Govt invites comments on draft policy for geothermal energy

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sought public comments on the draft National Policy on Geo-Thermal Energy.
The comments on the policy can be submitted by December 10, said an official order on the website of the Ministry.
Geothermal energy is the heat stored in the earth's crust. This source of energy is being used for electric generation and also for direct heat application worldwide since the beginning of the last century.
Government wants to deploy 1,000 MW(therm) and 20 MW(elect) geothermal energy capacity in the initial phase till 2022, and 10,000 MW(therm) & 1000 MW(elect) by 2030.
This source of energy can also help in mitigating demand side electricity requirement by deploying ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) and retrofitting the existing HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) systems with Geo-exchange based system.

The total installed capacity for global geothermal power generation was estimated to be around 12.8 gigawatt (GW) till 2014.
The Ministry is also planning to encourage international collaboration with the world leaders in geothermal energy like the USA, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico and New Zealand for support to accelerate deployment of geothermal energy by international investment promotion.