SEMINAR REPORT

ON
“GEOTHERMAL ENERGY”
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY

in

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

(SCHOOL OF RENEWABLE ENERGY & EFFICIENCY)

NIT KURUKSHETRA

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

PROF. A. SWARUP UMAR FAROOQ

ROLL NO 3127005

M.TECH (RES)

DEPARTMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS NATIONAL

INSTITUTE OF KURUKSHETRA
 CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION

2. HISTORY OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

3. HOW GEOTHERMAL ENERGY WORKS

4. GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT

5. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY BENEFITS

6. ADVANTAGES OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

7. DISADVANTAGES OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

8. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

9. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY COST

10.CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

11.GEOTHERMAL ENERGY SCENARIO: INDIA AND THE WORLD

12.MANIKARAN GEOTHERMAL FIELD, PĀRBATI VALLEY, KULU DISTRICT,

HIMACHAL PRADESH – A CASE STUDY

13.CONCLUSION

14.REFRENCES
 INTRODUCTION

Geothermal energy is the energy that lies within the earth. It is one of the most
renewable sources of energy which is never going to extinct and can be found
almost anywhere - as far away as remote deep wells or may be closer to your
home.

Energy inside the earth is never going to deplete and will remain as a source of
heat, for millions and millions of years and we can harness that energy that is
going to be cheaper and can help us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels
and global warming and public health issues that result from their use.

Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. The
Geothermal energy of the Earth's crust originates from the original formation
of the planet (20%) and from radioactive decay of minerals
(80%). The geothermal gradient, which is the difference in temperature
between the core of the planet and its surface, drives a continuous conduction
of thermal energy in the form of heat from the core to the surface.
At the core of the Earth, thermal energy is created by radioactive decay and
temperatures may reach over 5000 degrees Celsius (9,000 degrees
Fahrenheit). Heat conducts from the core to surrounding cooler rock. The high
temperature and pressure cause some rock to melt,
creating magma convection upward since it is lighter than the solid rock. The
magma heats rock and water in the crust, sometimes up to 370 degrees Celsius
(700 degrees Fahrenheit).
Worldwide, about 10,715 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power
is online in 24 countries. An additional 28 gigawatts of direct geothermal
heating capacity is installed for district heating, space heating, industrial
processes, desalination and agricultural applications.
Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable, and
environmentally friendly, but has historically been limited to areas
near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have
dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for
applications such as home heating, opening a potential for widespread
exploitation. Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within
the earth, but these emissions are much lower per energy unit than those of
fossil fuels. As a result, geothermal power has the potential to help
mitigate global warming if widely deployed in place of fossil fuels.

Geothermal energy works by drilling holes in the Underground

river and extraction of groundwater to the surface. Once at the surface this hot
water is circulated through pipes over an additional pipe containing a fluid that
has a lower boiling point.

This low boiling point means that the steam will be capable of
powering turbines to produce electricity. After the couple used to drive
turbines, condensed and recycled back into the system.

Recirculation of liquid water means that geothermal energy is

a renewable energy source and produce low emissions. Geothermal energy
produce few emissions harmful gases as the water contains small quantities of
nitric acid, sulphur and other contaminants that causes low pollution.
However, the amount released is less than 1% of carbon emitted or other
conventional energy sources. There are many advantages of geothermal
energy. It is pure: geothermal energy plants do not have to burn fuel to
produce steam turbines, which will help conserve and reduce consumption of
non-renewable fossil fuels, which in turn reduces emissions of greenhouse
gases. Moreover, geothermal plants use less land per megawatt than almost
any other kind of energy that does not damage the environment through dams
and mining.
History of Geothermal Energy

History says that the first use of geothermal energy occurred more than 10,000
years ago in North America by American Paleo-Indians. People used water
from hot springs for cooking, bathing and cleaning.

The first industrial use of geothermal energy began near Pisa, Italy in late 18th
century.

