An assessment of prospects of geothermal energy in India for energy sustainability

The search for indigenous, renewable, environment-friendly, and sustainable energy resources has increased globally during the past few decades. Geothermal energy is one such ubiquitous source of energy, having the potential to become an alternate energy resource with a reduced carbon footprint. In this study, eight crucial characteristic parameters, i.e., heat flow, thermal gradient, Curie point depth, lithology, basement depth, crustal thickness, and seismicity, were integrated into a multi-criteria decision model framework to identify areas that may have the potential for geothermal energy in India. The weights of various parameters estimated using AHP are in the order of heat flow (similar to 0.252), followed by the Curie point depth (similar to 0.195), thermal gradient (similar to 0.173), and crustal thickness. Our analysis indicates that the geothermal province in the Himalayas (including the NW and NE regions), SONATA lineaments, central parts, and some parts of the west coasts and Mahanadi graben may have better prospects of geothermal energy compared to other tectonic provinces. We find that similar to 14.86%, and similar to 21.98 % of the study region have extremely high to high geothermal potential. About similar to 27.18 % of the region have medium geothermal prospects, whereas similar to 11.78 % and 24.20 % of the region have very low to low potential for geothermal energy.