On January 15, 2024, Academician Xie Heping's team of Shenzhen University held the 2023 annual summary meeting and the kick-off meeting of the National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep-Earth Engineering (Shenzhen University). Xie Heping said that in 2024, the team will promote the two subversive technologies of direct hydrogen production from seawater and geothermal thermoelectric power generation as soon as possible to promote the scale of industrialization, and make contributions to the "development of new quality productivity".

At the meeting, academician Xie Heping, director of Deep Earth Science and Green Energy Research Institute of Shenzhen University and director of National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep Earth Engineering, introduced in his speech that the SZU team achieved five landmark achievements in 2023, namely, the approval of the sixth batch of the nation's / Shenzhen's first Chang'e V lunar soil samples; the world's first self-developed geothermal thermo voltaic power generator field test exceeded the 1,000W class, and the world's first dry-heat rock single-well thermoelectric power generation field test was completed at Qinghai The world's first dry-heat-rock single-well thermovoltaic power generation field test was completed at the Republic of China dry-heat-rock site; the first international pressure- and gas-retaining coring of deep coal; the world's first sea trial of seawater direct electrolysis for hydrogen production; and the world's first sea trial of insulation and pressure-retaining sampling of deep-sea solid combustible ice.

According to the website of Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (IHE), December 8, 2023, funded by China Geological Survey, IHE, together with Guangzhou Energy Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (GERI, CAS), Shenzhen University, and other related units, jointly carried out a joint test of a single-well dry-heat-rock heat recovery-thermovoltaic power generation system in the dry-heat-rock exploration and test-mining site of Republican, Qinghai Province. During the test cycle, the maximum instantaneous heat recovery rate of the single well exceeded 2 MW, and the average heat recovery rate of 72 hours reached 1 MW. Compared with the same type of single well heat recovery system in China, the maximum heat recovery rate of the system has been increased by nearly 4 times, and the average heat recovery rate has been increased by more than 2 times. Under the extreme working conditions (69.7℃ at the hot end and 5.0℃ at the cold end), the limit power generation capacity of the thermovoltaic motor reaches 1,290.8W, realizing the world's largest power geothermal thermovoltaic power generation. 

Previously, in March 2023, Academician Xie Heping introduced in public, the Great Bay Area is very rich in geothermal resources, there are 60% area is granite, granite is below the low and medium temperature geothermal. The current geothermal power generation technology is mainly turbine power generation, the efficiency is very low, so how to research and development of new power generation technology, especially low-temperature geothermal power generation disruptive and transformative technology, the world is now in the process of research and are at the same starting point.

According to Geothermal Plus, so far in 2019, Xie Heping's team has proposed three new technologies in the field of geothermal power generation, namely, the subversive technology of thermovoltaic power generation, the transformative technology of magnetic levitation power generation, and the exploratory technology of in situ power generation. At present, thermal voltaic power generation has realized the development of three generations of thermal voltaic generator principle prototypes after four years of research and development, and has achieved a leapfrog breakthrough of 10W class-100W class-1000W class.

The Institute of Deep Earth Science and Green Energy of Shenzhen University was established in March 2018 by Academician Xie Heping as the director, and is dedicated to innovative research and exploration in the fields of deep earth science and low-carbon green energy, with research directions including deep earth science and in-situ rock mechanics, deep earth, deep sea, deep space fidelity coring and prospecting theory and technology, engineering perturbation rock dynamics, seawater hydrogen production principle and technology, low and medium temperature geothermal power generation theory and technology, low-carbon and CCUS technology, and so on. The researchers are also interested in the theory and technology of low carbon and CCUS technology.

The National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep-Earth Engineering was approved in 2023 on the basis of the original State Key Laboratory of Deep Geotechnics and Underground Engineering of China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), which was reorganized and co-constructed by China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), Shenzhen University (SZU), and Sichuan University (SZU), with Academician Xie Heping as the director. The research directions of the National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep Earth Engineering (Shenzhen University) include dynamic (static) mechanics of deep-earth engineering rocks, deep geothermal and clean energy development, deep-earth engineering materials and intelligent construction, deep-earth resource in-situ fluidized mining and healthy operation and maintenance, and deep-space deep-sea fidelity core prospecting.

Academician Xie Heping put forward the requirements of "seeking newness, seeking truth and seeking reality" to all members of the team and laboratory. "Seek for newness", that is, to focus on the world's scientific frontiers and major national strategies, to do the original innovation from 0 to 1, in the selection of the direction of the topic and the development of the field, the key is to "do what others have not done, to do more than others have done"; "" Truth-seeking" is to have an objective, rigorous and rational attitude of governance and the scientific spirit of truth-seeking, in accordance with the requirements of President Mao Junfa, to achieve "real problem solving, real problem solving, real problem solving;" "Truth-seeking" is to seek truth from facts, and to be practical and realistic, with a strong sense of responsibility. It is to be practical, down-to-earth, hard-working and persistent will to struggle.

Note: This article is synthesized from China Economic Herald, China Development Network, Geothermal Plus, Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences