Geothermal Weekly - #7
Biden's legacy, geothermal funding keeps flowing, Fervo secures more capital, and Mazama energy starts heating up
Hi folks,
Finally fully back from the holidays, expect more regular updates once again : )
This week, we’ll cover the remainder of the holiday season including:
Biden’s geothermal legacy
Funding flows from the DOE
Fervo secures more capital
Mazama Energy’s newest announcement
And more!
📊Chart of the Week:
🌡️ Hot Highlights
🎁 Biden’s parting “gifts” send a mixed message
In his final days in office, Biden took some final steps that leave a mixed message for geothermal:
The Interior Department made moves to protect the Ruby Mountains of Nevada from oil, gas, and (most importantly) geothermal development for the next 20 years before pro-oil and gas development in the final days before Trump takes office. 264,442 acres will be up for review as a two-year ban begins while a 90-day public comment period and environmental review take place.
The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service will also conduct an environmental analysis to determine whether the ban on energy development in the Ruby Mountains should be extended for up to 20 years—the maximum duration the Interior Department can withdraw federal lands from energy leasing. Permanent withdrawal requires congressional approval.
The Ruby Mountains (see black square below) are in peak areas for the development of geothermal energy. Although likely a good move for the broader environment, this could potentially impede long term development of the geothermal resources in Nevada.
In addition to pushing for protections of the Ruby Mountains, Biden has also released an executive order to permanently block new offshore oil and gas leasing in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Northern Bering Sea under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, adding to broader federal restrictions on fossil fuel projects. Existing leases will remain unaffected.
President Trump is expected to attempt reversing these protections, but legal precedent under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act may limit his success, as courts previously blocked similar efforts during his first term.
Oil industry advocates warn against restrictions, arguing the U.S. produces fossil fuels more cleanly than other nations and emphasizing the Gulf of Mexico’s role in providing 14% of domestic U.S. oil output.
These moves underscores Biden’s unique role in geothermal energy, both supporting renewable energy development through policies like the IRA but also pushing for stronger protections of strategic geothermal areas with environmental significance such as Thompson Divide, (map from BLM here) a key location for geothermal energy development in Colorado (see map of geothermal resources in Colorado here).
💸 The Department of Energy starts the new year off right
The Federal Government has continued to push support for geothermal projects through the new year:
The FY25 Phase I Release 2 Notice of Funding Opportunity has been released by the DOE to provide funding opportunities (up to 200k for this phase, $1.1M for the next) for both geothermal heating and cooling and enhanced geothermal systems.
For geothermal heating and cooling, grants are related to drilling for geothermal heat pumps, rapid site assessments, and heating and cooling for protected architecture.
Funding for Enhanced Geothermal Applications is related to improving elastomeric materials used in harsh downhole geothermal environments, particularly in EGS development and high temperatures (over 250°C for long-term use and 300°C for short-term use, up to 375°C for superhot systems). These EGS applications should focus on improving elastomeric materials specifically for use in geothermal wells, including for use in seals, o-rings, zonal isolation devices, pumps, valves, motors, and wellbore monitoring tools.
Full applications are due February 26, 2025 and the Phase II cycle is also expected to start in February 2025. You can read more here.
The DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) is also supporting a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) in 2025 for field data collection, including geophysics and exploratory drilling. This funding will support regional partnerships to advance geothermal resource assessment and exploration, improve engagement, and help build a pipeline of energy projects. Additionally, applicants will be encouraged to strengthen technical expertise through collaborations with educational and training programs at universities, trade schools, and labor organizations. Partner organizations range from state geological surveys, geothermal developers, landowners and other private entities, utilities, and many many more. For greater detail, please read more here.
You can also read the annual report of the project for FY 2024 here. In total, PIA PPOs (PIA Project Orders) were estimated to support over $13B in DOE financial assistance-based programmatic activity. The 46 projects in FY24 totaled to a portfolio size of $342M and covered a variety of tasks eligible for the PIA Pilot, with the majority focused on lowering barriers for domestic small businesses, academic institutions, and other non-traditional partners to participate in DOE opportunities and initiatives.
