WASHINGTON - Though geothermal represents only a tiny fraction of current US energy production, several businesses and President Joe Biden's administration are betting on technological advances to make it a backbone of the green transition.
"If we can capture that heat beneath our feet, it can be the clean, reliable, baseload-scalable power for everybody from industries to households," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the CERAWeek conference in Houston this past week.
Her department estimates that geothermal energy could overtake hydroelectric and solar power in the country by 2050.
Geothermal, which draws on naturally high temperatures underground and is used mainly to produce electricity and heat buildings, amounted to only 1.6 percent of US energy consumption in 2022.
To ramp up production, the US government has invested more than $200-million since 2018 in an experimental site in Utah involving the drilling of exceptionally deep wells -- an approach different from the traditional, near-surface geothermal energy.
In a report this past week, the Energy Department said EGS use fewer chemical additives than classic fracking, a system deplored by environmentalists.
It added that geothermal drilling does not release hydrocarbons, as fracking does.
And unlike solar or wind power, geothermal provides a steady flow of energy regardless of weather or time of day.
As for cost, the US government estimates it will drop from a current range of $70 to $100 per megawatt hour (MWh) to $45 by 2035.
The use of existing drilling technology makes geothermal both quicker and cheaper to develop.