VARANASI: The country has a huge potential to become a leading contributor in generating eco-friendly and cost-effective geothermal power by 2035. It must intensify efforts to tap this potential for safe and alternate fuel and power generation , says Prof Sandeep Singh, geological expert from IIT-Roorkee.Singh, who was in the city to attend one-day brainstorming session 'Technology Vision 2035', jointly organised by Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), New Delhi and Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), emphasised that the country's hidden potential for generating geothermal power had still not been tapped though Himalayan region had immense potential to unleash geothermal power resource. "If the country is aiming to become a developed nation by 2035, it must gear up to meet energy demands by looking beyond conventional resources. Pushing for geothermal energy could be the answer to safe, cleaner and cost-effective power generation," he added.Saying while as many as 24 countries of the world were already generating nearly 10,000 MW power with geothermal energy, he went on to add that the power generation through geothermal resources was still in nascent stage in India. "Some of the geothermal power plants have been established in Puga Valley (Jammu and Kashmir), Jalgaon (Maharashtra) and Tapovan but they have not become operational to genrate power," he said. The world report on geothermal energy indicate that nearly 6.5% of electricity generation in the world would be done with the help of geothermal energy and India would have to play a bigger role in the coming years in this direction.It may be mentioned here that geothermal energy has shown potential and use in various fields, including space heating, air conditioning, and industrial processes like drying and greenhouse aquaculture. It has also shown positive attributes in clean and cost-effective extraction of useful minerals like zinc and silica.