India Could Unlock Thousands of GW of Industrial Heat

NEW DELHI, May 2026: Project InnerSpace, in partnership with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), today released The Future of Geothermal in India, finding that India holds significant technical potential for geothermal: 11,000 gigawatts (GW) of industrial heat, more than 1,500 GW of cooling, and 450 GW of electricity—nearly equal to India’s current installed capacity. Even partial deployment could significantly reduce pressure on India’s power system and diversify how industry meets its growing energy demand.

The report identifies geothermal as a critical resource for the sectors driving demand—data centres, cities, and industry—while strengthening energy security, enhancing resilience, cutting emissions, and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. In India, where cooling demand is rising rapidly and industrial energy use remains heavily fuel-based, it offers a practical pathway to deliver reliable energy while easing pressure on the grid.

Geothermal energy, the heat naturally occurring in the Earth’s crust, is an abundant, always-available domestic resource. The report outlines a pathway to scale geothermal through pilot projects, policy implementation, and targeted incentives—moving from early-stage development to deployment this decade. Although India began exploring geothermal resources decades ago, deployment remained limited to pilot projects due to high exploration risks, uncertain drilling returns, and the absence of enabling policy frameworks.

The report notes that advances in drilling technologies, improved subsurface data, and India’s recent National Policy on Geothermal Energy now make large-scale deployment significantly more viable. “Geothermal is a massive and untapped energy opportunity for India — with industrial heat and cooling as low hanging fruit ready to economically deploy today,” said Jamie Beard, Executive Director of Project InnerSpace.  The report was led by Project InnerSpace, in partnership with CEEW, and with contributions from 12 leading institutions across India and internationally.