Science and Technology › Energy technology
हिन्दी — Read in HindiWind, hydro and other renewables
Wind, hydro and the other renewables: onshore and offshore wind, large and small hydropower and the risks of building in the Himalaya, geothermal energy, and energy from tides, waves and ocean heat. It serves GS3 answers on energy and infrastructure.
Showing 2 of 4 articles, those that changed from 1 to 30 September 2026.Show all
Geothermal energy and Puga Valley
Copy link to Geothermal energy and Puga ValleyPrelims and Mains
Geothermal energy taps heat that is already in the ground, and India's first geothermal wells are at Puga Valley in Ladakh.
- Because the heat must first be found, a well is an exploration job before it is a power project.
- The wells were drilled by the ONGC Energy Centre of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
- They are assessment wells: they will evaluate the reservoir for India's first 1 MW demonstration geothermal power project.
- Unlike solar and wind, geothermal power is available round the clock.
Heat
Radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium, and heat left from the Earth's formation
Reservoir
Where faults let hot material rise, hot water and steam collect in permeable rock
Power
Wells bring it up to drive a turbine, with no fuel burnt
What changed
4 Sep 2026
- The ONGC Energy Centre commissioned India's first two geothermal wells at Puga Valley in Ladakh, drilled in July 2026.
- The National Policy on Geothermal Energy has the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as its nodal ministry.
- It covers exploration, direct use, ground source heat pumps and the repurposing of abandoned oil and gas wells.
Hydropower
Hydropower in the Himalaya
Copy link to Hydropower in the HimalayaPrelims and Mains
Hydropower in the Himalaya means dams and power projects built on the rivers of a young, steep and seismically active range.
The hazard
- The mountains hold most of the fall a turbine wants and most of the hazard a project cannot survive.
- The Himalaya is young, steep and seismically active, so a glacial lake burst or a landslide reaches a project built in the valley below it.
How projects are judged
- A cumulative impact assessment weighs every project on a river basin together, rather than clearing each one on its own.
- Neither Nepal nor India assesses Himalayan projects basin by basin, so each clearance ignores what the others have already done.
- The World Commission on Dams reported in 2000 that a dam's costs fall on the people nearest it while its benefits travel, which is the argument still being had.
What changed
7 Sep 2026
- Nepal's 26 August flood destroyed two hydropower projects and damaged at least thirteen under construction, and the damage was blamed less on the trigger than on where the projects sat.
Frontline, 7 Sep 2026: A warning in the waters (opens in a new tab) · Frontline, 7 Sep 2026: Every disaster also presents an opportunity to learn: Himanshu Thakkar (opens in a new tab)
Background reading: The Indian Express, 30 Aug 2026: Nepal floods: The red flags in dam-building in the Himalayas (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 1 Sep 2026: Express in Nepal: How hydropower firm is planning search for missing staff (opens in a new tab)
See also: Gram sabha consent for forest clearance
Also filed elsewhere
- Pumped storage · on Storage, batteries and electric mobility
A pumped storage project pumps water uphill when power is cheap and releases it through turbines when demand peaks, so it stores energy rather than generating it.