Prof D Chandrasekharam

“Today, over two billion people in developing countries live without any electricity. They lead lives of misery, walking miles every day for water and firewood, just to survive. What if there was an existing, viable technology, that when developed to its highest potential could increase everyone’s standard of living, cut fossil fuel demand and the resultant pollution Said Peter Meisen, President, Global Energy Network Institute in 1997. After 7 years the situation remained the same. In the annual meetings held in 2004, the World Bank President said “We must give higher priority to renewable energy. New and clean technologies can allow the poor to achieve the benefits of development without having to face the same environmental costs the developed world has experienced” World Bank President, Annual Meeting, 2004. Even after four years the situation has not changed in the rural sector of the developing countries. 90% of world population living in rural areas in developing countries have no access to basic needs like nutrition, warmth and light in spite of the fact that technologies for developing renewable energies jumped leaps and bounds and this is especially so with respect to geothermal.

This is especially true with respect to the countries around the Red Sea. It is very interesting to observe that geothermal resources are available in the countries rich in oil and gas resources and in those countries that have no oil and gas resources. Those countries that have rich geothermal resources like Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen, depend on imported fossil fuels to support their energy demand instead of developing naturally available geothermal resources. Thus their economic growth lies outside their country’s boundaries. Nasically some one else dictates your economic growth. These countries have no energy independence and energy security. Besides energy, these countries face acute shortage of fresh water because these countries receive scanty rainfall. Thus these countries have no food security as well. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has surplus oil and gas resources and are not aware of the vast geothermal resources existing within the Saudi Arabian shield. Among the countries around the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia emits 4 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year. Because Saudi Arabia has surplus fossil fuel reserves, the country is generating fresh water through desalination to support the demand from domestic and agricultural sectors at the cost of emitting about 13 Mt of CO₂. This country is already experiencing change of weather pattern and increase in ambient temperature. Due to fresh water stress status, the country has adopted a policy to stop wheat production from 2016 onwards there by putting the country’s food security in other countries. This is a matter of serious concern. Thus rich poor countries have energy assets that have not been utilized and both countries have one common problem…….fresh water for the millions!! All the countries around the Red Sea have excellent hydrothermal and EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems) sources that can be developed. Technology to generate electricity from both the sources is matured and available off the shelf. Unlike other renewables, geothermal energy can supply base load power and > 90% online. In addition to power, this energy can support green house cultivation, dehydration of agricultural products. The most significant contribution that geothermal energy can make in these countries is to generate fresh water to meet the growing demand from domestic and agricultural sectors. Countries can be energy independent and can have food security and support the development of the rural region. In the next century these countries can become energy and water surplus countries and support other neighbouring countries to elevate the socio-economic status of the rural population. The book starts with an over look on the carbon intensity index under 6D 4D and 2D scenarios the world is currently debating and highlights the levalized cost of electricity generated by a variety of renewable energy sources like solar pv, wind, biomass and geothermal. The facts are open for anyone to judge the credibility of geothermal. All good things come with a premium so does geothermal! The most important message the authors make to the world community in the beginning is that energy and water dictates the future of any country……rich or poor.

Electricity markets, future electricity demand GDP growth and population in the countries around the Red Sea verses the global electricity demand, especially the OECD countries is discussed in Chapter Two. The statement made by Pierre Gadonneix in 2006 very true. Fossil fuels and renewables have grown together and will do so in future. At least till 2040 these energy sources will not cross their paths. This parallel growth is a sign and a ray hope, to see light at the end of this CO₂ tunnel.

Over sixty nine percent of CO₂ is emitted by the energy source we use……fossil fuels. It is very obvious that we will cross the 2 D thresh-hold very soon if we do not realize how much CO₂ we are emitting. Poor countries are emitting since they feel that they have no option and rich countries…..out of ignorance. But both have a single option to control CO₂ emission and preserve the world for our future generation. All countries should honour its commitments in controlling CO₂ emissions. Chapter three unfolds the CO₂ facts of all the countries around the Red Sea and its contribution to the global climate change.

