International Energy Agency Reports Rising Geothermal Potential

The Rising Potential of Geothermal Energy: Insights from the IEA

The Internationa geel Energy Agency (IEA) has shed light on the transformative potential of geothermal energy in its latest report. As a clean, renewable resource, geothermal is uniquely positioned to play a vital role in achieving global climate goals, thanks to its reliability and diverse applications. The report emphasizes the urgent need for investments, technological innovation, and supportive policies to maximize geothermal's contribution to the energy transition.

Earlier on we reported on the agencies deep dive into critical minerals and we are fascinated to keep our readers on track.

Current Status and Future Projections

Geothermal energy is currently underutilized, generating 67 TWh of electricity annually. However, with enhanced deployment strategies, this figure could soar to 1,400 TWh by 2050. Additionally, direct applications of geothermal heat could rise to 1,600 TWh annually. This growth would significantly impact decarbonization efforts, reducing reliance on fossil fuels while providing consistent baseload power and heat.

Global Leaders in Geothermal Deployment

Countries like Indonesia, Kenya, the United States, and Iceland are already leveraging their geothermal resources. Kenya, for instance, continues to expand its capacity at the Olkaria geothermal fields, while Iceland utilizes geothermal heat for 90% of its space heating. Meanwhile, Indonesia is tapping into its abundant geothermal potential, aiming to become a global leader in the sector.

Applications Beyond Power Generation

The IEA underscores geothermal’s versatility, extending beyond electricity generation. Geothermal heat is increasingly used in district heating systems, agriculture, aquaculture, and industrial processes. For example, greenhouses in the Netherlands rely on geothermal energy for sustainable farming, while countries like Turkey have developed geothermal district heating networks.

Overcoming Barriers to Expansion

Despite its promise, geothermal energy faces significant challenges. High upfront exploration and drilling costs deter investments, as success rates in identifying viable resources remain low. The IEA recommends improving risk mitigation measures, such as government-backed drilling programs and private-public partnerships, to attract investments. Additionally, the lack of awareness among policymakers about geothermal’s diverse applications has limited its adoption. Enhanced education and promotion of its benefits are crucial to addressing this gap.

Innovation and Collaboration

Technological advancements, such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and supercritical geothermal resource extraction, could unlock vast untapped potential. Collaboration between governments, industries, and research institutions is essential for developing these technologies and overcoming non-technical barriers like regulatory hurdles and land use conflicts.

A Path Forward

The IEA's roadmap outlines key steps for stakeholders to accelerate geothermal adoption, including:

1. Increasing investments in exploration and drilling technologies.

2. Promoting policies that incentivize geothermal development.

3. Enhancing international cooperation to share knowledge and best practices.

The agency envisions a future where geothermal energy becomes a cornerstone of the global energy mix, offering sustainable solutions for electricity and heat while supporting economic growth and environmental preservation. To realize this vision, immediate and concerted efforts from all stakeholders are imperative.

Earlier on IRENA and IGA published a similar research findings on Geothermal which is instrumental

For further insights, explore the full report on the International Energy Agency here

Source:IEA

Connect With Us: X ,LinkedIn

Comments

GA Drilling: Advanced Geothermal Drilling Technology, Deep Rock Innovation, and Clean Energy Financing

GA Drilling : Deep Drilling Technology, Financing, and Geothermal Scale-Up Image: A GA Drilling Bit GA Drilling is one of the more important technology companies in the geothermal sector because it is trying to solve a problem that has limited geothermal growth for decades: the cost, complexity, and risk of drilling deep wells in hard rock. Rather than operating a geothermal power plant itself, the company focuses on the drilling side of the value chain, developing technologies that can make deep geothermal wells faster, cheaper, and more reliable to build. That positioning gives it a different role from most geothermal developers, and it also makes it strategically significant for the future of clean baseload energy. The geothermal industry has always been constrained by subsurface uncertainty. Developers know where the heat is in a general sense, but they still must drill through high-temperature, abrasive, fractured, and often unpredictable rock to get there. In many projects, dril...

Exergy Gemini Turbine vs Ormat Ormega100: Geothermal Binary Power Comparison

Exergy Gemini Turbine vs Ormat Ormega100: Two Different Paths to Geothermal Scale image : a thematic view of a geothermal turbine "blade" Geothermal power is entering a new phase. Two of the most important announcements in the sector point to larger, more standardized, and more commercially viable binary geothermal systems: Exergy’s Gemini Turbine and Ormat’s Ormega100 . At first glance, both machines promise major gains in scale, but they are not trying to solve the same problem in exactly the same way. Gemini is built around a high-capacity radial outflow turbine architecture that can deliver up to 60 MWe per shaft, while Ormega100 is designed as a 100 MW binary surface power unit intended to accelerate enhanced geothermal system commercialization. For project developers, utilities, and data-center buyers looking for firm clean power, the comparison matters because it reveals two competing ideas about how geothermal should grow. Exergy is emphasizing turbine architectur...

EGS Market Size and Investment Outlook

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Market Size and Investment Outlook to 2034 Enhanced Geothermal Systems are at an inflection point. For years, EGS sat in the “promising but pre‑commercial” category of clean technologies, constrained by drilling cost, subsurface risk, and limited policy attention. That picture is now changing as next‑generation geothermal developers raise larger rounds, sign serious offtake agreements, and move projects from concept to execution. At the same time, global demand for firm, low‑carbon power is rising faster than conventional geothermal can supply. Thermal plants are retiring, grids need 24/7 clean electricity, and policymakers are discovering that weather‑dependent renewables cannot carry the entire load alone. EGS is emerging as one of the few technologies capable of delivering baseload clean power using a resource available almost everywhere: deep, hot rock. Current EGS Market Size – Small but Strategic In absolute terms, the EGS market is s...

