Geothermal Heat Generation in Russia: The Current State and Prospects for Further Development

The values of the approved reserves of geothermal water fields in Russia are presented: in all, they make 238.8 thousand m3/day; their production in 2021 was 25.7 million m3/year, and the prospects of geothermal heat generation (GT) are estimated at 2000 MW. The main characteristics of 23 exploited deposits in Kamchatka and the North Caucasus are given. The activities of Russia’s leading scientific organizations on geothermal research, including the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (IViS), FEB RAS and the Institute of Problems of Geothermy and Renewable Energy of the JIHT RAS are described. The relevance of the IViS activities on the prospects of GT for volcanoes of Kamchatka with drilling wells for supercritical parameters (SCP) is noted. The activities of regional organizations for the exploration and production of geothermal resources are described. A list of regulatory and reference documents on the design, arrangement and operation of thermal water intakes is given. The differences in the development of GT for deep (more than 400 m) and surface geothermal resources are indicated. The main process circuit and technical solutions on the GT are identified and described, including open ones that use reservoir pressures and closed ones with coolant reinjection. The prospects of constructing hybrid geothermal heat supply systems for settlements with the use of solar energy are shown taking as an example the Rozovyi settlement in the Krasnodar Region. The advisability of using the experience gained in Iceland with constructing centralized GT systems with a thermal capacity of up to 216 MW in Kamchatka are noted. The need of increasing targeted financing, construction of experimental and demonstration facilities, and establishing a Competence Center for geothermal heat generation is substantiated.