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The US Air Force was an early adopter and market-mover for the budding domestic solar industry back in the early 2000s, leading to solar’s explosive growth curve in the ensuing years. Now the Air Force is poised to do the same for geothermal energy, sparking new life into an industry that has been all but comatose for decades.
More Geothermal Energy For The USA
There are no geothermal power plants east of the Rocky Mountains today, and for good reason. The US geothermal industry has long relied on naturally occurring circumstances where the combination of rock, water, and heat is optimal for electricity production, and where eager off-takers await. Until now, that has limited the scope of geothermal electricity production to a few hotspots in California, Oregon, and other points west.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy has spent years — and many taxpayer dollars — supporting geothermal innovations that deploy new drilling technologies, borrowed from the oil and gas industry. These new geothermal systems can pick up and go where the heat and the offtakers are located, deploying human-made underground reservoirs.
Now some of those systems are ready for market. In fact, they are so ready that President Trump’s fossil-friendly “American Energy Dominance” plan includes geothermal energy in its shortlist of preferred energy resources (for the record, biofuel and hydropower also made the cut).
More Geothermal Energy For The US Department of Defense
With a significant impact on the US solar industry in its pocket, the Air Force already has ambitious plans for the geothermal industry. They have compiled a list of 11 geothermal energy innovators that earned an “awardable” designation through a selective Department of Defense technology acceleration program called the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace. Companies listed as awardable are pre-qualified to compete for geothermal projects under any branch of DoD, not just the Air Force.
The Air Force already has a jump on the action. Last fall they tapped one of the companies on the awardable list, the US startup Sage Geothermal, to pilot test its new geothermal technology on a site located in Starr County, in Texas. Construction is slated to begin this year. Sage also has a geothermal project in the works at Fort Bliss, under the wing of the US Army.
Another firm to make the awardable list is GreenFire Energy, and they are already in motion, too. Last April the company was selected to install its advanced geothermal technology at Naval Air Facility El Centro in California.
The Sage and GreenFire projects were among several DoD geothermal energy projects announced last year. Last year’s activity also included Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, Fort Wainright in Alaska, Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, Fort Irwin in California, and Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.
Utility Scale Geothermal Energy Is Coming For Your Fossil Fuels
Awardable status is a major milestone for the listed companies and for the US geothermal industry overall. “Having achieved ‘Awardable’ status, GreenFire Energy can now explore developing a utility-scale geothermal power plant here at home and abroad to supply U.S. military bases with reliable and cost-effective electricity, even during a grid outage,” GreenFire explained in a press statement earlier this week.
“GreenFire Energy was recognized among a competitive field of applicants to the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace whose solutions demonstrated innovation, scalability, and potential impact on DoD missions,” the company emphasized.
CleanTechnica received the names of other firms on the Tradewinds awardable list via a LinkedIn message. In addition to Sage and GreenFire, the list includes Addis Energy, Baker Hughes, EarthBridge Energy, Energy Systems Group (ESG)/GE Vernova and partners, Power Planet, Inc., Quaise Energy, SLB Technology Corporation, TLS GEOTHERMICS, and XGS Energy.
A Mixed Bag Of Geothermal Energy Solutions
If you caught the name of the prominent oilfield services firm Baker Hughes on the list, that’s no accident. Other legacy players in the oil and the gas services industry have also caught the geothermal energy bug, and Baker Hughes is one of them. Among other activities, Baker Hughes is an investor in GreenFire Energy and the company is also investigating the potential for repurposing nonperforming oil wells as closed loop geothermal systems.
Other fossil energy stakeholders transitioning into geothermal energy are Devon Energy and Liberty Energy, where newly minted Energy Secretary Chris Wright formerly held the post of CEO. Both Devon and Liberty have invested in the geothermal startup Fervo Energy (see more background about Fervo Energy here).
The awardables list also includes several firms with an interest in geothermal energy aside from direct electricity generation. Addis, for example, received Energy Department funding to develop a low carbon ammonia production system that leverages subsurface heat and pressure, while Earthbridge is focused on underground storage for wind and solar energy.
Global Investors Love Investing In US Geothermal Energy Ventures
XGS Energy illustrates how the global investment community has been responding to new opportunities in the US geothermal energy industry. XGS specializes in water-independent geothermal energy. Last May it locked down $20 million in additional Series A financing, pushing the company’s total over the $40 million mark.
The company lists Anzu Partners (US), BlueScopeX (Australia), B Current Impact Investment (Taiwan), Constellation Technology Ventures (US), H&P (the US oilfield services firm Helmerich & Payne), MIH Capital (Taiwan), Thin Line Capital (US), Valo Ventures (US), and VoLo Earth Ventures (US) among its investors.
“This financing will support XGS’ first commercial-scale project in California later this year and accelerate deployment of its proprietary water-independent geothermal technology across its global project pipeline,” XGS reported.
As of last May, XGS had a prototype in the works following two years of in-lab tests, marking a milestone towards commercial projects Japan and the Philippines as well as the western US.
Next Steps For Geothermal Energy In The US
With a rogue Commander-in-Chief occupying the Oval Office and shedding decades-old alliances to join forces with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it’s not obvious that improving energy security at US military facilities will be a priority over the next four years. Nevertheless, last month Secretary Wright made it clear that geothermal energy is part of the “American Energy Dominance” plan.
On its part, the Air Force has made it clear that geothermal energy is the future. One example occurred in 2023, when the Air Force launched two pilot projects, one with with Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals, Inc. at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho and the other with Eavor Inc. at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, with the ultimate aim of expanding geothermal energy to other DoD facilities.
In a press release detailing the two projects, an Air Force spokesperson explained that the US is in “an era of strategic competition with China,” further emphasizing that “our installations are no longer a sanctuary from the full spectrum of threats.”
“We need to ruggedize our installations with redundant energy systems and make use of clean energy sources that reduce our fuel demands,” the spokesperson added.
Now that the US has become a Soviet-style satellite state of Russia practically overnight — complete with a sycophantic leader at the helm — perhaps the need to ruggedize the nation’s military capabilities is less urgent. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread or better yet, find your representatives in Congress and tell them.
Image (cropped): Geothermal energy is front and center in the Defense Department’s efforts to improve energy security and resiliency at military facilities (courtesy of GreenFire Energy).
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