In 1904, Italian scientist Piero-Ginori Conti invented the first

geothermal electric power plant in which steam was used to generate the
power. With the above experiment, the first geothermal plant in USA started in
1922 with a capacity of 250 kilowatts. It produced little output and due to
technical glitch had to be shut down. However, in 1946 first ground-source
geothermal heat pump installed at Commonwealth Building in Portland,
Oregon. Today there are more than 60 geothermal power plants operating in
USA at 18 sites across the country.
 In 1973, when oil crisis began many countries began looking for
renewable energy sources and by 1980'sgeothermal heat pumps (GHP) started
gaining popularity in order to reduce heating and cooling costs.

As effect of climate change started showing results, governments

of various countries joined hands to fight against it, for which Kyoto Protocol
was signed in Japan in 1997, laid out emission targets for rich countries and
required that they transfer funds and technology to developing countries, 184
countries have ratified it.

Geothermal power today supplies less than 1% of the world's

energy, needs but it is expected to supply 10-20% of world's energy
requirement by 2050. Geothermal power plants today are operating in about
20 countries which are actively visited by earthquakes and volcanoes.

The International Geothermal Association (IGA) has reported that

10,715 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power in 24 countries is online, which
is expected to generate 67,246 GWh of electricity at present. This represents a
20% increase in online capacity since 2005. IGA projects growth to 18,500 MW
by 2015. In 2010, the United States led the world in geothermal electricity
production with 3,086 MW of installed capacity from 77 power plants. The
largest group of geothermal power plants in the world is located at The
Geysers, a geothermal field in California.The Philippines is the second highest
producer, with 1,904 MW of capacity online. Geothermal power makes up
approximately 18% of Philippine electricity generation.
How Geothermal Energy Works?

Our planet, Earth, is covered with the thick outer shell called
crust, which is made up of many different rock layers and plates whose
components keeps on shifting and changing. Under Earth's crust, there is a
layer of hot and molten rock called magma. Heat is continually produced there,
mostly from the decay of naturally radioactive materials such as uranium and
potassium.

The amount within the earth's surface contains 50,000 times

more energy than all the oil and natural gas resources in the world. So, due to
extreme heat inside the earth these rocks start developing cracks and release
energy in the form of water or heat on to the earth's surface.

To get that heat, water is pumped down an "injection well".

Then it filters through the cracks in the rocks where they are at a high
temperature. The water then returns via the "recovery well" under pressure in
the form of steam. That steam is captured and is used to drive electric
generators.

How much geothermal energy can be useful depends on

several factors for e.g.: location, how hot the water gets, the rocks inside the
earth and amount of water pumped into the area. If the rocks are not hot
enough or cool down naturally this presents a problem for geothermal power
stations.

The areas with the highest underground temperatures are in

regions with active or geologically young volcanoes and these hot spots occur
where the crust is thin and can let the heat through. The Pacific Rim, often
called the Ring of Fire for its many volcanoes, has many hot spots, including
some in Alaska, California, and Oregon.

Nevada has hundreds of hot spots, covering much of the northern part of the
state. For this reason geothermal power stations can be found in Italy, New
Zealand, Iceland, Japan, the Philippines and the United States. These are all
areas that contain volcanic rock.

Geothermal power plant

Geothermal Power Plant
The earth's crust is a rich source of energy and fossil fuels
are only part of the story. Thermal energy or heat is stored deep inside the
earth. To put it in perspective, the heat in the upper ten kilometres of the
Earth's crust is 50000 times the energy of all oil and gas reserves in the world!

The word "geothermal" literally means "Earth" plus "heat. Geothermal

Resources is the largest source of energy worldwide and used by people for
centuries. This is a renewable resource and can be produced over and over
again for years to come since earth has abundant amount of heat energy
stored inside it, therefore it will not disrupt the ecological balance of our
planet. Geothermal operating around the world is proof that the heat inside
the earth is easily converted to electricity in geologically active areas.

Deep underground there are rivers just like on the surface. They are
really hot, as the magma is close to the river or around them, warming the
surface of the rock. Geothermal plants are reliable and can be used 24 hours a
day, every day of the year. Because geothermal power plant sits on top of the
fuel source, they are less prone to the interventions in the production of
electricity due to weather, natural disasters or issues of transport; therefore it
is ideal for developing countries.

