India Unlocks Geothermal Power: 5 Pilot Projects Greenlit

The Central Government has approved five pilot geothermal energy projects under India’s first-ever national geothermal energy policy, aimed at tapping into the country’s estimated 10 GW geothermal potential.

“We have approved five projects initially, each using different techniques,” said Santosh Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Key Projects:

Barmer, Rajasthan: ₹15 crore pilot project to extract geothermal energy from Vedanta’s abandoned oil fields., Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh: Geothermal heating system for a military base.

Other initiatives:

Validation of geothermal-based cooling systems, Development of shallow geothermal systems, Hybrid energy projects combining geothermal and solar power., To promote sectoral growth, 

the government is considering a range of fiscal incentives, including:

Viability Gap Funding (VGF), Tax exemptions, Import facilitation for geothermal equipment

India is also pursuing international collaborations with countries such as the US, Iceland, and Norway to adopt global best practices in exploration, resource assessment, and technology deployment.

News by Rahul Yelligetti.