How India plans to meet its growing energy needs — from the long-horizon three-stage nuclear programme to today's solar and wind expansion.
Conceived by Homi Bhabha, India's three-stage nuclear programme is designed around its natural resource base — abundant thorium but limited uranium. Stage 1 uses Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) running on natural uranium. Stage 2 uses Fast Breeder Reactors that both generate power and 'breed' more fissile plutonium. Stage 3 aims to use thorium — of which India holds one of the world's largest reserves — as the primary fuel, a long-term energy security strategy unique to India's approach.
India remains significantly dependent on imported crude oil and coal to meet its growing energy demand, a major driver of its current account deficit and a strategic vulnerability highlighted during global price shocks. This dependence is a central reason behind the government's parallel push into renewables and nuclear capacity.
India's National Solar Mission (part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change) and wind energy policy have driven India among the world's largest renewable capacity additions; the International Solar Alliance (ISA), co-founded by India, promotes solar deployment globally. India has committed to ambitious non-fossil fuel capacity targets under its climate commitments as part of its COP obligations.
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