Leh Airport set to have India’s largest geothermal space conditioning system
Leh Airport Runway in Ladakh, India (source: Herman Darnel Ibrahim / Creative Commons license, Wikimedia Commons)
Carlo Cariaga
27 Feb 2025
Work is ongoing for a 2500-kW geothermal BHE system that will provide heating, cooling, and hot water to the Leh Airport in Ladakh, India.
Work is now ongoing for what is set to become the largest geothermal system for heating, cooling, and domestic hot water supply in India at the Kushok Bankula Ripoche Airport in Leh (“Leh Airport”). The system will specifically serve the new domestic terminal building, which is still under construction.
When completed, the system will have a thermal capacity of 2500 kW, delivered by 457 boreholes, each drilled to 110-120 meters depth.
The project has been designed by S.A.P. Automations India Pvt Ltd for the client Airports Authority of India. Drilling is being done by local firm Feroze Engineering Works and the project is being managed by EIL India.
The geothermal system will operated side-by-side with a solar PV facility, thus making the airport a model for sustainable aviation infrastructure in India. The Leh Airport is located at 3500 meters elevation, making it one of the highest airports in the world.
According to an interview update given in January 2025, the Leh Airport is scheduled to be completed by October 2025.
Leh is located within the Ladakh region, where the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is also undertaking deep geothermal drilling operations in the Puga Valley. Drilling in the Puga site started in late 2022, but had to be suspended almost immediately after high-pressure steam was tapped at an unexpectedly shallow depth.
Source: Email correspondence / JK24x7News Ladakh via Facebook