“Geothermal is 100 per cent indigenous, environmentally-friendly and a technology that has been under-utilized for too long”. This statement made by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, at the UN climate convention conference in Poland in 2008 is absolutely true especially with respect to the countries described in this book. Chapter four unfolds the evolution of the geothermal systems in these countries in relation to the geology and tectonics and gives in depth knowledge about the quantum of energy resources that is awaiting to be explored and exploited. Estimates of electricity that can be generated from the existing hydrothermal systems is highlighted. Chapters three and four unfolds strategies that the countries can adopt and modify its energy policies to give better life to its future generations.

The International Energy Agency in 2014 brought out five key actions to achieve low carbon energy sector. Strong policies are required to decarbonize electricity sector. CO₂ reduction strategies the countries can adopt, in the light of the debate that is being held between CoP 21 currently, without sacrificing socio-economic growth are focused in Chapter five

This book is aimed not only at the policy makers but also looks at the youth who are keen in taking geothermal as their career option. There is shortage of trained manpower for developing geothermal energy resources in the countries around the Red Sea. The country update papers in the World Geothermal Congress 2015 reveals that manpower allocation for developing geothermal energy resources is far below the required number. There is a lack of, and urgent need of easily understandable and accessible information source in a comprehensive form. Chapter six elaborates the exploration techniques that are generally followed by geothermally advanced countries for the benefit of the young graduates who wish to take-up career in geothermal industries. Text books focussing regional resources and problems associated with it are very few and for the Red Sea there is none. Although, such information does exist in several published scientific papers, many times it becomes difficult for the graduate students and researchers, to get such information within a short period of time and in conjunction with the benefits of geothermal in the light of energy and water security. This is especially true in the case of students in the above countries, who face difficulties to access such information.

Methodologies that are being adopted to generate power from geothermal energy across the world are described in Chapter Seven. Although these techniques are known, inclusion of such details will make the book complete.

The development of greenhouse agriculture and geothermal-based aquaculture in my country also demonstrates how sustainable energy can increase food production considerably, giving farmers and fishermen new ways to earn a living” states Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson President of Iceland, It is true. Low enthalpy geothermal energy resources are put to use in a variety of ways to enhance a country’s GDP. Nearly a substantial amount of cost can be saved on energy bills and carbon savings if geothermal energy source is used for space cooling and heating, green house cultivation, dehydration and other similar applications. If an agriculturalist in Guatemala could capture the (geothermally) dehydrated vegetables market in Europe, why an young entrepreneur in the countries around the Red Sea can’t do it? This will drastically reduce dependency on imported food. Chapter eight highlights the direct use of geothermal energy sources.

D.W. Brown, D.V. Duchane, G. Heiken and V. T. Thomas, authors of the book “Mining the Earth’s heat: Hot dry rock geothermal energy” written in 2012, dedicated their book ” to those who labored over many years to take the hot dry rock concept from simply a novel idea to a proven reality. In deed this technology, now christened as EGS, being taken up several countries. Harnessing the Earth’s heat for a future better life is the best option we can adopt to mitigate climate change issues and provide sustainable and continuous energy and water to millions living on earth. This energy not only can generate power but also support a variety of sectors like agriculture, greenhouse cultivation, aquaculture, space cooling and heating, refrigeration and dehydration. This energy initially may supplement growing energy and water demand that fossil fuels cannot support due to large CO2 emissions, but in future may take over the entire fossil fuels trajectory that is shown in Figure 2.3. Coal and oil energy sources are becoming messy although the they are easily accessible due to mature technology. The fact is, only small part of the fossil fuel resources are extracted from the reservoirs and oil companies are fighting hard investing large amounts to enhance the recovery. These companies are obsessed with increasing the small percent of oil recovery to get returns on the investment. But what the companies fail to understand is the huge treasure that is lying within the drilled wells that were abandoned or closed. These abandoned wells, with high bottom hole temperature are indeed a treasure for the company and the country as well.

