HYDERABAD, 29 Apr: Centre for Earth Sciences & Himalayan Studies (CESHS) Director Tana Tage delivered a presentation on action plans and progress made towards harnessing geothermal energy from the Arunachal Himalayas during a brainstorming session on geothermal energy organised by the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute here recently.
“Arunachal Pradesh offers huge potential for tapping geothermal energy as more than 100 hotsprings sites have been identified during a survey conducted jointly by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo and Geotropy, Iceland,” Tage informed.
He added that geochemical tests were successfully carried out at IIT Roorkee, and are being crossed-verified by the central instrumentation laboratory of Bhatinda (Punjab)-based Central University.
Earlier, Dr Ravichandran from the union earth sciences ministry stressed on developing a “resource potential map for geothermal energy” in order to enhance survey activities for geothermal exploration and initiate a pilot project to showcase the effectiveness of geothermal potential in the country.
“There is a need to evaluate technical feasibility and economic viability for the proposed work,” he said,and called for “robust collaborations among various entities, including national research institutes, state organisations, industries, and other relevant stakeholders.”
Oil India Chairman and Managing Director Ranjith Rath advocated reviving the existing deep bore wells originally drilled for hydrocarbon exploration to harness geothermal energy.
He informed also that the CESHS and Oil India Limited would carry out research studies on the abundant deep and shallow oil wells in Arunachal and Assam.
ONGC Energy Centre Director General Ravi shared insights into recent endeavours in Ladakh, and explained the ambitious plans to construct deep bores of 1 MW energy-generating wells.
The meeting was organised at the behest of the NITI Aayog to constitute a “consortium of geothermal energy towards harnessing 10 MW geothermal energy by 2030.”
