Politics and Industry: India taking more baby steps to GT power production

In India, the country’s vice president, Hamid Ansari, said that they have the potential to produce about 10,000 MW of geothermal power but effectively has not given the technology enough attention.

Ansari made the comments while addressing Scientists, Academicians and Scholars in a 3-day International Conference called “Geothermal and other Energy Resources of Ladakh; Technological and Business Viability”. The conference, jointly organized by the Institute of Energy Research and Training and the Business School, University of Jammu in collaboration with MPRG University College London, is underway at Leh, in the Ladakh region.

But of course, a speech does not make an industry. But some history, and a major player could. As Ansari noted, “Though India has been one of the earliest countries to begin geothermal projects way back in the 1970s, geothermal energy has not emerged as a significant renewable energy option in the country,” he said, adding that the national mission to ensure energy security propels us to look seriously at new and renewable energy options. The first pilot binary 5 kilo watt power plant was successfully operated by the Geological Survey of India at Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh in the 1980s.

The country will need some industrial might to match the political will. India’s Tata Power, looking to build some expertise in the field, has invested $50 million in Australian company Geodynamics, a 10% stake. Tata is putting up a 50 MW solar photovoltaic power project at Mithapur in Gujarat and is aiming at building a 5 MW geothermal project in the same state.

Located in the foothills of the Himalayas, Leh is in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and is set at 10,000 feet and above. The Puga valley geothermal field is also in Jammu and Kashmir and has been estimated to have a temperature of 240 C at a 5,000 foot depth. The vice president noted his confidence that the area could host the country’s first truly viable geothermal power plant.

Ansari said he hopes that the regulatory and policy environment governing renewable energy in general, and geothermal energy in particular, would evolve to enable India to realize the existing potential in Ladakh and deploy it for the public good. The country traveled this road a short distance 30 years ago. We’ll have to wait and see if this time, they turn around at the first stop sign, or continue on through.