The structure of world energy will be radically changed in the coming decades as a result of the displacement of coal and its replacement by carbon-free energy sources, mentioned the 2018 Global Energy Prize laureate Sergey Alekseenko. The expert delivered a report on the prospects for the development of geo-and petrothermal energy in the context of thermophysical issues at the plenary session at the Seventh Russian National Conference on Heat Exchange.
In particular, Sergey Alekseenko, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of heat and mass transfer’s laboratory of Institute of Thermophysics of the RAS Siberian Branch noted that advanced countries for the sustainable development of national economies, as well as solving the growing problems of climate change, strengthen the energy efficiency policy and increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in energy balance. In order to keep up with global energy trends, Russia needs to implement world-leading approaches to its energy industry.
Sergey Alekseenko is an active supporter of geothermal energy, which is divided into two components: hydro-geothermal energy — hot groundwater resources, whose reserves are not so great, and petrothermal energy, which implies the use of heat from dry rocks of the Earth at depths of 3 to 10 km. The temperature at such depths reaches 350 degrees. The Academician is confident that the reserves of deep heat will be enough for 50,000 years; if we develop this direction, then we can get access to practically inexhaustible energy resources with complete environmental safety.
“Many countries are engaged in the development of petrothermal energy: the USA, France, England, Japan, Australia, Iceland. A number of states have adopted programs for the development of this type of energy, mainly at the R&D level with a predominant share of budget financing. For example, in the USA in 2018, the cost of research and development of deep heat amounted to USD 51 million. Russia has great potential for the development of geothermal energy. Western Siberia and Kamchatka are the richest regions of the country in terms of the heat reserves of the Earth’s interior. However, geothermal energy in Russia is not so developed due to the lack of appropriate infrastructure and the presence of 40% of the world’s gas and coal reserves. The price of drilling also plays an important role. The construction of power plants using geothermal energy is estimated at RUB 2 billion rubles”, the speaker mentioned.
Developing the theme of future trends in the energy sector, the expert also stressed the need to develop environmentally friendly and efficient technologies for the processing of fossil fuels (combined-cycle plants, deep processing of coal), as well as strengthening the role of solar energy in the global share of energy consumption.
Recall that Sergey Alekseenko became the Global Energy Prize laureate in 2018 for developments in the field of heat power engineering, which allow creating modern energy-saving equipment. The second laureate is a scientist from Australia Martin Green who was awarded for technologies in photovoltaics increasing cost effectiveness and efficiency of solar cells. The solemn Global Energy Prize Award Ceremony was held in early October within REW-2018.
It should be noticed that at the opening of the plenary session of the conference, welcoming words were made by Vladimir Fortov, the 2013 Global Energy Prize laureate, Academician-secretary of the Energy, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics and Control Processes Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Alexander Leontiev, the 2010 Global Energy Prize laureate, Chairman of the conference presidium.
