Four ministries will give subsidies for geothermal power projects

The National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the “Guidelines for Promoting the Development and Utilization of Geothermal Energy,” stating that by 2015, the country’s geothermal heating area will reach 500 million square meters, and geothermal power generation capacity will reach 10%. Million kilowatts, forming a relatively complete industrial system such as geothermal energy resource evaluation, development and utilization technology, key equipment manufacturing, and industrial services.

Geothermal energy is a clean and environmentally friendly new type of renewable energy, with large reserves, wide distribution, broad prospects for development, and huge market potential.

The Opinions stressed that the central government will focus on supporting geothermal energy resources exploration and evaluation, geothermal energy heating and cooling projects, and power generation and comprehensive utilization demonstration projects. At the same time, according to the additional renewable energy price policy requirements, the electricity price subsidy policy will be given to the commercialization of geothermal power generation projects.

Geothermal energy utilization projects implemented through contract energy management can enjoy related tax preferential policies in accordance with relevant regulations. The use of geothermal energy for heating and cooling project operating price refers to the implementation of residential electricity prices. Companies that use geothermal energy for heating (refrigeration) may charge heating costs based on clean energy boiler heating prices.

The "Opinions" proposes to promote the use of shallow geothermal energy on a premise of good environmental protection. The focus is on the use of shallow geothermal energy in large scale in regions where geothermal energy resources are abundant, where the use of buildings is superior, and where building energy demand is strong. Prior to this, industry insiders predicted that by 2015, the amount of shallow geothermal energy development investment will reach more than 150 billion yuan.

In addition, the "Opinions" pointed out that China encourages specialized service companies to engage in geothermal utilization construction and operation services. Power grid companies must implement full-scale guaranteed acquisition of geothermal power generation obligations in accordance with the state's requirements for renewable energy power security acquisitions.

Among the listed companies, the development and use of geothermal energy such as Seagull Sanitary Wares, Hanzhong Seiki, and Yantai Ice Wheel are expected to benefit from the great development of the geothermal energy industry in the future.