Towards the end of December 2024, the DOE gave out the second round of funding for its broader initiative to support community geothermal heating and cooling solutions (we covered this briefly last week). You can read more about the Ann Arbor, MI project here (received $10M) and the Chicago, IL initiative here (received $9.9M). Voltz also did a recent podcast related to the Framingham, MA project (received $7.8M). More on the overall initiative can also be found here.
⚙️ Fervo Secures Hundreds of Millions in Capital
As of December 19th, 2024, Fervo Energy has raised $255 million in new funding, comprising $135 million in corporate equity led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund II and $120M letter of credit and term loan facility from Mercuria, one of the world’s largest independent energy and commodity groups. The funding will accelerate Fervo’s deployment of next-generation geothermal projects, including its fully permitted Cape Station development, which aims to deliver 2 GW of clean energy by 2026.
The company has had other financial wins as well: in February, Fervo secured $244 million in a financing round led by Devon Energy, and in September, the company received a $100 million bridge loan for the first phase of its ongoing project in Utah.
The team has continued to be backed by prominent investors such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CalSTRS, Congruent Ventures, CPP Investments, DCVC, Devon Energy, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Liberty Mutual Investments, Mercuria, and Sabanci Climate Ventures.
The CEO Tim Latimer also spoke at the DOE’s Deploy24 conference in early December 2024.
🌋 Mazama energy heats up
On December 21st, 2024, Mazama Energy (EGS geothermal energy developer founded by Altarock and Blade Energy Systems) has begun exploratory drilling at Newberry Volcano in Central Oregon.
Mazama Energy’s Super Hot Rock (SHR) Demonstration Project aims to develop the a commercially viable geothermal reservoir in super-hot rocks, testing advanced technologies in two deep wells planned for 2025 and 2026. The team is hoping to generate 5–10 times more power than conventional geothermal with minimal CO2 emissions. The DOE-funded project involves partnerships with three national laboratories (Lawrence Berkeley, Pacific Northwest, and National Renewable Energy) and two universities (University of Oklahoma and Oregon State), advancing Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) research.
🌐 International Briefing
GreenFire Energy Inc. was awarded the International Trade Administration’s Export Achievement Certificate (“EAC”) for a U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)-funded geothermal project in the Philippines. The EAC was presented at an event organized by the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) along the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders Week in San Francisco, California. You can read more in depth on the project itself here.
As mentioned last week, the EU has continued to push for geothermal energy. We wanted to include a little more context this week. The chart below shows the amount of Russian gas dependence. As the EU sees its member states continue to develop geothermal, we’ll likely see this number go down or at least change the amount of influence Russia has over European energy needs. This docket is also a brief on the broader report and sentiment.
Japan’s economy ministry released a draft of a new “basic energy plan” on Dec. 17 that sets a course for Japan’s energy policy and marks a return to utilization of nuclear power. The plan sets most electricity consumption is aiming to come from renewables (~40 to 50%) and with another large share coming from nuclear energy (20%). Geothermal power generation, on which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is focusing his efforts, will unfortunately not be massive but will still be boosted through exploratory drilling and technological development with its share expected to be 1-2 percent, according to the draft.
🔍 Other Neat Bits
As Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich plans to prioritize permitting reform to streamline approvals for solar and geothermal projects, addressing disparities favoring oil and gas drilling. However, his clean energy focus is likely to clash with Chair Mike Lee's emphasis on expanding fossil fuel development and reducing federal control over public lands.
World Oil recently published a report on well control considerations for the global geothermal energy industry. You can read in more detail here.
Ceres Capital Pty Ltd has ceased to be a substantial holder in Terragen Holdings Ltd following a series of on-market trades and a dilution resulting from a recent placement and entitlement offer.
Leading drilling consultant John de Wardt breaks down Automation vs. Autonomy and the future of drilling tech for the Journal of Petroleum Technology.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s team received the 2024 Director’s Award for Societal Impact for their comprehensive assessment of lithium resources in the Salton Sea geothermal region. Funded by GTO, the study quantified over 3,400 kilotons of lithium potential while outlining strategies to optimize geothermal energy production and sustainable lithium extraction.
Thank you for reading and please