The country’s first-ever geothermal field development project will be coming up in Puga, Ladakh. This is being facilitated by the Administration of the Union Territory of Ladakh, which has signed a tripartite agreement with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Energy Centre and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh. The project will help in taking a step further for carbon-neutral Ladakh.

Geothermal energy is the power that is generated from heat that comes from the sub-surface of the earth, contained in rocks and fluids beneath the earth’s crust. Wells are dug up a mile deep into underground reservoirs to access steam and hot water to produce power from geothermal energy. This energy can then be used to drive turbines connected to electricity generators.

The project in Ladakh will be executed in a phased manner, with phase-I being the pilot project. Under this pilot, 1 mw will be generated, and the general public will get 100 per cent free power supply. ONGC Energy Centre will set up an agency for this pilot project.

Under phase-II, officials will dive deep in the lateral exploration of geothermal reservoir, and this will be done by drilling an optimal number of wells. A high-capacity demo plant will also be set up in Ladakh. Depending on the discovered capacity, the plan is to make this a commercial project under phase-III. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the first developmental conclave held at Leh.