{"id":58549,"date":"2025-11-06T19:31:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=58549"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:19:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:49:58","slug":"india-geothermal-energy-pilot-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-11-2025\/india-geothermal-energy-pilot-project","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Largest Geothermal Energy Technology Pilot Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, <strong>Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)<\/strong> has announced plans to establish <strong>India\u2019s largest geothermal energy technology<\/strong> pilot project in <strong>Araku Valley and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>About Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)<\/strong><br>&#8211; It is a <strong>joint venture<\/strong> of four public sector undertakings (PSUs) like NTPC Limited,&nbsp; Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Grid Corporation of India under the <strong>Union Ministry of Power<\/strong>.<br>&#8211; It was established <strong>to lead large-scale energy efficiency projects<\/strong> across India, acting as a \u2018<strong>Super ESCO\u2019 (Energy Service Company).<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Other Key Initiatives By EESL:<\/strong><br>1. <strong>UJALA<\/strong>: Distribution of LED bulbs and appliances;<br>2. <strong>Smart Metering:<\/strong> Deployment of advanced metering infrastructure;<br>3. <strong>National Efficient Cooking Programme (NECP):<\/strong> Promoting induction cookers to reduce cooking costs;<br>4. <strong>Energy Efficient Fans Programme (EEFP):<\/strong> Distribution of BLDC fans nationwide.<br><strong>Araku Valley<\/strong><br>&#8211; It is located in the <strong>Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district of Andhra Pradesh <\/strong>in Eastern Ghats.<br>&#8211; Galikonda Hill is located in it.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Geothermal Energy (Geo = Earth, Thermal=Heat)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is the heat stored <strong>within the Earth&#8217;s crust, <\/strong>and comes from the <strong>natural heat of the Earth<\/strong> primarily <strong>due to the decay<\/strong> of the naturally <strong>radioactive isotopes<\/strong> of uranium, thorium and potassium.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On average, the<strong> temperature of the Earth increases with depth<\/strong>, about <strong>25\u201330\u00b0C\/km<\/strong> above the surface ambient temperature (geothermal gradient).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The heat is transferred from the interior towards the surface <strong>mostly by conduction.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Types:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>High-enthalpy Resources:<\/strong> Often associated with volcanic regions, geysers and hot springs are <strong>primarily used for electricity generation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low to Medium-enthalpy Resources:<\/strong> Such as hot rocks and shallow ground layers, are better suited for <strong>direct-use applications<\/strong> and <strong>geothermal heat pumps.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Geothermal plants offer <strong>high capacity utilization (&gt;80%)<\/strong>, reliable baseload supply, and <strong>no recurring fuel costs<\/strong>, making them economically viable in the long term.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These are <strong>capital-intensive and site-specific<\/strong>, requiring high upfront investment in exploration, drilling, and infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Geo-Thermal Capacity<\/strong> <strong>(15.4 GW):<\/strong> United States, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, and New Zealand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Geothermal Potential Sites in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Geological Survey of India (GSI),<\/strong> since 1973, has <strong>identified 381 hot springs<\/strong> with surface temperatures ranging from 35\u00b0C to 89\u00b0C.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It can be utilized effectively, with advancements in <strong>Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)<\/strong> and <strong>Advanced Geothermal Systems (AGS).<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India <\/strong>falls <strong>within a medium to low heat enthalpy zone (100\u2013180\u00b0C),<\/strong>&nbsp; spread across <strong>10 geothermal provinces.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>\u2018Geothermal Atlas of India, 2022\u2019<\/strong> estimated the potential of about 10,600 MW of geothermal power in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e9efe9\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"709\" height=\"822\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Geothermal-Potential-Sites-in-India-pic.webp\" alt=\"geothermal map of india\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-58575\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e9efe9; width:557px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Geothermal-Potential-Sites-in-India-pic.webp 709w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Geothermal-Potential-Sites-in-India-pic-259x300.webp 259w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/andhra-pradesh\/eesl-to-set-up-indias-largest-geothermal-energy-technology-pilot-project-in-andhra-pradesh\/article70243182.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Recently, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has announced plans to establish India\u2019s largest geothermal energy technology pilot project in Araku Valley and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>About Geothermal Energy (Geo = Earth, Thermal=Heat)<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It is the heat stored within the Earth&#8217;s crust, and comes from the natural heat of the Earth primarily due to the decay of the naturally radioactive isotopes of uranium, thorium and potassium.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">On average, the temperature of the Earth increases with depth, about 25\u201330\u00b0C\/km above the surface ambient temperature (geothermal gradient).<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The heat is transferred from the interior towards the surface mostly by conduction.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-11-2025\/india-geothermal-energy-pilot-project\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":58625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/india-geothermal-energy.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58549"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58598,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58549\/revisions\/58598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}