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A PIB Backgrounder sets out India's geothermal roadmap: the National Policy on Geothermal Energy, notified in September 2025, with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as nodal ministry.
ONGC Energy Centre commissioned India's first two geothermal wells at Puga Valley, Ladakh, in July 2026 - each 1,000 metres deep, at an altitude above 14,000 feet.
The wells enable reservoir evaluation and pave the way for India's first 1-MW demonstration geothermal power project.
Geological Survey of India has mapped 381 hot springs and 10 geothermal provinces; India's theoretical potential is nearly 10.6 GW, with 42 promising sites.
Global installed geothermal capacity stood at 15.67 GW at the end of 2025; Indonesia, the US, the Philippines, Turkiye and New Zealand hold about 67% of it.
Heat from radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium, plus residual heat of planetary formation, drives mantle convection. Where faults and fractures let hot material rise, reservoirs of hot water and steam collect in permeable rock. Wells bring these up, steam drives a turbine, and the condensed water is reinjected to replenish the reservoir.
Simple Analogy: A kettle that never switches off, tapped through a straw drilled into the rock.
Establish geothermal energy as a major renewable pillar through systematic exploration and deployment.
Key: Prioritises research, drilling, reservoir management and direct-use applications; supports Ground Source Heat Pumps, a national geothermal data repository, pilot projects and Centres of Excellence; provides a regulatory framework for public and private participation; enables repurposing of abandoned oil and gas wells.
Develop indigenous, cost-effective renewable energy technologies, geothermal included.
Key: Implemented by MNRE through research institutions and industry partners.
Move from resource assessment to field demonstration.
Key: Ankleshwar (Gujarat) retrofits unproductive oil and gas wells; Gandhinagar (Gujarat) integrates solar and geothermal; Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) assesses five sites; Hyderabad (Telangana) develops geothermal cooling for air conditioning; a shallow-geothermal study models Borehole Heat Exchangers.
Access technology and knowledge from established geothermal nations.
Key: Geothermal identified as a cooperation area with Australia and Iceland, and as a focus area under an MoU with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Nodal ministry for the National Policy on Geothermal Energy and for the RE-RTD programme.
Drilled and commissioned India's first two geothermal wells at Puga Valley, with the Ladakh Administration and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh.
Mapped India's 381 hot springs and identified the 10 geothermal provinces and 42 promising sites.
The 10 geothermal provinces are the Himalayan province, Naga-Lusai, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Son-Narmada-Tapi (SONATA), West Coast, Cambay Graben, Aravalli, Mahanadi, Godavari and the South Indian Cratonic region. Puga lies in Ladakh's Changthang; Manikaran is on the Parvati river in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh, with surface temperatures above 90 degrees C; Tattapani is in Chhattisgarh's Surguja-Balrampur belt, which the Tropic of Cancer crosses.
Geological Survey of India established; it later maps the country's hot springs and geothermal provinces.
National Policy on Geothermal Energy notified, with MNRE as nodal ministry.
MNRE sanctions five geothermal R&D projects covering assessment, indigenous technology and field demonstration.
ONGC Energy Centre commissions India's first two geothermal wells at Puga Valley, Ladakh.
PIB Backgrounder sets out the resource base, policy framework and pilot status.
Geothermal is positioned as a steady, indigenous baseload pillar of the transition to India's 2070 net-zero target.
Engineered systems that create or improve permeability in hot rock, widening exploration beyond natural hydrothermal sites - central to India's largely non-volcanic geology.
The policy allows repurposing inactive wells for geothermal use, reusing the drilling data and infrastructure of the hydrocarbon sector - the Ankleshwar pilot tests exactly this.
The same mantle convection that supplies geothermal heat drives plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanism and mountain building - a standard Geography link.
GS Paper 3 > Infrastructure: Energy; GS Paper 1 > Physical Geography > Earth's Interior
General Awareness > Science and Current Affairs
General Awareness > Energy Resources
'Net metering' is sometimes seen in the news in the context of promoting the
Answer: production and use of solar energy by the households/consumers
Consider the following statements: 1. The International Solar Alliance was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015. 2. The Alliance includes all the member countries of the United Nations. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1 only
With reference to technologies for solar power production, consider the following statements: 1. 'Photovoltaics' is a technology that generates electricity by direct conversion of light into electricity, while 'Solar Thermal' is a technology that utilizes the Sun's rays to generate heat which is further used in electricity generation process. 2. Photovoltaics generates Alternating Current (AC), while Solar Thermal generates Direct Current (DC). 3. India has manufacturing base for Solar Thermal technology, but not for Photovoltaics. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1 only
With reference to the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It is a Public Limited Government Company. 2. It is a Non-Banking Financial Company. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer: Both 1 and 2
The term 'Domestic Content Requirement' is sometimes seen in the news with reference to
Answer: Developing solar power production in our country
A region whose geology and tectonics make geothermal resources likely; GSI has identified 10 in India.
An engineered reservoir created in hot rock that lacks natural permeability or fluid, extending geothermal beyond natural hot-spring sites.
A shallow direct-use technology that exchanges heat with the ground for building heating and cooling; supported under the National Policy.
Applying geothermal heat without generating electricity - district heating, agriculture, aquaculture, space heating and cooling.