Empowering Rural India with Clean Heat: The Role of Geothermal Energy
As a clean and renewable source derived from the Earth’s internal heat, geothermal energy presents a promising yet underexploited opportunity. Its direct-use applications for heating in rural settings can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
July 04, 2025. By News Bureau
In recent years, rural India has witnessed a notable increase in the adoption of renewable energy, particularly solar power. While geothermal energy is available in select regions of the country, its usage remains limited. As a clean and renewable source derived from the Earth’s internal heat, geothermal energy presents a promising yet underexploited opportunity. Its direct-use applications for heating in rural settings can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance public health, and decrease reliance on polluting fuels—contributing to the transformation of rural livelihoods and supporting India’s broader sustainability goals.
What are Rural India’s Energy Sources?
The Government of India (GOI) has introduced several initiatives—such as Saubhagya and Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) to enhance electricity access in rural areas. However, comparatively limited attention has been given to improving access to thermal energy. Heat plays a critical role in various rural applications, including cooking, crop drying, water heating, dairy processing, and maintaining optimal temperatures in greenhouses and aquaculture systems. In most cases, these thermal energy needs are met through inefficient and polluting sources such as firewood, coal, and diesel, leading to an adverse impact on health and the environment.
Women and children, who typically spend a significant amount of time indoors, are among the most affected by the use of biomass and kerosene. In parallel, rural industries—including jaggery production, brick kilns, silk processing, and food drying—remain heavily reliant on coal, biomass, and diesel, which are costly pollutants.
Geothermal energy offers a clean, reliable, and cost-effective alternative, capable of providing consistent, emission-free thermal energy for households, agricultural operations, and rural enterprises.
Why Geothermal?
Geothermal energy is a clean and sustainable heat source derived from the Earth's subsurface. It has a range of direct-use applications including space heating, water heating, crop drying, greenhouse cultivation, dairy and poultry operations, and community heating for schools, hospitals, and government buildings. Heat can be harnessed through shallow geothermal systems such as ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs), which can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individual villages. A key advantage of geothermal energy is its year-round availability, offering a reliable alternative to other renewable sources like solar and wind, which are dependent on the weather.
Where is it Available?
India is home to several geologically active regions with significant geothermal energy potential. Key geothermal hotspots are in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, the Sohana region in Haryana, the Cambay Basin in Gujarat, the West Coast region covering Maharashtra and Goa, the Godavari Basin in Andhra Pradesh, and the Mahanadi Basin in Odisha. These regions exhibit varying levels of geothermal activity—ranging from high heat flow zones with strong potential for direct-use and power generation, to areas with moderate heat flow suitable for smaller-scale applications.
As per Ministry of Renewable Energy (MNRE) - GOI, the total estimated geothermal potential in India is ~10,600 MW but there is no operational commercial geothermal power plant in India.
How Geothermal can be Used in Rural India?
Geothermal heat can play a transformative role in rural agriculture by offering a clean and reliable thermal energy source. It can be used for drying and dehydrating fruits, vegetables, spices, and grains—helping to preserve produce and reduce post-harvest losses. It is also well-suited for greenhouse heating, which can extend growing seasons and enhance crop yields, particularly in cold or high-altitude regions. Beyond agriculture, geothermal heat can support rural industries such as silk reeling, jaggery production, and dairy pasteurisation, all of which require consistent low- to medium-grade heat.
Moreover, it can be effectively deployed for space heating in community facilities like health centres, schools, and residential homes that often lack adequate heating in winter.
What are the Challenges?
Despite its significant potential as a clean energy source, geothermal energy remains untapped. Its adoption has been limited due to several key challenges, including low public awareness, limited technical expertise, the absence of dedicated government policies or incentives, and high initial exploration and development costs. To address these barriers, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) should take proactive measures—such as launching awareness campaigns, introducing supportive policies and regulatory frameworks, and offering financial assistance or incentives to encourage pilot projects and private sector participation in geothermal development. Such initiatives would be instrumental in unlocking the country’s geothermal potential and advancing its clean energy transition.
Conclusion
To build a clean and climate-resilient rural India, the government must look beyond electricity access and prioritise thermal energy solutions. Promoting clean thermal energy sources can play a crucial role in supporting agriculture, small businesses, and public services in rural areas. Harnessing India’s untapped geothermal potential offers an opportunity to provide cost-effective, dependable, and environmentally sustainable heat energy, thereby advancing both rural development and the country's broader clean energy transition.
- Dhirender Mishra, Associate Vice President - Growth Advisory, Aranca
please contact: contact@energetica-india.net.
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