{"id":10070,"date":"2025-03-06T19:34:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T11:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070"},"modified":"2025-03-06T19:34:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T11:34:39","slug":"energy-secretary-chris-wright-throws-support-behind-geothermal-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070","title":{"rendered":"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Tuesday threw his support behind a vast expansion in geothermal energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emerging forms of geothermal use technology from the fossil fuel industry to generate power on demand without air pollution \u2014 something Wright\u2019s company, Liberty Energy, invested millions in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While geothermal \u201chasn\u2019t achieved liftoff yet, it should and it can, Wright told attendees at MAGMA, a Republican-facing pro-geothermal event in D.C on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mature geothermal industry, he said, \u201ccould \u201cbetter energize our country, improve the quality of life for everyone. It could help enable AI, manufacturing, reshoring and stop the rise of our electricity prices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI look across this room and I see people that are going to make geothermal happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright name-checked geothermal as one of his department\u2019s primary areas of focus, and it was one of the zero-carbon forms of energy \u2014 along with nuclear and hydropower \u2014 specifically cited by President Trump in his National Energy Emergency executive order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy Coney Barrett draws MAGA scrutiny over SCOTUS decision on foreign aid payments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Wright\u2019s comments on Tuesday were by far his most fulsome on the subject of geothermal as secretary. They came as a significant coup for an industry that has feared wholesale cuts to the support it has received through Biden-era tax credits and programs at the Department of Energy \u2014 where it sits exposed as part of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign up for the Morning Report
The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email address
By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use, have reviewed the Privacy Policy, and to receive personalized offers and communications via email, on-site notifications, and targeted advertising using my email address from The Hill, Nexstar Media Inc., and its affiliates<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright\u2019s remarks allayed some of those fears. \u201cI want to be a service provider and help the government get out of the way. Make it easier to get regulatory approvals, easier to do innovations, easier to take that next step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s bring abundance,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAGMA (which stands for Making America Geothermal: Modern Advances) was the latest in a series of moves by renewable energy \u2014 notably the solar industry \u2014 to cast itself in terms palatable to an administration skeptical of climate action and focused on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, for example, solar industry leaders traveled to Texas to pitch local lawmakers on the their sector\u2019s potential role in a broader Republican campaign for \u201cenergy dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geothermal\u2019s advocates say that it is particularly well-placed to make that pitch, because it can generate pollution-free power round-the-clock, on-site and on-demand \u2014 something in high demand from both military bases and data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years of lobbying by the industry around the national security case for geothermal have borne fruit \u2014 even among the sort of Republican lawmakers prone to throwing shade on solar and wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy friends across the aisle, they\u2019re touting all wind and all solar, I\u2019m saying, \u2018I don\u2019t know if y\u2019all know this, but the sun goes down at night,\u201d said Houston-area Rep. Randy Weber (R) at MAGMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But unlike wind and solar, Weber said, \u201cgeothermal is 24\/7, so it\u2019s something we can count on year in, year out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many wind and solar advocates argue this is based on an obsolete idea of their industry. They say utility scale batteries \u2014 including some based on similar technology to geothermal \u2014 mean that renewables can now provide something close to around the clock power themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Weber\u2019s remarks pointed to a new Republican cultural embrace of geothermal, which was based in part on its overlap with an energy source far more in favor with the party in power: Fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geothermal isn\u2019t the \u201cred headed stepchild of renewables\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s the \u201csmokin\u2019 hot trophy wife of the oil and gas industry,\u201d Matt Welch of the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance told The Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their pitch to the right, geothermal leaders have emphasized the extensive overlap between oil and gas technology and geothermal, as well as work it offers for fossil fuels drilling crews idled in an increasingly efficient oil sector, where fewer than ever rigs pour out record amounts of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his keynote, Wright himself hit that point. The technology that squeezed oil and gas from shale, opening an era of record American oil and gas production, was \u201ctailor made for geothermal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fracking and horizontal drilling had opened up key technologies which made it possible to transfer heat from rock \u2014 which is reluctant to give it up \u2014 and into water, which is slow to take it, Wright said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those technologies meant a \u201clarge contact area and cheap-water based plumbing [that let operators] mine massive heat from underground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that geothermal resources could generate electricity, district heating for neighborhoods, process heat for industry. \u201cThey can even produce cooling. It\u2019s an awesome resource under our feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is strong cultural overlap and technical overlap between the fossil fuel and geothermal worlds, exemplified by Wright himself. He is the former chief executive of Liberty Energy, which under his leadership invested $10 million in Houston-based geothermal startup Fervo energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the startups featured at MAGMA were similarly led by oil and gas veterans, and oil companies like Devon or their service companies Baker Hughes now boast in-house geothermal divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked what oil and gas skills transferred to geothermal, \u201cyou almost have to ask what\u2019s not transferrable,\u201d Alex Biholar of Devon Energy\u2019s low-carbon unit said during one panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These professional connections, added to the role fossil fuel burning \u2014 and methane venting \u2014 plays in the rapidly heating planet, have led some geothermal leaders to suggest that their industry represents a natural off-ramp for the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When faced with staunch fossil fuel opponents, \u201cI say, \u2018Well, if you really don\u2019t like oil and gas that much, you should really love geothermal. Because if it takes off, [oil and gas companies] are going to take all their capital\u201d and pivot to geothermal, said Rob Klenner, president of geothermal company Greenfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sense, Klenner was describing his own trajectory: He spent most of his career at oilfield services company Baker Hughes. For senior executives at oil companies, geothermal offers an