There four three types of geothermal steam plants depending on the way the
energy is generated:
1. Dry Steam Power Plant:

The first is the dry steam power plant which is used to generate power
directly from the steam generated inside the earth. In this case, we do
not need additional heating boilers and boiler fuel, as steam or water
vapour fill the wells through rock catcher and directly rotates the
turbine, which activates a generator to produce electricity. This type of
power plant is not common since natural hydrothermal reservoirs dry
steams are very rare.

Dry Steam Power Plant

2. Flash Steam Power Plant:

The most common type of geothermal power plant, flash steam plants
use waters at temperatures greater than 360F.
As this hot water flows up through wells in the ground, it is collected in a
flash tank where drop in pressure causes the liquid to boil into steam.
The steam is separated from the liquid which is then used to run
turbines which in turn generate power. The condensed steam is
returned to the reservoir.
3. Binary Steam Power Plant : This type of plant uses high temperature
geothermal water to heat another fluid which has a lower boiling point
than water. This fluid vaporizes to steam, drives the turbines, then
condenses to liquid to begin the cycle again. The water, which never
comes into direct contact with the working fluid, is then injected back
into the ground to be reheated. Since the most resources are with lower
temperature the binary steam power plants are more common.

Binary Steam Power Plant

 4. Hybrid power:
Some geothermal fields produce boiling water as Well as steam, which
are also used in power generation. In this system of power generation,
the flashed and binary systems are combined to make use of both steam
and hot water. Efficiency of hybrid power plants is however less than
that of the dry steam plan

Geothermal Energy benefits

Geothermal energy is renewable energy source and will continue to produce

energy for over several years since it's available in abundant at few selected
areas where volcanic activity takes place.

Below are few facts that many of you don't know. So, just have a look at them
and see how wind energy can become as the major source of power
generation if it is harnessed up to its potential.
1. Geothermal energy is the renewable source of energy because energy is
produced continuously inside the earth.
2. Geothermal energy is clean and safe and today supplies less than 10% of
world energy.
3. Geothermal energy has been in existence of over 100 years (since
ancient times) when people used to harness it for taking bath, heating
homes, cooking food etc.
4. The positioning of geothermal power stations is greatly affected by
geological activity. Areas with active volcanoes and earthquakes are
most suitable to extract geothermal energy.
5. Geothermal energy can be found in the form of volcanoes, hot springs
and geysers.
6. Basically three types of geothermal plants to extract energy from
beneath the earth: Dry steam, Flash steam, and Binary power plant.
7. Geothermal energy is used for heating homes and offices, generate
power, grow plants in greenhouses, under roads and sidewalks to
prevent ice formation.
8. Geothermal energy is one of the greatest sources of energy available on
the planet but due the geological reasons, we are not able to harness
the energy everywhere.
9. Geothermal energy has very low emissions of greenhouse gases and the
other gases that are produced during the process of extraction are not
harmful to the environment.
Advantages of Geothermal Energy
As our reliance on fossil fuels have started to increase, geothermal energy is
seen as the new source of power generation by digging out the heat stored
inside the earth. Though not used fully due to factors such as location and high
costs but in the years to come when fossil fuels would start to diminish, it will
turn out to be the cheapest source of power generation. Geothermal energy
suffers from its own advantages and disadvantages as described below.

Advantages of Geothermal Energy:

1. Significant Cost Saving : Geothermal energy generally involves low

running costs since it saves 80% costs over fossil fuels and no fuel is used
to generate the power. Since, no fuel is require so costs for purchasing,
transporting and cleaning up plants is quite low.
2. Reduce Reliance on Fossil Fuels : Dependence on fossil fuels decreases
with the increase in the use of geothermal energy. With the sky-
rocketing prices of oil, many countries are pushing companies to adopt
 these clean sources of energy. Burning of fossil fuels releases
greenhouse gases which are responsible for global warming.