Earlier, back in 347 AD, Chinese used drilling bits attached to bamboo poles for extracting oil from about 240 m below the ground. Since then oil industry grew leaps and bound an reached the present status. Thus technology grows with time and experience. EGS technology is in this initial stages now. But compared to the earlier times, the present day technological development is far superior and fast. It will not be too long when population can have their own EGS well in their backyard. Chapter 9 reveals how much of energy is locked-up in the granites rich in uranium and thorium in the crust around the Red Sea. Between the time when hot dry rock project was conceived and now, thinking on the circulation fluid for heat mining has changed. The present technology is looking at circulating carbon dioxide as working fluid in EGS systems! When this technology matures, both thermal power plants and EGS based power plants can co-exists. One becomes a donor of and the other becomes a consumer of CO₂!!

Countries investment large amounts to extract oil and gas and nearly double that investment is made in cleaning the environment. Greater than two billion people in the rural regions of the developing countries have not access to electricity, they walk several kilometers to fetch water and fire wood. This cost energy and time. This should also be factored in to the investment. Today geothermal energy comes with a premium since the energy is clean, supply is 24×7 and les down time and the power plants can operated with efficiency ease for 30 to 40 years. as the technology and time grows, the premium will be an investment. The unit cost of electricity generated from geothermal is far less compared other renewables. Chapter Ten discusses the economics of geothermal energy….both hydrothermal and EGS based power generation. Since 1997, people’s misery hasn’t changed. “Today, over two billion people in developing countries live without any electricity. They lead lives of misery, walking miles every day for water and firewood, just to survive. What if there was an existing, viable technology, that when developed to its highest potential could increase everyone’s standard of living, cut fossil fuel demand and the resultant pollution ” says Peter Meisen, President, Global Energy Network Institute in 1997.

This is the first text book of this kind written for the countries around the Red Sea, keeping in mind the graduate students, research scholars, policy makers, financiers and energy planners, who are the backbone of development for these countries. This book has a huge source of information useful for decision and policy making and administrative leaders. Development banks and financial donors like the World Bank, OPEC, GCC, African Development Bank and alike, can draw large information, both technical and economical, to tunes their decisions related to financial support to develop this energy source in these countries.

Finally, the authors are confident that this book will be useful for many people helping the society to effectively use the huge available geothermal resources, providing energy and water security and energy independence to the rich and the poor countries around the Red Sea.  Authors

somehow when we compare India and China in all respects of developments, one cannot stop thinking about pigeons and cuckoos!

Countries are preparing for the forth coming CoP 21 meet in Paris. Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) is keeping all the countries busy working out numbers to be shown at the forth coming convention. In a recent report, India has already raised its hand. The think tankers have realized that we are no match for the Chinese.

China’s installed capacity (electricity) is five times that of India. every person in China has access to electricity. So how can we prepare a framework of INDC to be submitted to CoP21. India needs coal power for the next 15 years. When such meetings take place, renewables take back seat. On other occasions numbers fly skyhigh……..anything can be said…….by 2020 Indi will have 20,000 MWe of solar pv power. Solar power can be sold at Rs 3/unit. If this is so then why renewables cannot fuel economic growth like other forms of fossil fuels?? Today China is not wasting any time to develop its renewables. It is generating 500 MWe from old oil wells by circulating CO₂. By this the country not only is generating electricity, it is recovering money invested on the well. Its ROI is at its top. Do we do this? we talk about recovering more oil by slaughtering the reservoir to enhance ROI. China’s multi-storeyed apartments are space cooled by heat pumps…do we do this? It has already tested its EGS technology to extract heat from granites….do we do this. It has planned to revive its silk route and get power from geothermal…do we do this? It is not disaster to think of renewable energy for India. To our elite, renewable means solar pv and wind. The entire world is surging ahead to tap heat from granites. It is question of mindset and determination. Do we lack the technology? man power…?.. ideas? some one has already commented we should not compare ourselves with China but Indonesia. Makes sense. Our old gurus in gurukulam advise the students to go out and see the world. One should do this to know what others are doing, gain knowledge and get enlightened.

