his glass and clinked it with the person in charge again.