Investing in Geothermal Energy: The Untapped Solution to America's Power Crisis

The rental SUV groaned as we dropped off the paved highway onto dirt and rocks.

The first dust plume rose behind us like a warning flare.

Outside, the Utah desert stretched endlessly under a dizzying sky. The wind was biblical. It hammered the vehicle in sudden gusts that made the steering wheel jump in my hands.

My cameraman held the drone case through the passenger window and shook his head.

It wasn't going to fly today. Not in this wind.

We'd been driving for three hours from Salt Lake City, watching civilization fall away mile by mile.

Little was left but sagebrush and the occasional rusted fence post bent by this same relentless wind. The GPS showed another 20 minutes to our destination in the middle of nowhere.

Every few minutes, a particularly vicious gust would blast us with a wall of dust so thick the world disappeared entirely. We'd slow to a crawl, waiting for the brown curtain to lift, then push forward again.

By the time we hit the long stretch of windmills, we had no cell service and saw little evidence of humans except for this thin ribbon of dirt road we followed like a river.

Then, we saw a drilling rig, rising from the desert floor, impossibly tall against the hills.

As we approached, more equipment materialized from the heat shimmer – trucks, generators, and pipe lengths stacked like giant Lincoln Logs.

A small city of machinery in the middle of the desert.

We pulled up to the pad, and I killed the engine. The sudden silence was deafening. When I opened the door, the wind nearly ripped it from its hinges.

This was FORGE, or the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy.

The Department of Energy project is an industrial cathedral erected to drill miles into the Earth's crust. I couldn't shake the feeling that we'd arrived at the starting point of one of the greatest plots in U.S. energy history.

Because what they were doing here – attempting to unlock virtually unlimited clean power from the heat beneath our feet – wasn't just about technology.

It was about survival...

About a grid stretched to its breaking point.

The Cracks in the Power Grid Are Here

As an energy security expert, I've spent years warning about blackouts.

Not the brief, inconvenient kind we've all experienced during storms. I'm talking about something far worse: systematic, rolling blackouts that shut down hospitals, freeze bank networks, and leave millions in the dark for hours or days.

The kind that hurls modern life into chaos.

Most people don't realize how close we are to that edge.

Our electric grid is strained.

Supply and demand must match perfectly every second of every day. Too much power, and the equipment fries. Too little, and the system collapses. For decades, grid operators have performed this dance flawlessly. But now the music is changing faster than they can keep up.

The crisis will not happen in the distant future. It's unfolding right now.

The Department of Energy issued an emergency order the last day in May to keep a power plant outside Philadelphia running through the summer.

The plant was scheduled to shut down. But PJM Interconnection – the regional grid operator serving more than 65 million people from Chicago to Washington, D.C. – warned the system couldn't afford to lose it...

Not with demand surging and Northern Virginia's data centers pulling electricity from every corner of the grid like a black hole consuming light.

Meanwhile, tensions are boiling over just northwest of Baltimore. In the rolling hills of Carroll County, Maryland, utility giant PSEG is pushing to build a 70-mile transmission line called the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project. It's designed to move more power through the region and relieve pressure on an increasingly fragile grid. The state has already approved its construction.

But PSEG is running headlong into resistance from the people who live there.

Last month, the utility filed lawsuits against more than 100 landowners to gain access for preliminary surveys.

The locals are furious.

Source: Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters

Nobody wants 150-foot transmission towers marching across their property, and nobody wants to wage war over land that has been in their family for generations.

But if this project stalls, the consequences will ripple far beyond a few farms and fence lines.

PJM has been sounding the alarm: The grid is in serious trouble. Demand is rising faster than we can build capacity. And the AI revolution is accelerating the crisis.

Ground zero is Loudoun County, Virginia – the data-center capital of the world.

These digital fortresses consume electricity like small cities, running 24/7, never sleeping, never slowing. New facilities break ground every month, adding to an insatiable appetite for power.

They're drawing electricity from Dominion Energy, BGE, and every utility in the PJM network.

The system is beginning to buckle.

This is the real reason electricity bills spiked last winter. When local generation couldn't keep up, the region had to import power from outside the PJM network at premium prices.

If the imbalance worsens, we'll see more emergency orders, lawsuits, and desperate measures. Eventually, we may reach the scenario that keeps me up at night. We could witness cascading blackouts that ripple from data centers in Virginia to homes in Baltimore to hospitals in Philadelphia.

The grid we built in the past century is not designed for what's coming...

Data centers are multiplying like locusts, electric vehicles are charging in every garage, heat pumps are replacing gas furnaces, and AI systems require the power output of small nations to train.

The infrastructure is breaking under the weight of our ambitions.

The clock is ticking, and we're running out of time.

Drilling for Energy 10,000 Feet Straight Down

We can't fix this problem with Band-Aids. Holding old plants open a few extra months and suing farmers for survey rights is not a long-term energy plan. It's desperation.

But here's the good news...

The energy we need is already here. We're standing right on top of it. Ten thousand, maybe 15,000 feet, below us is enough heat to power the country well beyond our lifetimes... for 10,000 years or more. The only question is how fast we can tap into it.

That's why, the day before the Energy Department stepped in to keep one Pennsylvania plant alive, the Department of the Interior made its own move.

It announced emergency rules to fast-track geothermal projects. It's cutting permitting delays from years to weeks. In some cases, companies can start work with only a 14-day environmental review, which is unprecedented.

The Interior Department fast-tracked three major geothermal projects in Nevada – Diamond Flat, Pinto, and McGinness Hills. Two are on public land. One includes a solar component. All of them are drilling deeper than ever before.

The agency cut the permitting time from one to two years to 14 to 28 days.

All three are operated by Ormat Technologies (ORA).

The $4.8 billion company is taking the lead on the geothermal front.