Now China is all set with good number of CO2 sequestration in a novel way……..In a recent Scientific communication (Published by Springer) Chinese scientists worked out the carbon saving by “afforestation engineering”. Their data shows that from 0.2 Pg of C in 1980 the carbon saving has grown to 1.03 Pg of C. The total investment in this “engineering” from 2001 to 2010 is 436 billion RMB. The total carbon sink value at the rate of US$ 30/t (Finland value) is about 190 billion RMB (about 43%). The total carbon sink amounts to 2% of the industrial emissions from 1981 to 2008. These numbers are with them to show at the forth coming CoP 21 in Paris. Carbon sequestration by agroforestry is not new and in fact an Indian scientists did work on it way back in 2004!. It is estimated that potential C sequestration rates range from 1.5 to 3.5 Mg C /ha/y. The financial value of carbon sequestration from these projects can be estimated by its value in carbon taxes of Finland and is potentially 190 billion RMB from 1981 to 2008, which is 43.4 % of the original investment. Hence although China’s afforestation projects make only modest contributions to offsetting industrial growth in carbon, the carbon sequestered, if valued according to some markets, is a significant fraction of the total project costs. These are realistic numbers. The countries at the CoP 21 can verify these numbers. We still work on ghost numbers with solar and wind. Such numbers can not be validated by any scientific means

Coming back to pigeons and cuckoos……pigeons go to wrong places to nest and lay eggs……cuckoos. They are smart!. Aren’t they?

while the COP 18 is debating on New policies and 450 policy to contain the temperature at or below 2 °C by promoting renewables, the traditional players are equally promoting other measures to achieve the same goal……2 °C by 2020 by CCS technology. The coal and oil giants are pumping in money for CCS technology and as on today 52 million tonnes of CO₂ has been sucessfully captured and stored. Oil companies are using this for EOR and increase their returns on ROI, coal companies are energizing their new operations by opening new coal fields and supporting mega thermal power plants. The nuclear lobby is not sitting back but pushing their technology inspite of recurring disasters. This game will continue and will keep the common man guessing. Solar pv players are fighting tooth and nail to keep their ancillary industries live and assuring millions of jobs protected while the big players are busy en-cashing the solar pv idea to grab large chunks of land for future generation (not for power but for kith and kin). The geothermal lobby is caught in the crossroads debating whether to support 100 renewables or stay in the mid line like the drilling industries that is caught between the oil and gas (shale) fences. Out of the > 7 billions, only a small fractions are scientists who are able to think and reason out the truth behind renewables, conventional and unconventional energy resources. This situation will continue perhaps till 2020 or 2030. Geological time scales are large hence these decades will not make any deference to the global climate scenario. It took millions of years for the oil, gas and coal to form which we are enjoying…perhaps if not the same but shorter time span will take for these resources to decline. Whether human race will stay to witness this change is a question. Human race is young and short lived. Species vanish and human are no exception before the nature. Coal continue to dominate global power generation Between 2000 and 2011 there is a 52% jump in coal based power generation across the world. Recently reports states that there is a small dip in coal usage due to gas (shale gas) usage, one has to really asses how much gas in the “gas: Unlike solar pv, CCS need no great technological inventions. It is already there. only slight modification is needed. No great material like minerals and water is needed for this modification. The world energy sector consumed about 583 billion cubic meters of water in 2010 and by 2030 consumption will increase by 85%. In addition, water is needed to feed the population and support agriculture. Fresh water cannot be wasted to clean panels in desert regions. Developed countries located near ice caps can afford to do this but not countries around the equator. we need several “Kilimanjaros” around the equator to support solar pv.

