WASHINGTON, United States: Next-gen geothermal energy could expand into more U.S. states. New drilling and underground-fracturing methods are reducing geological and cost barriers.
Traditional geothermal plants need hot rock, underground fluid and natural pathways for water circulation. Those conditions are uncommon.
As a result, only seven U.S. states had geothermal power plants in 2026. Houston-based Sage Geosystems is developing one alternative. The company drills into hot rock and injects high-pressure water to create fractures that can store and release geothermal energy.
Sage says the process can use non-drinkable water. However, the US Geological Survey warns that high-pressure underground injection can trigger seismic activity.
Sage plans to open its first commercial geothermal plant in Nevada in 2027. Researchers at Utah FORGE, a US Department of Energy-funded laboratory, are also working to cut drilling time.
They redesigned drill bits using smaller lab-grown diamond cutters and combined them with physics-based drilling methods.
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The project cut drilling time for the equivalent of 6,000 feet from 440 hours to 60 hours. That is according to the supplied material.
Other developers are testing more experimental methods. These include millimetre-wave systems designed to vaporise rock and reach deeper parts of Earth’s crust.
U.S. geothermal plants generated about 16 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2025. That represented roughly 0.4% of U.S. utility-scale generation.
