NTPC has announced plans to set up a large coal-to-synthetic natural gas project at Talaipalli in Chhattisgarh, with an estimated investment of about Rs 10,000 crore.

The proposed facility will use high-ash Indian coal from NTPC’s captive mines and convert it into synthetic natural gas through coal beneficiation, gasification, water gas shift and methanation processes. The plant is designed to produce around five lakh tonne of SNG annually and will consume nearly twenty five lakh tonne of coal each year across a 150 acre site. NTPC is currently looking to finalise technology tie-ups, including international partners, with the process configuration expected to be frozen by the last quarter of FY26. 

Engineers India is supporting the project development, while NTPC’s R&D arm NETRA is leading the initiative under its “greening the coal” strategy. The project is expected to reduce dependence on imported natural gas and enable cleaner utilisation of domestic coal, with potential downstream applications in fuels, fertilisers and petrochemicals over time sustainably.