GEG Successfully Breaks Ground on Geothermal Cooling Project in India

GEG and the Local Drilling Team Have Managed to Obtain the Required Threshold Temperature for Cooling Following the Official Start of the Drilling Process in the Himachal Pradesh!

GEG CRO Vijay Chauhan (third from the left) and the local drilling team at the first drilling site

06 September 2022 — GEG ehf.’s Chief Research Officer (CRO) Dr. Chauhan has been on location in Northern India with a local drilling team, in order to begin operations on our geothermal cooling (GeoCool) project. The direct use project will utilize the resource within the Himachal Pradesh to provide a cold storage solution for local apple farmers’ produce. 

This will ideally contribute towards increased food security in the region, and will support the overall economy. The collective efforts of GEG’s geothermal cooling project in India greatly reflect our commitment to social sustainability in all of our projects. This project has also been supported by a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iceland, through their Business Partnership Fund for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — also known as the Sustainable Development Goals Partnership Fund. 

Last week, GEG and the team of local experts delivered the necessary equipment to the project site and stationed the drilling rig in the target area. Following this, the drilling work could finally begin.

With operations officially kicking off on 31 August, GEG is proud to report back that on the first attempt the tapped resource has already proved to be extremely fruitful. The temperature measured at the surface of the first drilling site was 78 degrees C, and close to the boiling point going towards the bottom of the drilled well. This is very exciting news for the future of our cold storage project.

Our CRO’s discovery during the early survey and exploratory work, that the project area’s potential was even greater than his initial estimation, appears to have been accurate so far.

This week, GEG and the dedicated local drilling team are already pushing on to the next drilling site. Check out our LinkedIn page for more updates on the India geothermal cooling project, and to see more photos of the ongoing work in the area as operations continue to progress!

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Read more about our ongoing projects around the world:

Meeting in Delhi between GEG’s CRO and the Chief Minister of the Himachal Pradesh

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Caribbean geothermal development picking up

The Caribbean region depends heavily on diesel for power generation, which is a big concern based on the uncertainty of oil prices and energy security, as well as for climate change concerns.

There is a huge push for utilising renewable energy technology to clean up power generation in the region and help the island states to tap into local energy resources, such as solar, wind … and geothermal. With most of the Caribbean being of volcanic origin there are huge geothermal resources and many islands have been looking into tapping this source for power generation.

There are several development efforts and support by multi-lateral organisations, such as development banks, as well as various government efforts by e.g. the U.S., New Zealand, the UK and others.

To take an example, one can take Montserrat, a UK overseas territory. Montserrat has been able to tap into funding from DfID in the UK for development activities. So far two wells have been drilled, with drilling of a third well under preparation, as we reported. The resource is though relatively small but so is the actual energy demand. So the project could have a large impact in securing energy for the island state. But the future will show how and if the project can attract private funding or some development under a public private partnership.

The situation is similar for the other island states such as Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other.

For all those islands, smaller scale geothermal plants are the best option. Not only would it improve the funding situation, but also help those islands to quickly develop projects that can fuel the demand for electricity from clean and renewable energy sources.

For a great review on the current status of development see: ThinkGeoEnergy