The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Move to tap geo-thermal power

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 27, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Move to tap geo-thermal power

M. Malleswara Rao

Area stretching from Hyderabad to Ongole, has a thick and contiguous layer of granite

HYDERABAD: And now power generation is planned from heat trapped below granite rock in Andhra Pradesh.

A vast area stretching from Hyderabad to Ongole, has a thick and contiguous layer of granite about a km below the earth’s surface. A survey conducted by independent agencies indicated that this rock layer is always hot, maintaining a temperature of 300 centigrade, according to Lingaraj Panigrahi, MD, Non-Conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP).

If holes are drilled into these rocks and water pumped in, the steam thus generated can generate power. Mr Panigrahi said geo-thermal power is generated only at one place in India, Pagu Valley in Kashmir, for 0.25 MW from hot springs. A hot spring near Manuguru in Khammam district, it was estimated, could be used to generate 100-MW plant.

The Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute is instrumental in setting up the Pagu plant. If the State taps the heat below the surface for generating power, it will be the first State in the country to enter this new area.

Geo-Syndicate, a private enterprise in collaboration with IIT, Mumbai, which successfully commissioned a 20-MW plant in Australia recently using heat below the earth’s surface has estimated that a capacity of over 2,000 MW could be created in the granite belt in the State. It recently made a presentation to the Chief Minister on its proposal to set up a series of power plants.

Mr. Panigrahi said the Government, in turn, proposed that the company could conduct a survey of the granite belt and offered to offset the cost of the survey by allotment of land in the belt. He said some power plants using this technology were already functioning in Philippines.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail