What Happened?
The heat beneath your feet could become a bigger part of how the country keeps the lights on, and Congress is now deciding whether to fund that bet. Federal assessments of underground heat remain preliminary, and enhanced geothermal systems are an emerging technology not yet widely commercially available. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) published a new report on geothermal energy development in the U.S.
Conventional geothermal energy accounted for only about 0.4 percent of U.S. electricity generation in 2025. The CRS report identifies the largest uncertainty in geothermal development as which underground rock formations can be stimulated enough to produce energy at a reasonable cost. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a provisional assessment of EGS resources in the Great Basin region in 2025, noting high potential in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah.
Why Does it Matter to Me?
Several new EGS power plants are planned to deliver electricity directly to data centers, including one planned to power Meta data centers. That means decisions Congress makes about geothermal research could shape where future energy infrastructure gets built and who benefits from it.
Six bills in the 119th Congress address geothermal development. They include the Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act, sponsored by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), the Geo POWER Act, the Hot Rock Act, a bill requiring geothermal assessments for Puerto Rico, and a Senate version of the Geo POWER Act.
Both Sides, Now
The USGS's 2025 provisional assessment of the Great Basin noted high potential in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, and several new geothermal plants are planned to deliver electricity directly to data centers.
A hydraulic stimulation project in Basel, Switzerland, was followed by a felt magnitude 3.4 earthquake in December 2006, and the project was later abandoned because of unacceptable seismic risk.
On the executive side, the former Biden administration issued an order calling for geothermal energy to be considered for artificial intelligence infrastructure and establishing Priority Geothermal Zones; Executive Order 14318 later revoked that order, and the Trump administration's Executive Order 14156 identified geothermal as an energy resource for further development. Congress's role is to decide whether to fund and direct additional research through legislation.
What Happens Next?
The next-generation geothermal systems bill is the only one of the six geothermal bills in the 119th Congress to have passed either chamber. The Senate received the bill on Oct. 21 and referred it to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The USGS also plans to assess potential EGS resources in the Williston and Illinois basins as its next steps beyond the 2025 Great Basin assessment.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee now holds the power to advance or stall the one bill that has cleared the House. Will the committee act before the current Congress ends?
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