Govt looks at geothermal sources for electricity
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology to conduct a survey and present a report to U’khand government
DEHRADUN: The state government is mulling to develop electricity from geothermal sources (hot springs) at Badrinath and other identified geothermal sources in the Himalayan state, it was announced on Friday.
A pilot project will be initiated in this regard and Dehradunbased Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) will conduct a survey and research and present a report to the government.
Harak Singh Rawat, minister for energy and renewable energy, made the announcement after meeting a delegation from the Embassy of Iceland, which proposed a project for generating electricity from geo-thermal sources in the state. The Iceland delegation was led by Ambassador Gudni Bragason.
Rawat said after a technical survey, the government will take technological and financial help from Iceland in this project. He said there was a hot spring Tamptkund in Badrinath which can be used for providing electricity to Badrinath Temple Committee and dharamshala there.
Under the aegis of the 2007 Indo-Iceland Renewable Energy Cooperation memorandum of understanding (MoU), Iceland Geo Survey and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) have signed an agreement to set up India’s first geothermal power plant in Puga valley, Ladakh.
HT had earlier reported that WIHG has identified over 70 hot springs in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where geothermal energy can be used to generate electricity up to five megawatts from one hot spring.
WIHG director Kalachand Sain said they identified around 40 hot springs in Uttarakhand and 35 in Himachal Pradesh. He said of these 40 hot springs in Uttarakhand, 50% have electricity generation capabilities and further studies are being conducted for the rest of the hot springs in both the Himalayan states.
Sain said in the Himalayan region, there are certain places where the surface temperature is very high (around 90 degrees Celsius) and with water percolating down around 400-500 metre, one can get another 50-60 degrees Celsius. “Combining these two, the temperature increases a lot. By geo-scientific studies such places can be found out and with hot springs in such places, the water carries the thermal energy along with it to the surface. This energy can be tapped and used for generating electricity,” said Sain.
Hot springs or geothermal sources are formed in the Himalayan region when water percolating down the surface of the Earth reaches a geo-thermal (energy generated and stored in Earth) point and gets an exit through a thermal vent. The more and more one goes deep inside the Earth, temperature keeps increasing due to different types of thermal activities already taking place under the surface of the Earth. These can be volcanic activities, formation of rocks, movement of tectonic plates; which release heat and energy. When a water source passes nearby these zones (where thermal activities are taking place) it carries the heat source along with it and releases through thermal vents as hot springs
According to experts, geothermal points in the Himalayan region are scattered along the geological fault line of Main Central Thrust (the geological fault line where the Indian plate has pushed the Eurasian plate along the Himalaya), and hot springs are found along this fault line.
According to the Department of Science and Technology of the central government, the “Himalayas hosts about 600 geothermal springs having varied temperature and chemical conditions.”
The official website of the department states that in another study done by WIHG itself, which investigated and characterised the gas emissions from Himalayan geothermal springs, it was “found that these springs which cover about 10,000 square km in the Garhwal region of Himalaya, show a significant discharge of Carbon dioxide (CO2) rich water.”