Pak

geothermal
energy
resources have potential to
generate 100,000MW power:
Research
By Khalid Mustafa

March 23, 2016

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is found to have been blessed with the potential of huge
geothermal energy recourses that could generate 100,000MW electricity at the
cost of 5-10 cents per unit depending upon different locations of the power
plants, reveals the research of Pakistani scientist Javed Ahmad that has been
published in the US.
More importantly, the US have offered Pakistan $7-8 billion equipment for the
exploitation of mammoth resources of geothermal energy resources. The said
resources are abundantly found in all the four federating units of Pakistan.
Geothermal energy is the heat from the earth and a free renewable, clean and
sustainable source which can meet the increasing energy needs of the world.
Geothermal energy in the form of hot water, steam springs, geysers and
underground hot aquifers are available in the world including Pakistan.
Geothermal energy is used for electricity generation, space heating and cooling
of buildings, supply of hot water, green houses, fish farming and setting up of
small industries requiring heat.
The worlds geothermal energy resources are 80 times more than all the known
oil reserves in the world. Based on the recent estimates, the total geothermal
energy potential available in the world could exceed the present electricity
generation and direct energy produced by all the resources. Geothermal energy
resources have been identified in 90 countries of the world which are using
these resources.
The research of Javed Ahmad was acknowledged by the US experts during the
US-Pakistan clean energy business opportunities conference held on December
1-2, 2015 held in Washington DC. Now Minister for Water and Power Khawaja
Muhammad Asif has included the geothermal energy in the policy for
development of renewable energy for power generation which is a milestone
decision of the incumbent government. And the government decision to include
geothermal in the renewable resources policy will unfold a series of
opportunities for investors to exploit the potential of this resource in the country
for electricity production.

Javed Ahmad told The News that he is working on the evaluation of clean
geothermal energy resources of Pakistan for the last five years and presented
his research in the international forum and due to his efforts geothermal energy
for power generation has been recognised as clean renewable resource
available in Pakistan.
The US experts have acknowledged my research according to which the
presence of hot water and steam, springs, famaroles and geysers have been
identified in Northern Himalayas, Javed said. The research has identified mud
volcanoes, hot geothermal fluids in Balochistan province and dormant
volcanoes, hot magmatic waters at 150 degrees centigrade in Chagai volcanic
Arc in Balochistan province. The research has also pinpointed hydrocarbon basin
related co-produced geothermal waters with temperature of 80-170 degrees
centigrade in Sindh. In addition, there are 300 dry, depleted and abandoned oil
and gas wells which can be used for geothermal energy development.
Javed also offered his services to immediately generate 5,000MW electricity and
provide heating and cooling of the federal, provincial, defence and diplomatic
buildings from geothermal energy available in Pakistan to reduce energy
shortages and saving oil and gas resources to be used for other industries.