3. No Pollution : This is one of the main advantage of using geothermal

energy since it does not create any pollution and help in creating clean
environment. Being the renewable source of energy, geothermal energy
has helped in reducing global warming and pollution. Moreover,
Geothermal systems does not create any pollution as it releases some
gases from deep within the earth which are not very harmful to the
environment.
4. Direct Use : Since ancient times, people having been using this source of
energy for taking bath, heating homes, preparing food and today this is
also used for direct heating of homes and offices. This makes geothermal
energy cheaper and affordable. Although the initial investment is quite
steep but in the long run with huge cost saving it proves quite useful.
Disadvantages Of Geothermal Energy
Energy created from geothermal power is safe, clean, simple, and reliable and
environment friendly as it is extracted from deep within the earth’s surface.
But despite these advantages, geothermal energy is not being used widely.
Geothermal energy suffers from its disadvantages as described below.

1. Not Widespread Source of Energy: Since this type of energy is not

widely used therefore the unavailability of equipment, staff,
infrastructure, and training pose hindrance to the installation of
geothermal plants across the globe. Not enough skilled manpower and
availability of suitable build location pose serious problem in adopting
geothermal energy globally.
2. High Installation Costs: To get geothermal energy, requires installation
of power plants, to get steam from deep within the earth and this
require huge one time investment and require to hire a certified installer
and skilled staff needs to be recruited and relocated to plant location.
Moreover, electricity towers, stations need to set up to move the power
from geothermal plant to consumer.
3. Can Run Out Of Steam : Geothermal sites can run out of steam over a
period of time due to drop in temperature or if too much water is
injected to cool the rocks and this may result huge loss for the
companies which have invested heavily in these plants. Due to this
factor, companies have to do extensive initial research before setting up
the plant.
4. Suited To Particular Region: It is only suitable for regions which have hot
rocks below the earth and can produce steam over a long period of time.
For this great research is required which is done by the companies
before setting up the plant and this initial cost runs up the bill in setting
up the geothermal power plant. Some of these regions are near hilly
areas or high up in mountains.
5. May Release Harmful Gases: Geothermal sites may contain some
poisonous gases and they can escape deep within the earth, through the
holes drilled by the constructors. The geothermal plant must therefore
be capable enough to contain these harmful and toxic gases.
6. Transportation: Geothermal Energy cannot be easily transported. Once
the tapped energy is extracted, it can be only used in the surrounding
areas. Other sources of energy like wood, coal or oil can be transported
to residential areas but this is not a case with geothermal energy. Also,
there is a fear of toxic substances getting released into the atmosphere.
Environmental effects
Fluids drawn from the deep earth carry a mixture of gases,
notably carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), methane (CH4)
and ammonia(NH3). These pollutants contribute to global warming, acid rain,
and noxious smells if released. Existing geothermal electric plants emit an
average of 122 kilograms (270 lb) of CO2 per megawatt-hour (MW·h) of
electricity, a small fraction of the emission intensity of conventional fossil fuel
plants.[43] Plants that experience high levels of acids and volatile chemicals are
usually equipped with emission-control systems to reduce the exhaust.
In addition to dissolved gases, hot water from geothermal sources
may hold in solution trace amounts of toxic elements such
as mercury,arsenic, boron, and antimony.[44] These chemicals precipitate as the
water cools, and can cause environmental damage if released. The modern
practice of injecting cooled geothermal fluids back into the Earth to stimulate
production has the side benefit of reducing this environmental risk.
Geothermal has minimal land and freshwater requirements.
Geothermal plants use 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) per gigawatt of
electrical production (not capacity) versus 32 square kilometres (12 sq mi) and
12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi) for coal facilities and wind
farms respectively. They use 20 litres (5.3 US gal) of freshwater per MW·h
versus over 1,000 litres (260 US gal) per MW·h for nuclear, coal, or oil.
Geothermal Energy Cost

Geothermal energy is the clean energy and has enormous

potential in fulfilling the energy needs for some of the countries. Geothermal
energy does not produce waste or generate greenhouse gases and is actually
free which means it costs nothing. Since it is the heat contained inside the
earth and that heat will be produced for long period of time even when non-
renewable resources would start to diminish.

However, to harness that energy comes with the price tag,

since you need some method to extract that energy from inside the earth. The
most common method to extract that energy is through the use of geothermal
power plant. The other method which is mostly used by residential households
is by the use of underground pipes. The investment costs, mainly in drilling and
equipment of the pipes accompanied by the cost of the pump.
 The main factors which can influence the decision for the
use of geothermal energy are geographical exploration to identify a suitable
site, development of the site, construction of the power plant, hire skilled
professionals who can operate the plant and transfer skilled manpower to
those locations. Other factors which also come into the picture are cost to the
environment, operation and maintenance.

