The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $99 million for 21 projects selected to advance geothermal energy development across the United States. The selection was made on September 21, 2026. The announced amount, up to $99 million, represents a ceiling for the first budget period and does not constitute a final award or disbursement. The selection opens a negotiation phase between the DOE and project developers. Actual funding would depend on appropriated funds and on each project reaching defined milestones.
Two tracks: field tests and exploration drilling
Five projects will conduct field-scale enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) tests to validate technologies under real-world conditions, while 16 additional projects will conduct exploration drilling to identify and characterize promising next-generation geothermal resources.
The split reflects the agency’s stated goal of proving that next-generation geothermal technology works at scale while also building a pipeline of confirmed resource sites for future commercial development.
Who was selected and where
Among the recipients is Fervo Energy, which was selected for two projects: an enhanced geothermal systems demonstration in Idaho and exploration drilling in Nevada. Quaise Energy, Zanskar Geothermal, XGS Energy, and Invenergy are also among the selectees.
Three Utah-based firms and institutions, Zanskar Geothermal and Minerals, AlterG Resources, and the University of Utah, made the cut, though their projects are deployed at out-of-state sites, including locations in Hidalgo County, New Mexico; Pershing and Churchill Counties, Nevada; and the Dixie Valley West geothermal field, also in Nevada.
Quaise Energy is developing a millimeter-wave technique that uses directed energy to melt and vaporize rock rather than relying on conventional mechanical drilling.
Zanskar Geothermal and Minerals was selected to design, drill, and hydraulically stimulate a short-lateral horizontal injection well at the Lightning Dock Geothermal field in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, to deliver engineered pressure support to an actively producing hydrothermal reservoir and capture heat from impermeable, hot rock in the vicinity of the hydrothermal system.
The program is not limited to enhanced geothermal systems. The 16 exploratory drilling projects also cover conventional hydrothermal resources, where heat and underground fluids occur naturally, as well as next-generation geothermal resources.
Public data to guide future investment
Data generated by these projects will be publicly available through DOE’s Geothermal Data Repository, giving industry, researchers, and other stakeholders access to information from the field tests and geothermal exploration activities.
That data-sharing requirement is intended to reduce subsurface uncertainty and lower the commercial risk that has historically slowed private capital deployment into geothermal exploration.
The repository push follows record commercial interest in the sector: geothermal developers invested record amounts in federal lease sales in 2025 and 2026, and a June 2026 Bureau of Land Management sale of 152,381 acres in New Mexico generated $16.6 million, a new single-sale record.
Wider industry backdrop
The DOE’s selection comes as geothermal energy has attracted growing interest from investors and energy companies as a source of around-the-clock power.
The DOE’s portfolio is designed to accelerate domestic geothermal development by reducing the technical and financial barriers that have kept the resource underexploited outside of established hotspots in California, Nevada, and Utah.
GCN has previously reported on the world’s largest enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement at 396 megawatts. DOE Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit said the awards will “empower American innovators to unlock the tremendous geothermal resources beneath our feet.”
The 21 selections follow a series of related federal moves in September 2026 alone, including an extended EGS test at Utah FORGE and a separate $1.2 million workforce prize for geothermal heat pump training programs. The full project list and fact sheet are available at the DOE’s official announcement.
