Trump Sends A Geothermal Love Letter To Coal, Oil, And Natural Gas

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US President Donald Trump swept back into office on Election Day after reportedly soliciting a billion-dollar campaign contribution from a group of fossil fuel execs, but he also left the door open for the renewable energy competition to waltz on through. In particular, the Trump administration has rolled out the red carpet for geothermal energy, which can help push coal and natural gas out of the baseload power generation business, while knocking oil out of the picture for HVAC systems as well.

Why Geothermal Energy

CleanTechnica has spilled much ink on the hot mess that passes for federal energy policy these days. In a nutshell, the president has conferred special status on any domestic energy resource that can deliver the kilowatts on a 24/7 basis, regardless of the weather or time of day. That includes fossil fuels and nuclear energy, of course, but the protection also extends to three renewables: biomass, hydropower (including marine energy), and geothermal energy. Only wind and solar are left out in the cold (see more US energy policy background here).

On their face, those three renewables don’t seem likely to keep fossil fuel stakeholders up at night. Biomass for power generation barely registers on the charts kept by the US Energy Information Agency, and the domestic hydropower industry is more interested in upgrading existing sites than building from scratch. Geothermal energy is even more site-specific, being confined to a few scattered locations in the Western US, where the combination of heat, rock, and water is optimal — except, those constraints are not operative any more.

In recent years, the domestic geothermal industry has adopted new underground mapping systems and advanced drilling technologies borrowed from the oil and gas industry, enabling stakeholders to extend the reach of geothermal energy into new areas.

And the US Department of Energy is here for it. On January 7, the agency’s Geothermal Technologies Office announced the launch of a new 13-state collaboration aimed at kickstarting new geothermal activity in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and West Virginia.

“Led by the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the Geothermal Power Accelerator will work with participating states to set statewide geothermal goals, strengthen resource mapping, and advance policies and programs that reduce project costs and address regulatory barriers,” GTO explains.

Fast-Tracking Geothermal Energy In The US

The new Geothermal Power Accelerator does not intend to let the grass grow under its feet. “Work will start with a series of strategy sessions and policy discussions in partnership with federal agencies and private-sector experts to shape targeted state actions in 2026,” GTO states.

Nevada already has a running start. In May of 2025, the Interior Department placed three geothermal projects in Nevada on the fast track provided by its new “emergency” permitting procedures for projects on federal land. All three come under the wing of the Reno-based firm Ormat.

Ormat will conduct test wells and other exploration activities at two of the sites, The Diamond Flat Geothermal Project and the Pinto Geothermal Project. The third site is the McGinness Hills Geothermal Optimization Project, where Ormat plans to ramp up the facility’s current geothermal energy capacity of 193 megawatts with new wells and other equipment, along with a 15-megawatt solar array.

The Texas-based advanced geothermal firm Fervo Energy has also vaulted ahead of the pack. As of December, the company’s forthcoming 500-megawatt Cape Station geothermal power plant in Utah was on track to begin delivering its first 100 megawatts this year, with 400 more to follow by 2028.

The Oil & Gas Industry Is Eating Itself

If Fervo Energy rings a bell, run right out and buy yourself a cigar. The startup has been a regular visitor to the pages of CleanTechnica, having been tapped for financial aid from the US Department of Energy during the Biden administration. Fervo is also of note because at least two leading oilfield services firms, Devon and Liberty, have invested in the firm (see more Fervo background here).

And, if Liberty rings a bell, you may be thinking of the selfsame oilfield services company formerly headed up by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Liberty invested $10 million in Fervo back in 2022, during Wright’s tenure as CEO of the company.

This is just by way of saying that the fossil energy industry is not a monolith. After all, the precipitous decline of coal power in the 21st century was initially sparked by competition from natural gas, not renewables. Geothermal energy is a new, attractive business opportunity for oilfield services firms, regardless of the potential for pushing fossil fuels out of the power generation field.

As for coal stakeholders in the US, it’s difficult to see how they have anything to gain from the new burst of activity in the geothermal industry. They did get a consolation prize in the form of emergency orders from the Energy Department, forcing old coal power plants to remain open. Even so, the Energy Information Agency anticipates that coal power plant capacity will decline by an average of 5% over each of the next two years.

Next Steps For The US Geothermal Energy Industry

Underscoring the Trump administration’s support for the domestic geothermal industry, on January 15, the Energy Department released the new 2025 U.S. Geothermal Market Report, an update on the industry’s progress since 2021.

“Twenty-six power purchase agreements for geothermal energy were signed between 2021 and 2024, more than double the number signed in the previous five years. Fifteen are conventional geothermal systems, while 11 are next-generation geothermal systems,” noted the newly renamed “National Laboratory of the Rockies.”

In addition to power generation, the new report covers geothermal heat pumps and district heating/cooling, both of which will knock oil and gas out of building systems. “Eight states have enacted regulations and announced programs that specifically address the need for these networks within energy utility service territories,” the lab noted.

The Energy Department also took the opportunity to pat itself on the back for lending its taxpayer-supported resources and technical expertise to accelerate the development of new, advanced geothermal technologies, highlighted by a cost-cutting savings in drilling times.

“Improvements in drilling performance at DOE’s Utah FORGE enhanced geothermal system demonstration site yielded a reduction in drilling time from 310 hours in 2020 to 110 hours in 2023, substantially lowering costs,” the lab noted.

Geothermal energy is just one hound nipping at the heels of fossil fuels, regardless of the shifting sands of US energy policy. Keep an eye out for new developments in the solar industry, which is continuing to pump far more kilowatts into the grid than any other energy resource.

Image: “Geothermal energy has the potential to assist with many aspects of the transition to a clean energy economy, including energy storage, mineral extraction, and more” (graphic by Joelynn Schroeder/NREL courtesy of National Laboratory of the Rockies).