If you are a residential consumer, the main costs

associated with it are labour, fitting of long pipes under the ground. However
that cost can soon be recovered within few years with the advantages that it
offers in the long term. Homes can have residential solar powered systems
that supply both heat and energy, along with a geothermal heating system.

If compared this cost to the installation of heating

system that uses fuel or and any other energy source, that cost of installing
and maintaining a geothermal heating system may cost more by a significant
amount. But, once the system is installed the costs associated with the
geothermal heating systems are much less than other heating systems.

Governments of various countries offer incentives and

rebates to residential as well as industries to make use of geothermal energy
where it is possible to harness that energy. Everyone pays huge bills to heat or
cool their homes that have long winters or hot an humid summers. Then cost
of geothermal energy can easily recovered in the long term advantages that
will accrue to the customer. Geothermal energy offers a great solution to high
energy bills. With this, your dependence on the fossil fuels will be decreased
and you will help in making this world pollution free.
 Characteristics and Applications of
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is an enormous, underused heat and power resource that
is clean (emits little or no greenhouse gases), reliable (average system
availability of 95%), and home grown (making us less dependent on foreign
oil). Geothermal resources range from shallow ground to hot water and rock
several miles below the Earth's surface, and even farther down to the
extremely hot molten rock called magma. Mile-or-more-deep wells can be
drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can
be brought to the surface for use in a variety of applications.

The general characteristics of geothermal energy that

make it of significant importance for both electricity production and direct use
include:
 Extensive global distribution; it is accessible to both developed and
developing countries.
 Environmentally friendly nature; it has low emission of sulphur, CO2 and other
greenhouse gases.
 Indigenous nature; it is independent of external supply and demand effects
and fluctuations in exchange rates.
 Independence of weather and season.
 Contribution to the development of diversified power sources.

Geothermal energy can be used very effectively in both on- and off-grid
developments, and is especially useful in rural electrification schemes.
Geothermal Energy Scenario: India and the
world

Geothermal power plants operated in at least 24 countries, and

geothermal energy was used directly for heat in at least 78 countries. These
countries currently have geothermal power plants with a total capacity of 10.7
GW, but 88% of it is generated in just seven countries: the United States, the
Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Italy, New Zealand, and Iceland. The most
significant capacity increases since 2004 were seen in Iceland and Turkey. Both
countries doubled their capacity. Iceland has the largest share of geothermal
power contributing to electricity supply (25%), followed by the
Philippines (18%).
The number of countries utilizing geothermal energy to
generate electricity has more than doubled since 1975, increasing from 10 in
1975 to 24 in 2004. In 2003, total geothermal energy supply was 20 MToE
(metric Tonne Oil Equivalent), accounting for 0.4% of total primary energy
supply in IEA member countries. The share of geothermal in total renewable
energy supply was 7.1%. Over the last 20 years, capital costs for geothermal
power systems decreased by a significant 50%. Such large cost reductions are
often the result of solving the “easier” problems associated with science and
technology improvement in the early years of development.
Although geothermal power development slowed in 2010,
with global capacity reaching just over 11 GW, a significant acceleration in the
rate of deployment is expected as advanced technologies allow for
development in new countries. Heat output from geothermal sources
increased by an average rate of almost 9% annually over the past decade, due
mainly to rapid growth in the use of ground-source heat pumps. Use of
geothermal energy for combined heat and power is also on the rise.
India has reasonably good potential for geothermal; the
potential geothermal provinces can produce 10,600 MW of power (but experts
are confident only to the extent of 100 MW). But yet geothermal power
projects has not been exploited at all, owing to a variety of reasons, the chief
being the availability of plentiful coal at cheap costs. However, with increasing
environmental problems with coal based projects, India will need to start
depending on clean and eco-friendly energy sources in future; one of which
could be geothermal.

