India plans its First Commercial Geothermal Plant in Rajasthan

• India’s first geothermal power project to generate 450 kW will launch in Barmer, Rajasthan.
• IIT Madras and Cairn Vedanta to partner on a ₹18.93 crore, two-year feasibility study.
• Power will be fed into the grid, aiming to tap unused oil wells for clean energy.

India is nearing its first commercial geothermal energy project to extract electricity from this renewable energy source.

According to sources in the government, an IIT Madras team will work over a two-year period on a feasibility study at three non-productive oil wells in the Raageswari gas field, Barmer (Rajasthan) and will invest ₹18.93 crore in the study. The goal is to fit out the three idle oil and gas wells to produce about 450 kW of geothermal energy.

IIT Madras and Cairn Vedanta (the Block partner of the oil & gas locations) will sign a legal agreement that will describe the planned implementation of the project, operations and maintenance, intellectual property rights and power purchase agreement.

Revenues from the sale of electricity will fund IIT Madras' research, operations and additional geothermal studies. Also, should Cairn Energy wish to retain any depreciated equipment after the research was completed, re-imbursement ultimately will be required.

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The aim of this project is to investigate the possibilities of commercial geothermal electricity from unused oil and gas reservoirs. Reservoirs will be evaluated for geological and thermal characteristics like geothermal gradient, API gravity and reservoir temperature.

The project will project outlet temperature, energy output, and projected revenue. An ORC plant will be installed to deliver 450 kWh to the electric grid. 

India currently only employs geothermal energy for captive use. Geothermal capacity globally was 15.4 GW in 2019, over 23% of which was in the U.S.

 The IPCC estimates the global geothermal potential to be between 35 GW to 2 TW. Countries such as Iceland, Kenya, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and the Philippines produce over 15% of their power from geothermal energy.