NTPC Targets 244 GW by 2037 With ₹16.86-Lakh-Crore Expansion Across India’s Energy Sector

India’s largest power producer NTPC has sharply raised its long-term growth ambitions, targeting around 244 GW of generating capacity by 2037, more than two-and-a-half times its present scale. The expansion will be supported by cumulative capital expenditure of approximately ₹16.86 lakh crore up to FY2037, covering renewable energy, thermal power, hydro, pumped storage, battery storage, nuclear energy and mining. NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Gurdeep Singh outlined the revised roadmap at the company’s 50th Annual General Meeting on 27 August 2026.

NTPC has already expanded from only 43.1 GW in FY2014 to around 91 GW today. During FY2025-26 alone, the group added a record 9.6 GW, its highest annual capacity addition, with 5.48 GW — nearly 60% — coming from non-fossil sources. Another approximately 35.7 GW is currently under construction, providing a substantial base for the next phase of expansion.

The first major milestone will be 149 GW of generating capacity by 2032, up from NTPC’s earlier target of 130 GW. Of this, 60 GW is planned from renewable energy, reflecting the company’s transition from a predominantly coal-based generator into a diversified energy utility. NTPC Green Energy Limited is becoming central to this strategy, with renewable generation rising to 14.6 billion units during FY2025-26, more than double the previous year.

By 2037, NTPC now aspires to operate 244 GW of generating capacity, excluding storage capacity. The scale of the target reflects expectations of rapidly rising Indian electricity demand driven by industrialisation, urbanisation, electric mobility, digital infrastructure and data centres. NTPC noted that India’s peak electricity demand has already crossed 270 GW during the current fiscal year, while the Central Electricity Authority projects it could reach approximately 459 GW by FY2036.

Renewables will form a major part of the expansion, but NTPC is deliberately pursuing a diversified strategy rather than replacing conventional generation with a single technology. Coal-based generation will continue to provide dependable and dispatchable electricity, while solar, wind, hydro and emerging storage systems will progressively increase the flexibility of the grid. NTPC is simultaneously examining battery energy storage, pumped-storage projects and newer long-duration technologies including redox-flow batteries and carbon-dioxide-based storage systems.

Nuclear power is emerging as another major strategic pillar. NTPC intends eventually to contribute around 30 GW of nuclear capacity towards India’s national objective of reaching 100 GW by 2047. Its immediate programme includes the 2.8-GW Mahi Banswara nuclear project in Rajasthan, while studies and discussions are progressing across another 34 potential sites in 13 states. The company sees nuclear power as a source of round-the-clock low-carbon electricity capable of complementing both renewables and conventional generation.

NTPC is also broadening its activities beyond conventional electricity generation. Its emerging portfolio includes green hydrogen, energy storage, coal gasification, power trading, captive mining and advanced digital technologies. A coal-gasification-based synthetic natural gas project with planned annual capacity of 5.75 lakh tonnes is being developed as a potential substitute for imported natural gas, while artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and digital twins are increasingly being introduced across power plants and mining operations.

The ₹16.86-lakh-crore investment programme therefore represents much more than the construction of additional power stations. NTPC is attempting to transform itself from India’s dominant thermal-power producer into an integrated national energy company spanning conventional generation, renewables, storage, nuclear power, mining and emerging clean-energy technologies. If the 244-GW ambition is realised, NTPC would enter the late 2030s at a scale dramatically larger and technologically more diversified than at any point in its five-decade history.