Geothermal Industry Sends A 163-Gigawatt Letter To Fossil Fuels

US President Donald Trump vaulted into his second term in office on a mission to boost US coal, oil, and gas production. As promised, all three resources were tapped for priority status under the “National Energy Emergency” declaration issued by the White House on January 20. Geothermal energy was also included as well, and the US geothermal industry is ready to answer the call. New Mexico alone, for example, is sitting on 163 gigawatts’ worth of geothermal energy according to a new assessment.

Geothermal Energy Gets A Big Thumbs-Up

The National Energy Emergency declaration of January 20 launched with this observation: “We need a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness.”

Two of the most readily accessible and affordable energy resources in the US — wind and sunshine — failed to make the Energy Emergency cut, but these ones squeezed though (emphasis added):

The term “energy” or “energy resources” means crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and critical minerals, as defined by 30 U.S.C. 1606 (a)(3).

Reading through the list, you’ll see that geothermal is not the only renewable resource to be embraced under the national emergency tent. Biofuels and hydropower (“the kinetic movement of flowing water) are also included.

However, the emergency declaration did not automatically protect every item on the list. Congress also had to pick up the ball, which it has not. At least, not yet. Last month the Republican-controlled House of Representatives sent the BBB — the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” aka the federal budget bill — to the Senate without the tax provisions needed to support the nation’s hydropower and geothermal industries.

A New Era For Geothermal Energy

That’s not the end of either industry. The members of the Republican-controlled are entitled to tweak the BBB to make it make sense before sending it back to the House. Perhaps they will, perhaps they won’t. If you know where your Senators stand on the matter, drop a note in the comment thread.

Meanwhile, the US geothermal industry is finally shaking off a decades-long coating of dust to spread its wings and fly. If geothermal tax credits go away under the final BBB the timing is not ideal for a geothermal renaissance in the US, but the data center construction boom could provide the industry with a supportive environment for rapid expansion. The US Department of Defense is also pursuing the prize of 24/7 clean power at or near its facilities.

The fact is that the US is sitting on a mother lode of geothermal energy, but until now it has barely been tapped for power generation. That’s because only a few, scattered locations west of the Rocky Mountains provide the right combination of naturally occurring water, heat, and rock to produce electricity. A commercially viable business model is another ingredient that has been missing from the picture.

Well, that was then. All throughout the first Trump administration and into the Biden years, the US Department of Energy was pushing forward with R&D programs supporting new, enhanced geothermal systems, which borrow drilling methods from the oil and gas industry to fabricate the necessary underground conditions for geothermal heat and/or power generation, enabling the industry to spread into many more parts of the US (see more EGS background here).

New Mexico Is Sitting On 163 Gigawatts Of Geothermal Energy

As for how much geothermal energy is suddenly available, the US Geological Survey has begun deploying new mapping tools to assess the power generation potential, beginning with the Great Basin region covering much of Nevada. Earlier this year USGS issued a preliminary determination of 135 gigawatts, which is the equivalent of about 10% of the nation’s overall generating capacity. In contrast, the nation’s current supply of geothermal generating capacity barely registers, at less than 1%.

The Williston Basin in North Dakota is next on the US Geological survey to-do list, but the state of New Mexico, for one, is not waiting around to see what happens next.

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources has partnered with the The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the non-profit organization Project InnerSpace to assess their own state’s geothermal energy resources. They came up with a total of 163 gigawatts. To put that into perspective, that’s more than 15 times the existing power generation capacity in New Mexico as of 2023.

The findings are described in a report titled, “The Future of Geothermal in New Mexico,” released to the public on June 12 by Project InnerSpace.

Giving credit where credit is due, Project InnerSpace credits the oil and gas industry with lending its technology to the effort.

“A new report made public today finds that New Mexico’s particular combination of abundant subsurface heat, well-developed technical expertise from the oil & gas and traditional geothermal industries, and support from political leaders make it exceptionally well suited to exponentially grow its geothermal development,” Project InnerSpace explained in a press statement.

According to the findings, geothermal power, heating, and/or cooling potential exists everywhere in New Mexico, not just in a few places. “Almost all of the western half of the state has enough subsurface heat potential for power generation,” Project InnerSpace notes.

For the record, New Mexico currently has just one geothermal power plant on its roster.

Data Centers And The DoD

The new report also outlines policy recommendations to get the geothermal energy wheels in motion, while also underscoring the potential for transferring oil and gas employment into the geothermal industry. That’s a key consideration because New Mexico currently bills itself as the second-largest producer of oil and gas in the US.

“The report also noted that New Mexico could be a top state for the development of geothermal-powered data centers,” Project InnerSpace concludes.

As if on cue, on June 12 Meta (the parent company of Facebook) let word slip that a new 150-megawatt geothermal energy project is in the works in partnership with the startup XGS Energy., aimed at supporting its data center operations in New Mexico.

XGS has come up with its own variation on advanced geothermal technology, with a focus on eliminating water from the equation. “XGS Energy’s proprietary geothermal technology, which enables geothermal power production with zero operating water use, will be deployed to the PNM electric grid and support Meta’s data center operations in New Mexico, demonstrating that energy demand can be met with clean, water-independent baseload power,” XGS explains.

XGS also emphasizes that the Meta project alone will increase geothermal electricity capacity in the state by a factor of 10. That will happen by 2030, once the two-phase construction timeline is completed and the project is fully built out.

Keep an eye out for more news from XGS. Earlier this year the company joined a select group of geothermal energy firms to earn pre-qualification status from the US Air Force, entitling them to bid on contracts for new USAF geothermal projects as well as other branches of the US Department of Defense.

Image: New enhanced geothermal systems are emerging on the US power generation profile, with data centers and the US Department of Defense among key markets (courtesy of US Department of Energy).