Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Next-Generation Geothermal Power

Geothermal power technology has shown compelling advances that can enable it to become a key contributor to secure, domestic, decarbonized power generation for the U.S. as a source of clean firm powera. Conventional geothermal, although always valued as a source of utility-scale clean firm power, has been dramatically constrained by its geographic limitations, relying on naturally-occurring thermal resources that only exist in niche locations. “Next-generation” technologies (Executive Summary Figure 1) have the potential to engineer effective geothermal resources in commonly found environments, vastly expanding resource availability and potential commercial adoption. Although a nascent industry, next-generation geothermal enjoys several starting advantages, including transferrable technology, supply chains, and workforces from the oil & gas sector, that will help it achieve rapid scale. Recent field-scale pilots already provide a compelling roadmap for cost reductions necessary to achieve widespread commercial adoption of next-generation geothermal power. If the industry can achieve a set of market conditions around cost, demonstrations, value, and community engagement, commercial liftoff is attainable as early as 2030. 

Read more.....

Also see: How Geothermal Can Help Unlock 100% Clean Power | World Resources Institute