Sponsors (4)
Introduced March 17, 2026 by John Wright Hickenlooper · Last progress March 17, 2026
The bill accelerates commercial geothermal deployment—providing financing, data sharing, and demonstrations that can expand clean baseload power and local jobs—while creating open‑ended taxpayer exposure and favoring larger, better‑resourced developers over smaller/community projects and potentially sidelining local environmental concerns.
Rural communities, utilities, and energy workers gain expanded commercial‑scale geothermal capacity (low‑carbon baseload) that can improve grid reliability and reduce emissions.
Geothermal developers, small businesses, and local economies gain targeted and innovative financing that lowers upfront exploration and drilling costs, helps attract private investment, and can create local jobs and economic activity in underserved regions.
Researchers, developers, and the public gain access to data from demonstration projects, reducing technical and commercial risk and lowering future exploration risk for new geothermal projects.
Taxpayers will bear open‑ended costs because the program is funded via "such sums as are necessary" appropriations to support demonstrations and financing authorities.
Taxpayers and the government face financial exposure from milestone‑based awards and "innovative financing" (including credit support) if projects fail to meet milestones or require additional public backing.
Small developers, community‑scale pilots, and some rural communities may be disadvantaged by the program's emphasis on commercial‑scale (30+ MW) projects and by advantages for firms that can secure demonstration awards.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a DOE milestone‑based financing program to fund demonstration geothermal projects in low‑permeability reservoirs and require data sharing and geographic diversity.
Creates a Department of Energy milestone‑based financing program to support demonstration of next‑generation geothermal technologies in low‑permeability and impermeable reservoirs across diverse U.S. regions. The program will award competitive, milestone‑based “innovative financing” (including Title 17 style transactions) to projects that reduce upfront exploration/drilling risk, produce public resource/technology data, aim for commercial‑scale generation (about 30 MW), and attract private investment; DOE must stand up the program within 180 days and fund multiple projects across different states and sponsors.