Geothermal-energy enthusiasts point out that hot rocks can provide baseload power when the sun and wind are away
, geothermal can provide 8.5% of America’s electricity generation by 2050. Researchers and startups are also experimenting with usingThere are two main obstacles. The first is cost. Exploring and drilling wells miles into the Earth is capital-intensive. And venture-capital firms tend to be squeamish about the technology risk. “I guess we’re in the valley of death,” says Cindy Taff, a former Shell executive who runs Sage Geosystems, a geothermal startup.
The Inflation Reduction Act should help. Sarah Jewett, director of strategy at Fervo Energy, another startup, says the fact that the investment and production tax credits it offers will be in place for a decade provides some certainty. The $1.2trn infrastructure bill, passed in 2021, is also helping to fund startups’ pilot projects. One of the’s “earthshots”, or missions to accelerate climate tech, is to reduce the cost of enhanced geothermal power by 90%, to $45 per megawatt-hour, by 2035.
But where developers see despair, Texas spies opportunity. The state has fewer natural geothermal resources, but only 2% of its lands are owned by the feds. “If you drill here, you gotta go deeper,” says Matt Welch, of the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance. But, he argues, that may be easier than “if you’re in Nevada, and you’re in your tenth year…and now you have Burning Man coming after you.
Many startup executives say they fled oil and gas for geothermal because they were queasy about hawking planet-warming fossil fuels. Ms Jewett refers to her years in the Wyoming oilfields as her time on “the dark side”. But geothermal’s similarities to oil and gas could also become a problem. The oil majors may wonder whether geothermal has the potential to cannibalise their business.
Meanwhile, investors are eagerly awaiting results from startups’ pilot projects. It could become clear as soon as this year whether enhanced geothermal is ready for prime time, or whether the
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