India: Geothermal Energy is Crucial for India's Energy Security

Expectations 2016: Fueling India's Future (businessworld.in)

Government wants to develop 1,000 MWe Geothermal by 2030.

Considering the anticipated enormous energy demand in India, it is important to look beyond traditional sources of energy and other widely-discussed sources of renewable energy. India must look at off-grid solutions and geothermal energy also.

The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has assessed the potential of generating 10,600 MW of heat and electricity from 340 hot springs spread across seven geothermal provinces in 11 states. In order to incentivize investment in the sector, the government has recently released the Draft National Policy on Geo-Thermal Energy which seeks to put in place various support measures for projects in the geo-thermal energy sector including providing land on lease for these projects, providing 100 % Foreign Direct Investment in the renewable energy sector and soft loans at concessional interest rates for supporting exploration activities.

Geothermal energy is crucial for India's energy security. Similarly, off-grid solutions must be looked at to supply power especially to those living in areas distant from existing transmission lines or in areas with lower population density.

The government of India wants to deploy 1,000 MW (thermal) and 20 MW (electricity) geothermal energy capacity in the initial phase till 2022, and 10,000 MW (thermal) & 1000 MW (electricity) by 2030.

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