ONGC signs pact to set up India’s first Geothermal project in Leh
A tri-party MoU has been signed for the setting up of India’s first geothermal field development project in Leh by ONGC Energy Center…
A historic tripartite agreement has been signed to establish India’s first geothermal field development project in Leh, Ladakh. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the first developmental conference held here on Saturday.
The pact has been signed between the Union Territory Administration of Ladakh, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) – Leh and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Energy Center in the presence of Lieutenant Governor R K Mathur and MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the ONGC Energy Centre by Ladakh Power Development Department Administrative Secretary Ravinder Kumar and the LAHDC Chief Executive Officer Sachin Kumar Vaishya.
The Phase-1 of this pilot project, plans to generate 1 MW of power capacity that will be supplied to the general public as 100 percent free power, stated the spokesperson of ONGC Energy Centre, the implementing agency for this pilot project.
While in Phase-2, a deeper and lateral exploration of the geothermal reservoir shall be undertaken by drilling the maximum number of wells and setting up a higher capacity demo plant in Ladakh, subsequently Phase-3 will be a commercial project based on the discovered capacity, the spokesperson said.
“The Lieutenant Governor said the signing of the MoU with ONGC for the first geothermal project in India may be a promising initiative for innovative and sustainable development of Ladakh as well as a step towards achieving the goal of carbon-neutral Ladakh.”
He emphasized the need to study and learn from other countries about tourism and developing greenhouses around the geothermal project.
Mathur expressed thanks for the ONGC Energy Centre’s initiation and urged it to carry out the project at the earliest possible and to ramp up to 200 MW capacity for a greater benefit.
ONGC Energy Centre Director General Sanjeev S Katti gave a summary of the pilot project and describes that the energy from this project would provide power 24 hours a day and that hot water from the spring could set up space-heating and hot swimming pools that can attract tourists.
