PANAJI: Drilling of the first hot spring well, which will become the fuel for the country’s maiden geothermal energy unit in the Puga Valley of Ladakh being developed by ONGC, will be completed by September, giving a major push to the nation’s effort to move more towards green energy.
The Union renewable energy ministry has identified over 200 locations to set up geothermal energy units, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters here during the four-day-long India Energy Week.
The country has huge potential of around 10,600 mw of geothermal power from the over 350 hot springs across 10 states. Among them the most promising area is the Puga Valley, where ONGC is developing the nation’s first 10-mw geothermal power unit. Geothermal technology taps high-temperature reservoirs for electricity generation and direct heating. Other key regions include the Himalayan Arc, Cambay Graben in Gujarat, Son-Narmada-Tapti lineament, and the West Coast mainly Maharashtra.
The Geological Survey of India has identified major hotspots in the Himalayas (Puga, Manikaran, Chhumathang), Chhattisgarh (Tattapani), Gujarat (Cambay), and Maharashtra (Ganeshpuri).
Geothermal energy taps into natural geysers for power, aiming to serve remote areas and beyond electricity generation, geothermal energy is used for direct applications, including greenhouses, space heating in cold regions and aquaculture.
The national policy on geothermal energy, 2025 aims to accelerate exploration, enhance commercial use, and integrate this renewable source into the nation’s net-zero goal by 2070.
While other green energy sources like wind and solar has limited generational time, geothermal power unit can provide consistent, 24/7 baseload power. This also has low land usage, and helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels. But the biggest challenge is the high initial exploration costs, technical expertise requirements for deep drilling, and location-specific constraints.
“We will be completing the drilling of the first hot spring well for ONGC by September in the Puga Valley facility. This well, we hope, will be able to generate 1 mw of the planned 10 mw unit initially, which we are developing for ONGC,” Ashish Liladhar Agarwal, chief executive of Seors, a Ruia (Essar Group) family venture, told TNIE here Friday.
Agarwal said drilling the well is the most critical and the riskiest part in developing a geothermal unit, as the quality of the well decides the quantum of power that can be generated. Rest of the work is much simpler.
Seros’ initial assessment shows that the Puga Valley has the potential to generate at least 350 mw of power. Each megawatt of geothermal power entails an investment of at least Rs 20 crore, making this source of power very costly but its 24x7 generational capability with zero emissions and full reuse of the water (as the residual water is pumped down to the hot spring) makes it the most reliable and greenest source of energy.
Seros has been working on the project in the past two years, he said, adding most of the time was spent on bringing the equipment to the area because of the geographical peculiarities of the region, poor roads and the weather conditions which allows only three months of working time.
Seros is the only and the first domestic firm having the knowhow of developing geothermal power. This integrated energy solutions company based in Mumbai and set by the Ruia brothers five years ago as a family concern, is also into shipping with a fleet of 19 vessels, making it the largest private sector fleet operator; offshore services for the hydrocarbon sector; drilling with 25 operational rigs; and maritime logistics. It provides services like hydraulic fracturing, oil well services, and CBM (coal bed methane) project support besides offering end-to-end solutions for the oil and gas industry, including 3,000 HP rigs for deep and deviated drilling.