Tata Power Targets 2032 for India’s First Private Nuclear Plant
Key Takeaways
- •Tata Power aims to have its first nuclear plant ready in the 2032-2033 period.
- •The company expects construction on the project to begin in early 2028.
- •Tata Power has shortlisted potential sites in at least three Indian states.
- •India wants to raise nuclear power capacity to 100 GW by 2047 from 8.8 GW at present.
- •The Atomic Energy Bill and the SHANTI Act allow private companies to invest in India’s nuclear sector for the first time.
Tata Power, one of India’s largest integrated power utilities, plans to build its first nuclear power plant by 2032 as the country opens its civil nuclear sector to private companies, CEO Praveer Sinha told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday.
The move would place Tata Power among the first private participants in a sector that has long been dominated by the state, at a time when India is looking for much larger additions to firm power capacity over the next two decades.
“What we can expect is that early part of 2028 we will start possibly the construction activity,” Sinha told Bloomberg.
“We are targeting that 2032-2033, we will have the first of the nuclear plants ready in the private sector,” he added.
Tata Power has already shortlisted several potential sites in at least three Indian states, Sinha said. The company has previously expressed interest in developing nuclear power plants in India.
India aims to increase its installed nuclear power capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2047, up from 8.8 GW at present. A panel set up by India’s power ministry said in its ‘roadmap to 100 GW’ report last year that reaching that target would require as much as 19.28 trillion Indian rupees, or $201 billion at current exchange rates, in cumulative capital.
At the end of 2025, India’s government approved the landmark Atomic Energy Bill, which allows private companies to invest in the country’s nuclear energy industry for the first time as India seeks to expand nuclear power capacity tenfold within two decades.
The so-called SHANTI (Sustainable Harnessing of Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India) Act could attract significant investment from private companies into India’s nuclear energy sector.
Even so, state-owned NTPC Ltd, India’s largest utility, is expected to account for 30% of new nuclear power capacity installations by 2047, underscoring that the buildout remains centered on a mix of public and private capital rather than a full shift away from state involvement.
NTPC, which is currently the only nuclear power generator in India, is also looking to acquire stakes in uranium assets globally to secure fuel for the expected expansion of the country’s nuclear power capacity.
India also expects to build five small modular reactors (SMRs) domestically by 2033, India’s Atomic Energy Minister Jitendra Singh said last week.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com