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| (Courtesy CIA.gov) |
Chinese State-owned Sinopec Group's interest in geothermal energy has grown as it seeks to diversify beyond oil and gas production.
Sinopec Star Petroleum Ltd, China Petrochemical's geothermal energy development arm, said it would come up with a plan to create 20 smokeless cities, replacing coal with geothermal energy, covering 100 million sq m in the 13th Five-Year Plan(2016-20) period.
According to Wang Zizong, deputy chief engineer of Sinopec Group, geothermal energy has the potential to partially replace coal-fired heat while reducing the country's carbon footprint especially in big cities.
By 2020, the country is aiming for a geothermal power installed capacity of 530 MW and a geothermal heating area of 1.6 billion square meters, according to the country's energy planner.