With Growing Bipartisan Support, It’s Full Steam Ahead for Geothermal Energy

A geothermal energy plant taps deep underground heat from the southern San Andreas Fault rift zone near the Salton Sea near Calipatria, Calif., on July 05, 2011. David McNew/Getty Images

Advances in deep directional drilling fostered by hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—for natural gas are increasingly being deployed to tap into and develop geothermal energy encased below the Earth’s surface.

According to the United States Department of Energy (DOE), geothermal energy generates less than a half-percent of the nation’s utility-scale electricity with the present capacity to contribute up to 3 percent. However, that production could dramatically scale up to as much as 30 percent by 2050 if experimental “supercritical” enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) prove viable.

Geothermal production enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, similar to nuclear power, as a carbon-free renewable “green” energy that also fits within the incoming Trump administration’s “drill baby drill” call to lower electricity and fuel costs as part of an “all of the above” strategy.

A passel of geothermal bills await chamber floor votes, but with less than a dozen legislative days left before the lame-duck Congress adjourns Dec. 19, most are likely to be re-introduced next year after the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.

Among them is H.R. 8665, the “Supercritical Geothermal Research and Development Act,” co-sponsored by Reps. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), which directs federal agencies to prioritize and coordinate geothermal research.

The bill passed through House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittees in June and July. It’s among 23 bills the committee adopted on Nov. 20 and sent to the House floor.

“Supercritical geothermal,” often referred to as “superhot rock energy,” is among DOE-defined EGS initiatives proponents say could produce significantly more renewable energy than conventional geothermal systems can.

Among other geothermal-related bills on chamber floors is the Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources Act, or HEATS Act, which would exempt some geothermal drilling proposals from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act.

Under the proposed HEATS Act, introduced by Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and advanced Nov. 12 by the House Rules Committee, geothermal exploration on non-federal lands that contain less than 50 percent of subsurface estate would not need a federal drilling permit if approved by local and state governments.

Unlike the Supercritical Geothermal Research and Development Act, the HEATS Act has drawn criticism from some Democrats as a way to dodge meeting environmental and land-use standards.

While geothermal energy enjoys bipartisan support as “a great source of clean power, a reliable base-load power source,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said the proposed law would encode a “massive loophole that the industry doesn’t even need.”

Huffman said the Senate “is considering a bipartisan package” of bills, including SB 3954, the Geothermal Energy Optimization Act sponsored by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-Minn.), that “promote responsible and streamlined geothermal development. This bill has not been part of those discussions and it’s glaringly out-of-step with those efforts.”

The proposed Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.V.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), is among bills that also address permit reform, including for geothermal proposals that have bipartisan support and could be adopted by year’s end.

Approved by the Senate Natural Resources Committee in July, Manchin said the bill remedies “challenges” raised by geothermal energy developers.

“Nearly 30 percent of their capital is tied to just environmental reviews,” he said. “They simply cannot afford to be stuck in the endless permitting nightmare while the remaining financial support rides on whether they can ever obtain a permit to start commercial operations to produce geothermal energy.”

In October, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the Biden administration was proposing a “categorical exclusion” for geothermal developments on 20-or-less acres that will “significantly reduce permitting timelines and capital costs … by allowing both phases of exploration to be addressed in a single environmental review.”

Crews work to disassemble a controlled thermal Resources drilling rig to mine lithium and produce geothermal energy in Calipatria, Calif., on Dec. 15, 2021. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Congressional Momentum, Trump Support

In addition to this momentum, geothermal energy is viewed favorably by President-elect Donald Trump, Department of Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum, and DOE Secretary nominee Chris Wright.

As governor of North Dakota, Burgum was an “all of the above” advocate who backed investments in geothermal energy using the same fracking techniques that ushered in the Bakken shale oil boom.

Wright, whose Colorado-based Liberty Energy is among the nation’s largest fracking contractors, is also an investor in Fervo Energy, a Texas “green energy” company that uses fracking technologies to develop geothermal resources.

In a Nov. 16 Truth Social post announcing his DOE pick, Trump said Wright “has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas” and would be an ideal contributor to his newly formed National Energy Council, created to “expand ALL forms of energy production to grow our Economy and create good-paying jobs.”

The DOE’s 2019 GeoVision analysis determined geothermal energy could generate 60 gigawatts (GW) of electricity-generating capacity by 2050.

Citing advances in fracking techniques, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory boosted that projection in its January 2023 Enhanced Geothermal Shot analysis to 90 GWs by 2050, “the equivalent of powering 65 million American homes.”

In a March 2024 ‘Pathways to Commercial Liftoff’ report, DOE said “next generation geothermal power” could potentially generate 300 GWs by 2050, more than a third of the 700-900 GWs of electricity the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the nation will need to power its grid by then.

There are 93 geothermal plants generating 3,673 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the United States with most being in California and Nevada, the DOE documents. Collectively, they could generate about 3 percent of projected U.S. domestic demand by 2050, it estimates.

According to a Nov. 11 Fortune Business Insights analysis, the U.S. geothermal energy market is valued at $70.14 billion and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3 percent annually through 2029, although it is uncertain if those calculations incorporate EGS and supercritical geothermal advances.

A Dandelion Energy employee sprays excess groundwater back on the lawn during the installation of a geothermal heat pump system at a home in White Plains, N.Y., on May 8, 2023. Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo

‘Supercritical’ Boosts

Those advances are touted in pending measures such as H.R. 8665, the Supercritical Geothermal Research and Development Act.

Supercritical geothermal requires drilling at least two-and-a-half miles deep to access dry rock at about 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Water is then injected, inducing high-grade metamorphism that steams heat to the surface with enough pressure to generate energy.

The bill requires DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office to create a supercritical geothermal research focus area and establish a Next-Generation Geothermal Center of Excellence to coordinate with “National Laboratories, multi-institutional collaborations, or institutes of higher education, to advance enhanced geothermal energy technologies … in response to industry and commercial needs.”

H.R. 8665 also expands grant opportunities for Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) sites. It requires DOE to ensure at least one FORGE site can conduct testing for “supercritical geothermal or closed-loop geothermal system in supercritical conditions” within a year.

Conventional geothermal systems are now built near sites where deep-Earth heat fissures reach the surface, limiting them in regional reach and size to 3 to 5 MWs.

But at least one proposed supercritical geothermal well has an estimated capacity to produce up to 36 MW of energy by itself, June’s Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee HR 8665 memo maintains.

The bill calls on DOE to support “significant engineering innovations such as rapid ultra-deep drilling methods, heat-resistant well materials and tools, and deep-heat reservoir development.”

Advances in deep-drilling technologies and techniques enable “the harvesting of the Earth’s heat without the need to locate rare and naturally occurring underground sources of water,” the memo states. “Because those systems leave aquifers miles above, there is very little concern of groundwater contamination.”

That means geothermal wells can conceivably be drilled almost anywhere, dramatically expanding the viability of piping steam from miles deep inside the Earth to power plants on the surface.

“While early movers in this industry are targeting, and will continue to target, regions in which the heat is closer to the surface, innovations in deep drilling are expected to unlock this resource at a global scale,” Clean Air Task Force’s Superhot Rock Energy Program Director Terra Rogers testified July 24 before the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee.