Case Study of Geothermal Resource Exploration in Hongye Area, Hualien

Abstract

Summary In response to global climate change, the government promotes energy transformation and 2050 net-zero emission policies. Under the forward-looking infrastructure plan, it plans to "enhance the comprehensive geothermal resource exploration and information supply plan", with the purpose of achieving energy transformation, creating green energy that the country will need in the future and promoting green energy infrastructure for environmental sustainability. The 2050 net-zero emissions plan is that renewable energy will account for 60–70% of total electricity in 2050. The short-term goal is to achieve low carbon, by reducing energy use and non-energy use carbon emissions, and carrying out energy transformation, increasing green energy, including geothermal energy. The long-term goal is to develop towards zero carbon, including the adjustment of energy, industrial structure and social lifestyle. Therefore, geothermal power generation, which can be used as base-load power, will play an important role in the future. The geothermal power plant development process includes: preliminary survey, resource exploration, drilling survey, feasibility assessment, site development, plant construction, and plant operation and maintenance (IGA Service GmbH, 2014). At this stage, the Central Geological Survey (CGS) is conducting basic exploration of geothermal potential areas, using emerging technologies to expand the scope and depth of exploration, so as to grasp the basic geological information of geothermal resources, and collect geothermal exploration data from various units to establish a geothermal exploration information platform. The CGS provides those who are interested in geothermal development to have access to underground geological information, so as to reduce the exploration risk in the early stage of geothermal development and shorten the development time. Starting from 2021, a key survey area “Ruilin-Hongye area” was selected for further exploration and investigation in many areas with geothermal potential in the Hualien area. In this project, the collection of past literature data and new survey data are integrated, and a conceptual model of geothermal geology in the Ruilin-Hongye area is initially proposed. Continuing with the measurement results of magnetotellurics in the key survey area, the volumetric evaluation method is used to evaluate the amount of geothermal resources.