Speaking about the National Policy on Geothermal Energy, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said that preliminary estimates suggest 10 GW capacity for geothermal energy in India, and the government is working with states to incentivise harnessing of geothermal energy under their existing policies to promote renewable energy.
For instance, the state government of Uttarakhand is expected to release its geothermal energy policy soon.
Stating that geothermal power can reduce the cost of power procurement in far-flung areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and the Andaman & Nicobar islands, the MNRE said that waste heat from abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Cambay can be tapped profitably at a shallow depth. Geothermal power potential will also be assessed at the Barren Island volcano located in the Andaman & Nicobar region.
Pointing to the NITI Aayog’s future projections of a large growth in power demand on account of cooling and air-conditioning, MNRE indicated that a pilot project is underway for geothermal cooling for air-conditioning systems. Highlighting that the production of geothermal energy may need Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to offset the initial cost of ₹10 per unit, MNRE expects unit economics to make the process cheaper with scale.
In July, CNBC-TV18 had reported about India’s maiden commercial project to generate power from geothermal energy, citing a government source. IIT Madras is conducting a feasibility study for 2 years at 3 idle oil wells at a cost of ₹18.93 crores. 450 kW of energy is being considered by retrofitting unproductive oil and gas wells into geothermal wells at the Raageswari Gas field in Barmer in Rajasthan.
IIT Madras and Cairn Vedanta are slated to enter a legal contract for project implementation, O&M arrangement, IPR, PPA, etc. While the revenue accrued from the sale of electricity will be used by IIT Madras for O&M, further Geothermal resource assessment, and Geothermal Research, Cairn Energy will have to pay the depreciated cost of the machinery and equipment in case it wants to retain it after the end of the research.
The research aims to increase the production of feasible electricity from geothermal energy of unused oil and gas reservoirs for commercialization. The reservoirs will be classified based on the reserves in place, PVT analysis, APl gravity, geological structure, geomechanical characterization, geothermal gradient, and reservoir temperature, etc,. to harvest geothermal energy from the gas reservoir. The process will involve estimation and projection of outlet temperatures and revenue generation from the Geothermal and gas production, along with setting up of the surface facility (ORC) plant and transmission of 450 kWh power to the Grid.
Currently, geothermal energy is being used for captive power production at select areas in India. Global geothermal capacity stood at 15.4 GW in 2019, with over 23% installed in the US. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pegged global geothermal energy potential between 35 GW and 2 TW. Iceland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Kenya, Costa Rica, and El Salvador generate over 15% of their total power from geothermal energy.