Potential

It has been estimated from geological, geochemical, shallow geophysical and

shallow drilling data it is estimated that India has about 10,000 MWe of
geothermal power potential that can be harnessed for various purposes. Rocks
covered on the surface of India ranging in age from more than 4500 million
years to the present day and distributed in different geographical units. The
 rocks comprise of Archean, Proterozoic, the marine and continental
Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, Teritary, Quaternary etc., More than 300 hot spring
locations have been identified by Geological survey of India (Thussu, 2000).
The surface temperature of the hot springs ranges from 35 C to as much as 98
C. These hot springs have been grouped together and termed as different
geothermal provinces based on their occurrence in specific geotectonic
regions, geological and strutural regions such as occurrence in orogenic belt
regions, structural grabens, deep fault zones, active volcanic regions etc.,
Different orogenic regions are – Himalayan geothermal province, Naga-Lushai
geothermal province, Andaman-Nicobar Islands geothermal province and non-
orogenic regions are – Cambay graben, Son-Narmada-Tapi graben, west coast,
Damodar valley, Mahanadi valley, Godavari valley etc.
 Puga Valley (J&K)
 Tatapani (Chhattisgarh)
 Godavari Basin Manikaran (Himachal Pradesh)
 Bakreshwar (West Bengal)
 Tuwa (Gujarat)
 Unai (Maharashtra)
 Jalgaon (Maharashtra)

Historical Capacity & Consumption Data

There is no installed geothermal generating capacity as of now and only direct
uses (eg.Drying) have been detailed.
Current Projects
There are no operational geothermal plants in India.
Estimated (min.)
reservoir Temp
Geothermal Field (Approx) Status
From geochemical and
deep geophysical studies
o
Puga geothermal field 240 C at 2000m (MT)
o o
120 C - 150 C at
500 meter and 200 Magneto telluric survey
Tatapani Sarguja (Chhattisgarh) Cat 2000 m done by NGRI
Magneto telluric survey
o
Tapoban Chamoli (Uttarakhand) 100 C at 430 meter done by NGRI
160oC at 1900 Steam discharge was
meter (From Oil estimated 3000 cu meter/
exploration day with high temperature
Cambay Garben (Gujarat) borehole) gradient.
Magneto-telluric study was
done by NGRI
Deep drilling required to
o
Badrinath Chamoli (Uttarakhand) 150 C estimated ascertain geothermal field
Reservoir Temp
Geothermal Field (Approx) Status
Magneto-telluric study was
done by NGRI.
o
Surajkund Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) 110 C Heat rate 128.6 mW/m2
Magneto-telluric study was
Manikaran done by NGRI
o
Kullu (H P) 100 C Heat flow rate 130 mW/m2
Kasol Magneto-telluric study was
o
Kullu (H P) 110 C done by NGRI
 Manikaran Geothermal field, Pārbati Valley, Kulu

district, Himachal Pradesh – a case study

Pārbati river, a tributary to Beas has confluence at Bhuntar in Kulu
district H.P. Geothermal field in Pārbati valley is about 40 km from Kulu town,
and spread over a 45 km stretch from west to east with thermal springs at Jan
(32°C), Kasol (76°C), Manikaran (96°C), Khirganga (49°C) and Pulga (44°C). The
hot springs in the valley ranges in temperature between 32°C to 96°C. The
hottest one is at Manikaran at 96° which is boiling temperature at that altitude
(3000m). The discharge of hot water from Manikaran springs varies from a few
litres to as much as 600 litres/minute and total discharge having been
estimated about 1800 litre/minute. Systematic explorations were initiated at
Kasol and Manikaran. Drilling at four major sectors viz Kasol, Manikaran, Jan
and Khirganga were carried out.
The main objectives has been to assess the existing geothermal
resource and prepare a project report for geothermal power generation and
for other utilizations.

