As President Donald Trump cracks down on wind and solar power, one other abundant renewable energy resource, namely geothermal, could emerge as a winner, in large part thanks to fossil fuels.
Just below the Earth’s surface, there is an abundant source of heat that can be used to generate highly reliable and emissions-free geothermal energy.
Recommended Stories
- How Loudoun County’s commercial tax base initiative turn Virginia into a data center hub
- Alaska governor presses Trump to green-light graphite mine, citing jobs and national security
- Tesla opposes EPA proposal to rescind endangerment finding on greenhouse gases
Harnessing this power has proven to be a challenge. But technology developed by the oil and gas industries over the past two decades is now making it possible to tap into geothermal energy all across the globe.
Geothermal energy can provide electricity, heating, and cooling, and store excess energy under the surface, just from extracting heat from underground reservoirs of hot, typically porous, rocks saturated with water. To generate energy, the heat is used to produce steam, which travels through piping and turbines to create electricity.
This renewable energy source has been used for hundreds of years to heat natural hot springs and pools in areas like Iceland. Iceland sits in a prime location for harnessing geothermal energy, as the country is a hotbed of volcanic activity.
Figuring out how to tap geothermal energy has long been restricted to areas with higher tectonic activity, as the movement of tectonic plates more easily brings the Earth’s internal heat closer to the surface. Simultaneously, much of the exploration has been limited to just a few miles below the surface, relying on porous rock that will allow steam to rise.
But advancements in drilling made by the oil and gas industry have made geothermal power viable in many more locations. Investors are also now more interested in the power source because of the soaring demand for electricity from the rise of artificial intelligence and the associated need for data centers.
Influence of the shale revolution
Roughly 20 years ago, the United States saw what is most commonly described as the “shale boom” or “shale revolution.” This was driven by technological developments in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which made it easier for producers to drill deeper and pump more oil and gas.
Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, involves a high-pressure drill and perforating gun system to create cracks in shale rock thousands of feet underground. Millions of gallons of water, chemicals, and sand are then pumped into these fissures, causing crude oil and gas to flow back to the surface.
Now, geothermal producers are seeking to use this technique to overcome the hurdle of location and harness the heat trapped in impermeable rock several miles deep.
“Next-generation geothermal would not exist, hard stop, without the oil and gas industry,” said Jamie Beard, the founder of nonprofit organization Project InnerSpace, which aims to expand global access to the energy source.
“Everything we need to address — future energy demand, data center demand — all of those things will not happen without the oil and gas industry, because the oil and gas industry has all of the people, all of the talent, all of the assets, all of the technologies,” Beard told the Washington Examiner.
Drilling for geothermal energy is not the same as the process in traditional fracking, as geothermal producers are not using chemicals and sand to bring oil and gas hydrocarbons back to the surface. But the process is similar.
As in traditional fracking, geothermal wells pump water underground through fractures made in the deep, hot rock. These rocks then heat that water, which is extracted to the surface as steam. That steam is then transported through a series of pipes and turbines, which power generators that ultimately produce the electricity pumped into the electrical grid through transmission systems. Any excess water pumped back to the surface is cooled and then reinjected into the ground to restart the process.
Fervo Energy, an enhanced geothermal systems startup based in Texas, told the Washington Examiner that the fluid chemistry used in this process is much simpler than traditional fracking and does not involve combustion.
“We’re essentially adapting proven drilling tools for a new target, heat, which lets us unlock clean, carbon-free energy,” the company said.
Drilling technology isn’t the only tool the geothermal energy producers have cribbed from oil and gas, as researchers and producers have been able to utilize exploration and risk management techniques used by traditional fossil fuel firms.
For Sam Taylor, director of West Virginia University’s Institute for Sustainability and Energy Research and a former Department of Energy employee, the fossil fuel industry is a crucial “resource” for geothermal.
“There’s a lot of parallels,” Taylor told the Washington Examiner. “That’s part of why it’s been exciting work, it really is taking a set of tools we’re pretty familiar with and applying it in a really different way.”
In fact, a substantial number of geothermal startup employees come from fossil fuel backgrounds. At Fervo Energy, which was cofounded by former oil and gas engineer Tim Latimer in 2017, more than half of its workforce has experience in the oil and gas industry.
