The rocks, at least 150 sq km in area, were found 2,230 meters under Qiabuqia township in Gonghe County, in the northern part of the Gonghe basin. It is the first time such a huge amount of HDR has been found in China.
The breakthrough was made by a China Geology Survey geothermal energy project, in partnership with Qinghai's department of land and resources. The project has been two years in the making.
The amount of HDR on the Chinese mainland is estimated to be equal to about 860 trillion tonnes of standard coal -- 260,000 times that of China's current annual energy consumption.