Between 2010 in Bali and now geothermal industry has seen tremendous growth and has consolidated its position amongst the renewables. New achievements that took place between this period will be presented at this congress with 3000 people participating and 1400 scientific papers being presented at this congress. EGS has taken the lead and is projecting a bright future for all the oil importing countries. Australia is the second country to initiate EGS project after France. New Berry volcano EGS is picking up fast and may start producing power by 2016. With deep drilling heat exchanger technology at place, any country can buy this technology off the shelf and each home/ buildings/office complexes/ will be in a position to generate power from its backyard. India’s EGS resources are huge. With high radiogenic granites available anywhere in the country, the country will lead in establishing EGS based project soon. The technical programme includes a wide range of topics. Country updates, Legal and regulatory, Business strategies, Geothermal education, Heat pumps, Health and Tourism, EGS, CDM, Magma-geo-pressure systems, mineral extraction and processing, Drilling technology and power generation, Direct use, Integrated Energy Systems are some the topics that are having large participation.

Several panel discussions are scheduled during the congress. REN Alliance session on Sustainable technology integration for 100% renewable energy -case studies is one such panel discussion. IGA is a partner of REN-A. This session will demonstrate how to achieve 100% renewable—-a dream come true for public, political and business community. Some of the top scientists are participating in this session.

A few of the papers that are being presented from India are listed below:

1. Lashin, A., Al Arifi, N., Chandrasekharam, D., Albassam, A. ,Rehman, S. and Pipan, M. 2015. Geothermal Energy Resources of Saudi Arabia: Country Update
2. Singh, B., Ranjith, R.G., Singh, H.K.. and Chandrasekharam, D. 2015. Possible Enhanced Geothermal System Potential of High Heat Producing Radioactive Bundelkhand Granite
3. Singh, H.K., Chandrasekharam, D., Trupti, G. and Singh, B. 2015. Geochemistry of Rajgir-Munger Metasedimentary Springs of Bihar, India
4. Singh, H.K., Chandrasekharam, D., Trupti, G. and Singh, B. 2015. Geochemical Characteristics of Bakreshwar and Tantloi Geothermal Province, India
5. Trupti, G., Chandrasekharam, D. and Singh, H.K. 2015. Trace Element Concentrations in the Thermal Waters Along the West Coast of Maharashtra, India
6. Chandrasekharam, D and Chandrasekhar, V. 2015. Geothermal Energy Resources of India: Country Update
7. Chandrasekharam, D., Lashin, A., Al Arifi, N. and Chandrasekhar, V. 2015. Clean Development Mechanism Through Geothermal, Saudi Arabia
8. Chandrasekharam, D., Lashin, A., Al Arifi, N. and Chandrasekhar, V. 2015. High Heat Generating Granites of Western Saudi Arabian Shield
9. Verma, M.P., Portugal, E., Gangloff, S., Armienta, M.A., Chandrasekharam, D., Sanchez, M., Renderos, R.E., Juanco, M. and Geldern, R.V. 2015. Results from a Worldwide Proficiency Test on the Determination of Carbonic Species Concentration in Natural Waters
10. Chaudhuri, H., Sinha, B. and Chandrasekharam, D. 2015. He in Bakreshwar geothermal springs.

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The following book flyer will be released during this period

Continue reading ‘WGC 2015 – round the corner!!!’

