• State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said it will implement India's maiden geothermal field development project in Ladakh that will use the heat generated by the Earth's core to generate clean energy.

    • A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise this has been inked by ONGC Energy Centre (OEC) with the Union Territory of Ladakh and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh on February 6.

    • This project of ONGC will put India on geothermal power map of the world.

    • ONGC has planned this field development in Ladakh in three phases:

        a. Phase I: involves exploratory-cum-production drilling of wells up to 500 metres depth and setting up of a pilot plant of up to 1 megawatt (MW) power capacity.

        b. Phase II: would involve a deeper and lateral exploration of the geothermal reservoir by drilling of an optimal number of wells and setting up of a higher capacity demo plant and preparing a detailed project report.

        c. Phase III: would involve commercial development of the geothermal plant.

    • Puga and Chumathang in Eastern Ladakh happen to be the most promising geothermal fields in India.

    • These areas were discovered in the 1970s and initial exploratory efforts were made in 1980s by the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

    • Geothermal resource development can revolutionise farming in Ladakh, which is now totally dependent for supply of fresh vegetables, fruits from outside the UT round the year.

Geothermal Energy

    • Geothermal energy is an energy source that is stored in the form of heat beneath the earth's surface, which is clean, renewable, sustainable, carbon-free, continuous, uninterrupted and environment-friendly.

    • It is clean and is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

    • It is the only renewable energy available 24x7 to mankind not requiring storage and unaffected by day-night or seasonality variance.

    • Geothermal power plants have average availabilities of 90 per cent or higher, compared with about 75 per cent for coal plants.

    • India has seven geothermal provinces and a number of geothermal springs.

    • Geothermal resources in India have been mapped by GSI and broad estimate suggests that there could be 10 gigawatt (GW) geothermal power potential, as per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)