ISOR secures contract for preparing geothermal project in Puga, Ladakh
Drilling site, Puga Valley, Ladakh, India (source: ISOR/ Bastien Poux)
Alexander Richter
8 Aug 2022
For the restart of the infamous Puga geothermal project in Ladakh/ India, Icelandic geothermal company ISOR signed an agreement with ONGC with additional Icelandic and Indian partners.
In a release shared last week, Iceland GeoSurvey (ÍSOR) has announced having secured an agreement with ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Company), one of the largest oil companies in India, for the preparation of a geothermal power plant in the Puga Valley in the Union territory of Ladakh, India.
The project is not only ONGC’s first venture in this field, but is in preparation for India’s first geothermal power plant. If successful, it will likely mark the company’s further development of geothermal energy in India.
The contract includes consulting in the preparation of the drills, research, monitoring, measurements, performance measurements and data processing and is one of the largest single contracts that ÍSOR has made abroad.
In the first round, two approx. 1,000 meter, narrow exploratory wells, which, if successful, can be used for small-scale power generation. Two experts of ÍSOR have arrived in Puga, as drilling will begin in the next few days.
The conditions are very demanding, but the workshop is approx. 4,400 meters above sea level, the end of Puga in the Himalayas.
ÍSOR’s subcontractors and partners in the project include the engineering firm Verkís, and the Indian company Techon Consulting.
This is not the first geothermal project that ÍSOR has worked on in India, but ÍSOR and Verkís, together with SIH Píulagnar, worked on a heating project in Chumathang with the Norwegians a few years ago, but that village is near Pugadal.
Source: company release