Numbers are such beautiful commodity that can be traded to our convenience! This is true in all walks of life….. Take for example a vendor selling fruits. To attract buyers he may say that the pries will escalate in the coming week. People (gullible) rush and buy and hoard the commodity only to realize that the future situation is not demanding as predicted by the vendor. This is true in power sector as well….whether it is fossil fuel based power or renewables. A common man does not know the significance of, for example, 20 MWe and 40 MWe. All he know is that the number is double. But for a civilized person, it mean a lot. He would like to know the logic behind making 20 to 40. Here, this is not simple arithmetic that we learn in primary school. Green Power conferences flood the emails…with superlative degree statements…….like “the world’s most wanted energy expert speaks about investment opportunities in geothermal” and “you will have one to one dialogue with him on matters related to investment. Be wise and don’t miss this opportunity”. For that matter, the person may just be an accountant and not a geothermal expert!. Solar pv number play havoc with numbers. According to the annual report of MNRE 2013, under the JNNSM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission), that was launched in 2010, the country is planning to generated 20,000 MW by 2020. As on today only 130 MW grid connected Solar PV based power is generated and 9366 kWp off grid power was generated. One can read the annual report of MNRE to get the correct numbers. Recently a renewable energy investment conference schedule to be held in India states that the solar power capacity will be 100 GW by 2022!! What a jump! It is really amusing to read such figures. And it is believed that MoUs for generating 226000 MW of solar are signed during this invest conference. Assuming this is solar PV, each MW solar PV needs about 8 acres of land and ……let us not talk about clean water!! Whether land requirement is built in these MoUs or not needs to be seen. The investment conference is over and the country is happy and so the Govt. for planning to generate the above quantity of power …….when?   The common man is in the dark. He does not know when these numbers will see the SUN light!! Similarly, in an interactive session with a popular TV channel, a student from IIT states that 1 MW of solar PV costs 80 Crore!! On the other hand by using the heat from the Earth, one can generate 1 MWe power at 11 Crore!!…..with a land requirement of about 1 acre for this amount of power.  This heat is available 24×7 with base load electricity supply with out power backup and Rs 6-7 cost of a unit. Land and water requirement are ignored by the wise men for power generation from SPV. No hidden costs and no subsidies in the case of heat from earth. One needs to be wise and use their own wisdom to judge….for judgement there are several information portals available in the present world of information technology. If this is the kind of growth the countries are expecting, then the entire earth will be solar powered and OPEC countries have to close their oil business and take up framing in the deserts!

Land and water are the primary elements that dictates power in future. Perhaps to sustain status quo of ancillary industries one is tempted to give large numbers. The International Energy Agency’s’ reports can be used as bench mark information platform to judge the growth of energy sectors across the globe. I have travelled in rural areas and amused to see solar pv panels to support street lighting are kept below tree canopy!   Once the unit is installed it goes into inventory and the number increases. No one checks whether the unit’s health. Business giants speak big numbers to catch investors..but the investors are cleaver.

Like humans, machines generating power also need water…….that too fresh water!!. Around the world, electricity is generated from different sources…..oil, gas, coal, biomass, solid waste, wind, solar, water, ocean, geothermal……and so on. The list never ends. But all these sources that produce electricity consume substantial amount of water. Recently the International Energy Agency brought out this truth. Any policy maker in the Govt. or the Govt itself, “if” reads this report, then their top priority agenda should be water and energy and not only energy. For example, in 2010, 583 billion cubic meters of fresh water was consumed globally to generate 534434 petajoules of electricity. This amounts to 15% of the world’s total fresh water withdrawal. Conventional gas consumes 1000 L/toe; coal and oil -10000; ethnol-1000000;- in case of green energy sources: wind- <10 L/MWh; nuclear-10000; solar pv- 100; CSP- 10000; geothermal- 10000 (includes EGS). When technology to extract heat from hot rocks matures, CO₂ can be used as extraction medium instead of water and the water consumption falls down drastically. The water requirement is only for power generation and battery storage and water demand to clean the solar panels are not accounted for here. In hydrothermal systems, the water is injected back into the reservoir. The projections are that the water demand for power will touch 691 billion cubic meters by 2035. One should keep in mind the drinking water demand that is not included here. This demand will grow exponentially with growth in population. Countries have to strike a balance between water for power and water for people. Future scenario will be reduction in CO₂ and reduction in consumption of fresh water. Are we not heading towards ancient civilization who lived simple life without much of materialistic needs?