exciting chance to be \u201cpart of the new energy,\u201d said fellow Baker Hughes veteran Ghazal Izadi \u2014 herself now chief operating officer at Palo Alto-based geothermal firm XGS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By way of describing the outer limit of the possible, a 2021 University of Texas study found that if the world\u2019s oil and gas drilling fleet was used to tap heat, geothermal could generate 80 percent of global energy by mid century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those numbers, Klenner said, were almost certainly overheated \u2014 barring a revolution in materials science, chemicals manufacture will require oil and gas drilling well into the century. But even if geothermal represented 15 percent of power demand, he said, that would be a thirty-fold growth over its current level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s actually more than that,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause total electric generation is growing that whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A December report by the International Energy Agency suggests that the limit is the willingness to drill, rather than the available resource. The authors, which included MAGMA co-host Project Innerspace, found that there was enough accessible geothermal to meet 140 times the current global electric demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geothermal companies say they urgently need permitting reform to drill at the scale that will let them cross-pollinate and drive costs down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2005 energy omnibus bill that laid the foundation for the renewables boom largely deregulated fracking and left geothermal out. One result: It currently takes twice as long to permit a geothermal well on federal land as it does an oil and gas well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other obstacle is finance. The current round of geothermal startups is now caught in the \u201cvalley of death\u201d between their early stage \u2014 when venture capital funds risky new ideas in exchange for a chance at high profits \u2014 and their mature form, when cheap project finance helps companies with healthy cashflow expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, not technology, is now the bottleneck, said Cindy Taff, chief executive of Houston-based geothermal company Sage Geosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalled being asked by data center developers at Meta about whether geothermal could provide 5 gigawatts of power by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe said, \u2018Yes, we can: it\u2019s 500 wells per year to be drilled over five years. That\u2019s leveraging less than 5 percent of the oil and gas industry, which is ready to go, ready to be pivoted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they lacked, she said, was money. \u201cWe need to get in the field, drill wells and actually demonstrate the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright offered help on both fronts. The idea of \u201cnatural resources\u201d was flawed, he argued: There was nothing natural about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hot underground,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was very hot underground a long time ago, too, and that wasn\u2019t of value to anyone. That\u2019s just a condition of the material,\u201d he said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt only becomes a resource when technology and people and action turn it into a resource.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry, he said, had \u201cto put money to work. We\u2019ve got to put capital to work. But that condition is underground,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s make it a resource.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Tuesday threw his support behind a vast expansion in geothermal energy. Emerging forms of geothermal use technology from the fossil fuel industry to generate power on demand without air pollution \u2014 something Wright\u2019s company, Liberty Energy, invested millions in. While geothermal \u201chasn\u2019t achieved liftoff yet, it should and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2429,3162,3163],"class_list":["post-10070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-energy","tag-geothermal","tag-wright"],"yoast_head":"\nEnergy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Tuesday threw his support behind a vast expansion in geothermal energy. Emerging forms of geothermal use technology from the fossil fuel industry to generate power on demand without air pollution \u2014 something Wright\u2019s company, Liberty Energy, invested millions in. While geothermal \u201chasn\u2019t achieved liftoff yet, it should and it […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-06T11:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-06T11:34:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"782\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"437\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darcy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"LISTEN WORLD\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-1.jpg\",\"width\":782,\"height\":437},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070\",\"name\":\"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom - LISTEN WORLD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-06T11:34:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-06T11:34:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/1162f45aa51c894eefc48fd30308af4a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9875\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/1162f45aa51c894eefc48fd30308af4a\",\"name\":\"Darcy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7537ee6b8d37bad39b4bef536dfdfbabb0d66d9d304b0d853fc389e9f7bc082f?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7537ee6b8d37bad39b4bef536dfdfbabb0d66d9d304b0d853fc389e9f7bc082f?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Darcy\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom - LISTEN WORLD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom - LISTEN WORLD","og_description":"Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Tuesday threw his support behind a vast expansion in geothermal energy. Emerging forms of geothermal use technology from the fossil fuel industry to generate power on demand without air pollution \u2014 something Wright\u2019s company, Liberty Energy, invested millions in. While geothermal \u201chasn\u2019t achieved liftoff yet, it should and it […]","og_url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070","og_site_name":"LISTEN WORLD","article_published_time":"2025-03-06T11:34:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-06T11:34:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":782,"height":437,"url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darcy","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/","name":"LISTEN WORLD","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-1.jpg","width":782,"height":437},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#webpage","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070","name":"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom - LISTEN WORLD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2025-03-06T11:34:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-06T11:34:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/1162f45aa51c894eefc48fd30308af4a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10070#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9875","item":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Energy Secretary Chris Wright throws support behind geothermal boom"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/1162f45aa51c894eefc48fd30308af4a","name":"Darcy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7537ee6b8d37bad39b4bef536dfdfbabb0d66d9d304b0d853fc389e9f7bc082f?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7537ee6b8d37bad39b4bef536dfdfbabb0d66d9d304b0d853fc389e9f7bc082f?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"Darcy"},"url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10072,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10070\/revisions\/10072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}