India's 97 GW Coal Expansion Plan Looks Too Small, Senior Official Says
By Charles Kennedy - Oct 13, 2026, 10:30 AM CDT
India may need to revise up its planned new coal-fired capacity installations through 2035 amid soaring electricity demand that needs grid stability and flexibility, a senior Indian official said on Tuesday.
Last year, India planned to raise its coal-fired power capacity by a total of 97 gigawatts (GW) until 2035, and have 307 GW of coal capacity installed. At present, the world’s second-largest coal consumer has 231 GW of installed coal-fired power capacity.
However, the surge in power demand over the past year has shown that India may need to revise up the plan for 97 GW of coal capacity additions, Ghanshyam Prasad, chair of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), said at a business event today.
“Now, probably it will go up to 105 GW or even 150 GW,” Prasad said, commenting on the plans for coal capacity additions, as carried by Reuters.
“Demand is growing, and as the demand grows we need stable supply resources to meet this demand as well,” the official added.
India’s coal and lignite installations were at 231 GW as of August, or a 42% share of all power capacity, the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report earlier this week.
But renewable energy (excluding large hydro) grew the fastest, rising to 243 GW, or to a 44% share of India’s capacity, in August 2026. That’s up from 193 GW, or a 39% share, in August 2025, CREA’s analysis showed.
Renewable energy may have topped coal as the single largest source of power capacity in India, but this doesn’t mean that the world’s most populous country could afford to rely solely on the renewables boom.
India also aims to boost its installed nuclear power capacity to 100 GW by 2047, up from just 8.8 GW now, after allowing private companies to invest in its nuclear energy industry for the first time.
The country also expects to build five small modular reactors (SMRs) domestically by 2033.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