In May, it signed an $88 million deal to acquire the 20-megawatt ("MW") Blue Mountain geothermal plant in Nevada (built with its technology). Ormat plans to upgrade it by 3.5 MW and add 13 MW of solar panels for auxiliary power.

This acquisition (expected to close by the end of June) expands Ormat's U.S. asset base and demonstrates its strategy of enhancing existing geothermal facilities with new technology.

Ormat's management noted that streamlined permitting and renewed focus on geothermal exploration could accelerate its growth in the coming years.

The Race Is On

During my trip to Utah, I had the opportunity to see Fervo Energy in action. The company is testing its revolutionary geothermal technology at FORGE. Its installation there could eventually produce enough around-the-clock electricity to power a city the size of Los Angeles or Chicago.

Since my visit, I've been digging deeper into other names that are leading the way.

That led me to Quaise Energy.

While the grid operators scramble and the government throws permits like sandbags, the smartest energy teams in the world are drilling deeper than anyone ever thought possible.

You may have caught the recent headline. Massachusetts Institute of Technology startup Quaise Energy just broke a record. The company used a 100-kilowatt gyrotron to drill a 4-inch-wide hole from 10 feet to 30 feet in a geothermal test well.

A gyrotron is a device that directs an energy beam to vaporize rock. There's no drill bit and no casing – just pure thermal destruction. It sounds like science fiction, but it's real.

Quaise's operation is a huge leap for superhot geothermal technology. It could be the biggest advance in energy extraction since fracking.

Source: Quaise's millimeter wave drill / New Atlas

Quaise believes it can eventually drill 20 kilometers down – much deeper than conventional rigs can reach. If so, it could tap into rock so hot it acts like a pressurized steam engine. That kind of energy doesn't just power homes. It could run steel plants, chemical facilities, AI server farms... Everything.

But you don't have to wait for that breakthrough. Enhanced geothermal is already being commercialized.

Fervo's Cape Station project in Utah aims for 2 gigawatts ("GW") of baseload power. Other private firms are locking in land and moving rigs onto the site. And thanks to the Department of the Interior's new policy, the red tape is disappearing.

The government is no longer debating geothermal – it's pushing it. Grid operators have stopped pretending solar and wind can scale fast enough. Private companies – oil firms, tech giants, even pension funds – are pouring capital into the ground.

The question is who gets there first.

That's why we've been tracking this from the beginning.

The actions from the departments of Interior and Energy last month were the starting gun... What follows will be a race to convert our policy needs into a long-term energy supply.

And the winners will control the next century of power.

The Geothermal Gold Rush Is On Across the West

While the East Coast grapples with its grid crisis, a quiet revolution is unfolding across the American West.

Earlier this year, the Bureau of Land Management conducted a geothermal lease sale in Utah that shattered state records.

Investors paid $5.6 million for roughly 51,000 acres at an average of $111 per acre, the highest in Utah's history.

This wasn't an anomaly. It was a signal flare.

The U.S. Geological Survey recently revealed that the Great Basin region – stretching across Nevada, Utah, California, and Oregon – could generate up to 135 GW of electricity through Enhanced Geothermal Systems. That's enough to power 10% of America's current electricity demand.

The gap between potential and reality is closing fast, driven by a new breed of companies that have cracked the code on making geothermal work anywhere, not just in volcanic hot spots.

The New Players in Geothermal Energy

In Texas, XGS Energy just raised $13 million to commercialize its heat-harvesting technology that can deploy anywhere – no natural hot springs required. Started in 2008, XGS Energy is a privately held Palo Alto, California-based startup that develops closed-loop, waterless geothermal with conductive slurry. The company has engaged in a field-tested pilot in California.

The company is part of an elite group of 11 geothermal innovators pre-qualified to bid on Department of Defense contracts. Other prominent players include Baker Hughes (BKR), GE Vernova (GEV), and Quaise Energy.

The Air Force is testing advanced geothermal energy at four domestic bases. The service wants to see if it can match the same energy security and low costs it achieved with solar. Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Bliss, Mountain Home Air Force Base – these installations are proving grounds for technology that could revolutionize civilian grids.

The Regulatory Revolution

The Trump administration, not typically associated with renewable energy, has embraced geothermal energy as part of its "American energy dominance" agenda.

Now, states are getting involved in the action as well.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed bipartisan legislation in May establishing a framework for geothermal development.

California Assembly Bill 527 would align state environmental reviews with federal standards. The goal is to cut bureaucratic delays while maintaining environmental protections.

Beyond the boardrooms and state capitals, geothermal is already transforming communities.

In Colorado, private geothermal company Dandelion Energy and homebuilder Lennar (LEN) are constructing a 1,500-home development using ground-source heat pumps for all heating and cooling.

Colorado Mesa University has installed a geothermal network that serves two-thirds of its campus.

A consortium, including the $133 billion alternative-energy giant GE Vernova, recently secured rights to deliver geothermal electricity to 50 U.S. military sites across the western Gulf and beyond.

The project will pilot Sage Geosystems' advanced closed-loop geothermal technology ("pressure geothermal" using paired injection/production wells) to deliver a 24/7, 5-MW power supply to bases.

The Department of Energy's road map envisions 88 GW of next-generation geothermal power by 2050 – enough to reshape America's energy landscape fundamentally.

The technology exists.

The investment is flowing.

The regulators are on board.

Watching the FORGE team drill into the Earth's furnace in that Utah desert, I realized we're witnessing something profound: the collision of desperate need and breakthrough technology.

The race is between the forces breaking our grid and the innovations that might save it.

I'm betting on the drillers to win.

Good investing,

Garrett Baldwin

P.S. If you want to learn the full story – including the two companies we believe are most poised to dominate this race – check out our geothermal deep dive.