Growing investments
Some, including Beard, believe the industry is on the cusp of its own “shale revolution,” particularly as startups including Fervo Energy and Sage Geosystems are working with larger tech companies that are trying to power their AI operations while also hitting emissions reduction goals.
Fervo Energy has partnered with Google for the last several years. The company’s first commercial well in Nevada came online in 2023 and has pumped just over 3 megawatts of geothermal energy into the local grid, which is powering Google’s data centers.
Similarly, Sage Geosystems entered an agreement with Meta last year to utilize its proprietary Geopressured Geothermal System to deliver up to 150 megawatts of new power for its data centers. The companies are hoping to have the first phase of the project online and operating in 2027.
“Just like the shale revolution transformed the energy landscape by unlocking resources once thought out of reach, advanced drilling is doing the same for geothermal,” Fervo said. “For decades, geothermal was limited to a few ideal locations, but by adapting oil and gas innovations, we can now tap heat almost anywhere. That shift takes geothermal from niche to scalable and positions it as a cornerstone of America’s energy future.”
These smaller startups and similar geothermal firms are also increasing their cooperation with veteran energy companies in the U.S. to utilize their expertise in the drilling space.
Earlier this month, oilfield service firm Baker Hughes said it would partner with geothermal and critical minerals company Controlled Thermal Resources to develop one of the largest geothermal energy projects in the world.
For Baker Hughes, geothermal is central to the firm’s low-carbon strategy and climate change-related targets. Not only does geothermal energy allow the company to lower its carbon footprint, but the renewable energy source does not sacrifice any reliability, as is often seen with intermittent alternatives. Unlike wind and solar, geothermal energy is flexible and not dependent on weather conditions, meaning it can be extracted 24/7.
Geothermal energy is considered to be one of the most reliable sources of power, typically on par with sources like nuclear energy. Given the vast resources of heat under the surface, energy analysts predict that geothermal energy has the potential to power a substantial portion of the world’s energy demand in the coming years.
In 2024, the International Energy Agency estimated that by 2050, geothermal could meet 15% of global energy demand growth. The IEA estimated that nations may have the ability to deploy as much as 800 gigawatts of geothermal power in that same timeframe, enough to meet the electricity needs of both the U.S. and India combined in one year.
Not quite there yet
Excitement around geothermal energy is clearly growing as electricity demand is only expected to grow in the coming years.
Due to the small footprint required to extract geothermal, many advocates are hopeful that large technology companies will continue to turn to renewable sources to power AI and data centers.
There are still several hurdles the industry must overcome before geothermal power can be a commercially viable option for utilities and hyperscalers. These include higher upfront costs compared to traditional sources of energy, permitting delays, and difficulty integrating into the grid.
“It’s coming, but more evolution than overnight revolution,” said Ajit Menon, vice president of geothermal at Baker Hughes.
Regulatory reform that prioritizes streamlining the federal permitting process, grid connection, and exploration risk would also provide investors with more confidence, thereby accelerating the buildout of geothermal, Menon added.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at making it easier to connect to the grid and build large infrastructure projects faster. Discussions on broad permitting reform are currently ongoing in the House, with much of the debate revolving around reforming lengthy environmental reviews.
Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, told the Washington Examiner she believes geothermal’s time to shine is just months away, with major projects coming online within three years.
For Beard, that transition can’t happen without major investments from oil giants such as Chevron and Exxon, which she says are waiting in the wings.
“Startups are really important for ecosystems and buzz and hype, but they aren’t going to get this done,” Beard said. “Geothermal is not going to be commercially relevant if we only have startups operating in the field.”
DEMOCRATS’ FEAR OF TRUMP CLEAN ENERGY CRACKDOWN HOLDS UP PERMITTING REFORM TALKS
Beard is hopeful that large tech firms such as Google, Meta, or Amazon will announce a major partnership with a big oil field service company like Halliburton in the next 12 to 24 months to harness geothermal energy for a data center.
“That will be the best thing that’s happened to geothermal ever, because it’ll just instantly supercharge scale and speed, [the] learning curve, and everything we need to do to make this actually a globally relevant energy source.”