A geothermal energy plant in Iceland, circa August 2024. Growing electricity demand and advances in drilling technology are driving renewed interest in geothermal energy. (Shutterstock/LIVEK)

After 50 Years of False Starts, Geothermal Has Arrived

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Geothermal has been waiting for its moment to shine. Now, three key things have changed to make that possible: the market, the technology, and the ecosystem.

In May, Fervo Energy reached a milestone few would have predicted a decade ago, completing the largest clean energyinitial public offering (IPO) to date with a nearly $2 billion valuation. This offering signals more than investor enthusiasm for a single company. It reflects growing confidence that geothermal energy—long considered a niche resource with enormous untapped potential—is finally poised to scale. 

Fervo’s public debut is only one indicator of a much larger shift. Tech companies are signing long-term agreements for geothermal power to meet the soaring electricity demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. Investors are increasingly backing a growing ecosystem of next-generation geothermal companies. States are adopting policies to support geothermal deployment, while decades of federal investment have helped mature the technologies now reaching commercial scale. After decades of operating at the margins of the energy system, geothermal has moved to the center of the conversation.  

Why now? If geothermal can provide around-the-clock, carbon-free electricity while leveraging many of the same drilling techniques, supply chains, and workforce as the oil and gas industry, why isn’t it a household name yet?

The answer lies not in the resource itself, but in the economics surrounding it. Geothermal now sits at the intersection of three forces that have never aligned at this scale: massive demand for electricity, decades of technological advances, and unprecedented market appetite for clean, firm power. Geothermal isn’t having its moment because the resource changed, but because the world finally caught up to it.

Why Earlier Geothermal........

© The National Interest