PIB TrackerIndia has 381 hot springs, 10.6 GW on paper and two wells in the ground
The Geological Survey of India has mapped 381 hot springs across ten geothermal provinces, but the country's first two geothermal wells, at Puga in Ladakh, were commissioned only in July 2026.
What happened
- A PIB Backgrounder sets out India's geothermal position, built on the National Policy on Geothermal Energy notified in September 2025, with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as the nodal ministry for its implementation.
- The ONGC Energy Centre commissioned the country's first two geothermal wells at Puga Valley, Ladakh, in July 2026, at over 14,000 feet; each is 1,000 metres deep and is meant for reservoir evaluation.
- The Geological Survey of India has mapped 381 hot springs and 10 geothermal provinces, of which 42 sites are recognised as promising for power generation or direct heat use; the theoretical prospect is nearly 10.6 GW.
- MNRE sanctioned five research and development projects between July and August 2025; at Gandhinagar, three wells produce fluid at 70 to 80°C and have demonstrated 50 to 90 kilowatts of generation.
- Geothermal is a cooperation area with Australia and Iceland and a focus area under an MoU with Saudi Arabia; world installed capacity stood at 15.67 GW at the end of 2025.
For Prelims
- Geothermal energy: heat from the Earth's interior, produced by radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium plus residual heat of formation; the mantle reaches about 3700°C at the core boundary and the core 5000-6000°C.
- Resource survey: the Geological Survey of India has mapped 381 hot springs and identified 10 geothermal provinces, of which 42 sites are promising for power or direct heat use.
- The ten provinces: Himalayan Geothermal Province, Naga-Lusai, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Son Narmada Tapi (SONATA), West Coast, Cambay Graben, Aravalli, Mahanadi, Godavari and the South Indian Cratonic regions.
- Theoretical prospect: nearly 10.6 GW (about 10,600 MW) — the release calls it a theoretical prospect, not a proven or installed figure.
- Puga Valley, Ladakh: at over 14,000 feet, the site of India's first two geothermal wells, each 1,000 metres deep, commissioned by the ONGC Energy Centre in July 2026 ahead of a 1 MW demonstration project.
- National Policy on Geothermal Energy: notified September 2025, nodal ministry MNRE; covers drilling, reservoir management, Ground Source Heat Pumps, a national geothermal data repository, pilot projects and Centres of Excellence.
- Global position: installed geothermal capacity was 15.67 GW at end-2025; Indonesia, the United States, the Philippines, Türkiye and New Zealand hold about 67% of it.
- EGS and AGS: Enhanced and Advanced Geothermal Systems, named as technologies that widen exploration; the policy also allows abandoned oil and gas wells to be repurposed, as the Ankleshwar pilot is testing.
For UPSC: This is the reference card for geothermal energy, a resource most answers on the renewable mix leave out entirely. Use it wherever the argument turns on firm, round-the-clock renewable supply against variable solar and wind, and in physical geography questions on the Earth's internal heat and the tectonic control on where usable reservoirs occur. The 10.6 GW theoretical prospect set against two exploratory wells is also a clean example of the gap between resource assessment and deployment.
What it is NOT: The release does not claim that any geothermal plant is generating power in India — it states that commercial-scale generation is yet to be established, and the two Puga wells are for reservoir evaluation. The 10.6 GW is described as a theoretical prospect, not a proven reserve, and no capacity target, budget outlay, commissioning date for the 1 MW demonstration project or cost per well is given.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.9 · GS1.11 · Linkage L2
Anchor
Solar and wind are built on a resource anyone can measure from the surface. Geothermal has to be drilled for before it is known to exist, which is why India notified a policy in September 2025 and reached its first two wells only in July 2026 — and why the gap between a 10.6 GW estimate and two boreholes is the whole story.
Substantiation (data)
The Geological Survey of India has mapped 381 hot springs and ten geothermal provinces; 42 sites are rated promising for power or direct heat, and the theoretical prospect is nearly 10,600 MW. Against that stands the field record: two 1,000-metre wells at Puga and 50 to 90 kilowatts demonstrated at Gandhinagar from fluid at 70 to 80 degrees Celsius.
Comparison
World installed geothermal capacity reached 15.67 GW by the end of 2025, with Indonesia, the United States, the Philippines, Türkiye and New Zealand holding about 67 per cent of it. India's entire theoretical prospect, 10.6 GW, is smaller than what five countries have already built — the technology is proven; India's reservoirs are not.
Exemplification
Ankleshwar shows the cheapest way in. The pilot there tests electricity generation by retrofitting unproductive oil and gas wells, and the policy expressly permits abandoned wells to be repurposed, using drilling expertise, well data and surface infrastructure the petroleum sector has already paid for instead of financing new exploratory boreholes.
Problematisation
The backgrounder calls 10.6 GW a theoretical prospect and concedes that commercial-scale generation is yet to be established, but it never says why. No capacity target, no outlay, no commissioning date for the 1 MW project and no cost per well appear, so the constraint that has kept the resource unused is stated as a fact rather than explained.
Position
The case for geothermal in India is not that it is large; it is that it is firm. A source that is indigenous, low-carbon and available round the clock answers the one thing solar and wind cannot, which is why 10.6 GW may matter more than the number suggests — but only after drilling converts a prospect into a reservoir.
Deploys into: Infrastructure and energy (GS3.9): firm round-the-clock renewables against variable solar and wind · Resources and industry location (GS1.11): why geothermal provinces sit where tectonics puts them · Physical geography: the Earth's internal structure, its heat sources and mantle convection · Net Zero 2070 and the composition, not merely the size, of the renewable energy mix · Repurposing legacy oil and gas infrastructure for clean energy
PIB Backgrounder · 2026-09-04 · PRID 2306688 · PIB source ↗