Ladakh has approved a five-year extension of its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for development of India’s first geothermal power project at Puga Valley in eastern Ladakh.
The project site is located at an altitude of over 14,000 feet. The earlier tripartite MoU signed in February 2021 had expired in February 2026. The revised MoU has been extended for another five years between the Ladakh administration, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, and the ONGC Energy Centre. Under the plan, ONGC will set up a 1 MW pilot geothermal power plant and prepare a detailed project report for large-scale commercial development of geothermal energy in Ladakh. ONGC will also deepen the existing well to 1,000 metres and drill another 1,000-metre well in the next phase. The company had earlier drilled a 405-metre geothermal well in 2025, with studies indicating subsurface temperatures above 240 degrees Celsius suitable for geothermal power generation. The pilot project is expected to be commissioned in FY2026-27.