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HIMALAYAN GEOTHERMAL BELT - The collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate resulted in the Himalayas and one of the largest geothermal areas in the world. The Himalayan geothermal belt, over 150 km wide, extends 3000 km through parts of India, Tibet, Yunnan (China), Myanmar and Thailand. Replete with more than 1,000 hot spring areas, the region gave birth to a myth that at Manikaran (India) the goddess Parvati lost her earrings and struck the ground in rage, causing hot springs to gush forth carrying pearly sinter to please the goddess. Over 150 of these areas are hot enough to generate electricity. Thailand has a binary plant which produces not only 300 kWe (from 117 degrees C water), but also exhaust heat for crop drying, cold storage and bathing. Yangbajang, in Tibet, generates 25 MWe, providing Lhasa with about 40% of its electricity and helping to grow vegetables in this cold, dry region. In Tibet and Yunnan, an additional 7 MWe are generated in 7 small plants. |
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