| Title | Energy Independence Through CDM Using Geothermal Resources: Indian Scenario |
|---|---|
| Authors | Varun Chandrasekhar and D.Chandrasekharam |
| Year | 2010 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | EGS, OECD, carbon credit, GDP, Carbon dioxide emission, geothermal, granite |
| Abstract | With increasing population growth, demand for clean power will increase world over. This demand will be more in developing countries. CO2 emission by Non-OECD countries will exceed the OECD countries by 2010 and will reach 10000 million tons by the year 2030. Financial incentive is a great motivation for developing countries like India to surge ahead with CDM. In fact, developed countries can pay developing countries to reduce CO2 emissions by obtaining “credit” on their own emission targets. This carbon credits initially may help the Non-OECD countries but prolonged dependence on such credits is not good practice to these countries. One advantage is that the developing countries will benefit by a technology transfer from developed countries, thereby attracting foreign investment. Harnessing geothermal energy source that has low carbon emissions is a viable option for Non-OECD countries. Both low enthalpy geothermal resources as well as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) have greater role to play in countries like India that has abundant low enthalpy as well as EGS sources. India, being a part of Non-OECD, will face socio-economic set back if CO2 emission is not controlled and depend too much on carbon credit. The current per capita GDP for India is around 1000 US$ per person and the per capita energy consumption is 631 KWhr, which is far below the Asian countries. India’s ambition to increase per capita energy consumption to 1000 KWhr will only increase further CO2 emission due to burning additional 263 million tons of coal. This amounts to emission of 870 million tons of CO2. The current production of electricity from coal alone is about 75002 MWe which is equivalent to 4 x 1012 carbon equivalents in tons (CET). India can very well adopt CDM by utilizing its available low enthalpy and EGS geothermal resources considering the volume of high heat producing granites available in the country. Roughly, the granites occupy an area of 150,000 sq. km (surface area) with a major volume of these granites having heat generating capacity of the order of 3 to 5 W/m3. For example, estimates on a small volume of granite from northern part of India indicate that it has the potential to generate a minimum of 61160 x 1012 kWh. Similar potential of granites from other parts of India have also been estimated. If India’s CDM initiative could reduce carbon emission by about 5 %, then the minimum revenue it can generate is about 160 x 1010 euros. In future such revenue generated through EGS could make India’s energy independent and fulfill the country’s ambition of increasing the GDP at least by a factor of ten relative to the current value, thereby increasing the socio-economic status of the country. |