Ahappy as well as historic moment for Ladakh was delightfully witnessed on February 6 in respect of a project proposed to be set up at Leh for establishing the Geothermal Field Development enterprise . It is historic and carrying importance of its own in that it would be the country’s first ever such type of project. It is , however, only a fact that it is a powerful source of renewable energy but unfortunately less talked about hence less known in terms of its benefits and being economically cheaper too. In fact, in easy parlance, this project is all about generating geothermal energy to be used for both heating as well cooling purposes and even harnessed for generating electricity. This heat, technically speaking , is derived from the surface of the earth . Water or steam carry the geothermal energy up to the surface of the earth for utilization for various most useful purposes . We note that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) having been signed at Leh between the UT Administration Ladakh, LAHDC-Leh and ONGC Energy Centre, all in the presence of the Lieutenant Governor and other officials for setting up this project , novel of its kind , at Puge in Leh. So far so good but it should not meet the uncertain fate like that of the mega project of setting up of two Solar Parks in Leh and Kargil with a total capacity of 7500 Megawatt capacity . In other words , while the new project with all its ambitions to come up at Leh would really prove one of the turning points in the fastest development of Ladakh, it has got to be ensured right from the start that it did not run into problems and suffer avoidable hiccups. This one MW pilot project , once becoming operational could prove useful tremendously for households in that this geothermal power could be used for bringing the home temperature in tune with earth temperature to keep the houses heated (or even cooled) and Ladakh being a cold desert , it verily needs such a type of energy . Ladakh , as such , was poised to achieve carbon – neutrality and clean power . Though Ladakh was blessed with a good potential for all types of energy like solar, wind, hydro and (now) geothermal , what was needed is to tap and harness the same in phased and planned way which would, besides helping the region in getting economically move much forward and become a viable region economically , at the same time such a large potential of clean and green energy would contribute towards neutralising carbon content in the region . In fact , this is the known mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to see Ladakh emerging as carbon neutral region. With each new project and developing of requisite infrastructure, job opportunities and ancillary economic activities laced with generating direct and indirect means of livelihood would creep up. In addition to it, since warm swimming pools and other facilities would come up simultaneously ,thanks to the new proposed project , tourist activities would get a fillip for further progress of the region. It is heartening to note that it is envisaged that 24×7 basis 100 percent free power would be supplied to the public from out of this project so far as its phase 1 was concerned . Additional phases 2 and 3 too would be made operational in due course. While phase two would be in the shape of more exploration of the geothermal reservoir and the third phase would ultimately result into its going commercial . We used to read that deeper we go , the warmer it is, and it is that principle which in simpler sense, works behind the project , to bring about the inner heat of the earth out which is called geothermal heat or energy which has added advantage of being cheaper on comparative basis in terms of costs and are e poised to see it in practical shape for the first time in the country benefitting the people of the region . Delightfully , Ladakh is poised to crown and claim this distinction .
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