GEOLOGY
The exposed rocks in the area belong to Kulu and Rampur Groups separated by
a Thrust called Kulu Thrust. Kulu Group of rocks are exposed near Beas and
Pārbati confluence in the eastern part of the area occupied by garnitiferous
biotite schist, quartzite, augen gneiss/gneiss, phyllites with bands of
carbonaceous phyllites and limestone. Rampart Group of rocks constitutes
mainly quartzite with phyllites and basic flows. Thermal manifestations are
mainly associated with uartzite of Rampur Group but springs are also reported in
Kulu Group of rocks.
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
Resistivity and refraction seismic methods were employed at
Manikaran and Kasol besides The geophysical surveys in Manikaran
suggest that, there are narrow conductive zones, which possibly
correspond to the channels through which the geothermal fluids are
being fed to the reservoir. Geophysical survey has concluded that
highly jointed, sheared and fractured Quartzite, lying underneath the
Pārbati Valley, forms the main shallow geothermal reservoir for
thermal fluids, both in the Kasol and Manikaran sectors.

GEOCHEMISTRY
Thermal Spring and drill hole discharge were collected and analyzed for HCO3,
CO3, Cl, SO4, F, Ca, Mg, K besides pH, B, SiO2 and specific conductance and
total dissolved solids. The chemical analysis from thermal springs and drill
holes water of the area shown, that there is hardly any chemical difference
between the two waters. Cl content varies from 50 to150 mg/l at Manikaran
where as at Kasol it goes up to 60mg/l. HCO3 varies from 40mg/l to400 mg/l at
Manikaran and at Kasol it goes up to 300 mg/l. SiO2 do not exceed more than
110 mg/l in spring or drill hole discharges in the entire valley. The calculated
sub surface or reservoir temperature comes around 100+10°C.
DRILLING
A total 21 drill holes were drilled in the area, 10 at Manikaran, 8 at Kasol , 2 at
Jan and one at Balargah in a stretch of 40km. The depth of drill holes ranges
from 57.40m to 707m. 9 holes at Manikaran and 3 at Kasol developed artesian
condition at various depths with maximum discharge temperature at the
surface has been noticed around 93°C. Down hole temperate measurement
was carried out and the maximum recorded temperature is 101°C in one of the
hole at Manikaran at depth between 20-40m. The thermal logging in drill hole
has been carried out on different occasions and the maximum recorded
temperature in the Manikaran is around 109°C, against the calculated base
temperature by geo-thermometer 100±10°C.

UTILISATION
A test run on 4kW electrical power generation by binary cycle was success fully
carried out. The binary plant was based on Freon gas and the geothermal fluid
was used from drill hole at Manikaran. At Kasol, space heating in a Forest Rest
House was also conducted using thermal water.
 CONCLUSION
Geothermal power can become a valuable source of energy if
properly harnessed. Continued energy shortages have created
added interest in geothermal energy for both power generation
and direct applications. The technology is expensive and it is
necessary that for real breakthrough the cost be reduced
substantially.
It is concluded by the Geologist that there are more than one
type of geothermal energy. The most common type is the hydrothermal
energy. Different methods must be used to determine the existence of
geothermal reservoirs and its type. The detection process may be expensive as
it requires drilling up of wells and testing temperatures deep underground but
once the plant is set up it can serve as an outstanding source of renewable
energy. So it is very important for all countries to look for availability of
geothermal resources in their territory. As proper utilization of geothermal
energy can greatly enhance a nation’s net production of electrical energy or in
other words can significantly reduce the consumption of fossil fuels used up by
conventional methods of producing electrical energy.
Development of geothermal energy has some
implications on the environment. Environmental problems associated
geothermal developments are physical disturbance of site, noise, disposal,
groundwater contamination, by fluids and air pollution especially by
hydrogen sulphide.
Additional and often less manageable problems relate
to serious social, economic and institutional impacts that generally
accompany large scale geothermal development. Which follows as a result
of low cost geothermal power development plans should include careful
ground work to mitigate impact on areas with geothermal resources.
REFRENCES

[1] Geothermal Energy: An Alternative Resource for the 21st Century by

Harsh K. Gupta, Sukanta Roy.
[2] Geothermal Power Plants, Second Edition: Principles, Applications,
Case Studies and Environmental Impact by Ronald DiPippo.
[3] Geothermal Energy: Utilization and Technology by Mary H. Dickson
[4] Renewable Energy: Technology, Economics and Environment by
Martin Kaltschmitt.

[5]Geological survey of India

WEBSITES

• http://www.eere.energy.gov

• http://www.nrel.gov/clean_energy.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

• http://www.renewableoil.com/pages/applications.html

• www.google.com