EU Tripartite Energy Storage Agreement, EGEC and QHeat Drive 30–35 GW Storage Deployment, Geothermal Energy Storage, Flexible Renewable Integration, and Clean Energy Investment Opportunities

The new EU tripartite agreement on energy storage, with EGEC and QHeat among the signatories, gives you a strong “systems-level” angle to layer onto your California geothermal piece by showing how firm clean power and storage are being coordinated on both sides of the Atlantic. Image : UK First Geothermal power plant at United Dawn's by Enel Green Coordinated Clean Firm Power, How California’s Geothermal Push and Europe’s Energy Storage Tripartite Are Rewriting the Rules of the Grid California’s decision to fund geothermal exploratory wells and the EU’s first‑ever tripartite agreement on energy storage are two sides of the same strategic coin, both designed to deliver secure, flexible, and affordable clean electricity. While California is targeting next‑generation geothermal to close its “clean firm gap,” Brussels is rallying 22 Member States, industry, banks, and innovators around a shared pledge to add 30–35 GW of new storage capacity in just two years.Together, these moves sh...

Barito Renewables’ $5 Billion Bid for EDC Signals a New Power Move in Southeast Asia’s Geothermal Market

Indonesian Billionaire Prajogo Pangestu’s $5 Billion Geothermal Bet Could Reshape Philippine Clean Energy A major deal is drawing attention across Southeast Asia’s energy sector: Indonesian billionaire Prajogo Pangestu’s Barito Renewables Energy has made an unsolicited $5 billion offer to acquire Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the largest geothermal company in the Philippines. The proposal, while still non-binding and subject to due diligence and approvals, signals just how strategically important geothermal energy has become in the region’s clean power race. If completed, the transaction would bring together one of Indonesia’s most prominent energy investors and the Philippines’ biggest geothermal operator in a deal that could influence both corporate strategy and regional renewable energy development. Even without a final agreement, the offer alone highlights the rising value of geothermal assets at a time when governments and investors are searching for dependable, low-carbon power...

Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL): Deep Geothermal Technology, Financing, and UK Clean Energy Expansion

Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) : Technology, Financing, and Progress Image : Ryan Law is the C.E.O at GEL Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) is one of the UK’s most important geothermal developers, with a flagship deep-geothermal project at United Downs in Cornwall and a growing strategy that combines electricity, heat, and lithium extraction. It has also attracted a mix of private capital, public grants, and bank financing to move from exploration and drilling into commercial operations. Company overview GEL was incorporated in 2008 and is registered in Cornwall as a private limited company focused on electricity production, utility construction, and test drilling and boring. Its core mission is to use geothermal resources beneath the ground to support low-carbon power, heating, cooling, and ultra-low-carbon lithium production in the UK. The company presents itself as a lean specialist team built around geothermal engineering, geology, and community engagement capabilities. ...

Bay of Plenty Aquaculture and Geothermal Investment: Regional Infrastructure Fund Boosts Ōpōtiki Marina and Gas‑to‑Geoheat Renewable Energy Projects

Bay of Plenty’s Blue-Green Future: Inside New Zealand’s Latest Aquaculture and Geothermal Investments Regional development can be a slippery concept. It appears in policy speeches and budget documents, usually with warm words about “unlocking potential” and “supporting communities.” But real regional development is made of concrete decisions: where to build wharves and marinas, where to drill wells, which industries to back with public money, and which risks to share with local partners. In July 2026, the New Zealand Government took two such concrete decisions for the Bay of Plenty. Through the Regional Infrastructure Fund, it committed $12.5 million toward a marina in Ōpōtiki and $3 million toward an early‑stage geothermal exploration project in Tauranga. On paper, aquaculture and geothermal heat might sound like separate stories. In practice, they are two sides of the same coin: a deliberate attempt to use infrastructure to build a blue‑green economic future in the region. Backing Ōp...

Geothermal Project Finance Structuring: SPVs, Mezzanine Debt, Blended DFI Finance and Contingent Capital for Drilling Risk

Geothermal Project Finance Structuring: SPVs, Mezzanine Debt and Blended Capital for Drilling Risk Image : A depiction of a geothermal complete project Geothermal power sits in an awkward place on the project finance spectrum. It behaves like long‑lived infrastructure once it’s operating, but it looks like frontier exploration during the early drilling phase. To build bankable deals in that environment, developers and investors have had to invent a toolkit of SPV structures, mezzanine drilling tranches, blended public–private finance and contingent instruments that allocate subsurface risk without blowing up returns. This is not just a technicality for lawyers and bankers. The way geothermal deals are structured determines whether otherwise viable resources ever reach financial close. It also shapes how much upside sponsors keep via GP carry, how quickly equity can recycle, and how development platforms position themselves in a crowded clean‑energy pipeline. Why geothermal is stru...

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Induced Seismicity: Can We Engineer Earthquakes Safely?

Enhanced geothermal systems are one of the few realistic paths to firm zero carbon power at scale, but they work by deliberately changing stresses in the crust, so induced seismicity is not a bug; it is a built‑in consequence that we have to manage, not eliminate. Image: geothermal wells of power The real question is whether we can design and regulate EGS so that most earthquakes stay tiny and useful as a reservoir diagnostic, and rare felt events stay within a risk envelope society will accept, with clear rules on who pays when something still goes wrong. EGS and induced seismicity Enhanced geothermal systems increase permeability in hot but relatively tight rock by injecting fluid under pressure, which raises pore pressure and shifts effective stresses on pre‑existing fractures and faults. When those faults are close to failure, even modest pressure changes can trigger slip, generating induced seismic events that range from microquakes only instruments detect to felt earthquakes like...

The "Heat-as-a-Service" (HaaS) Business Model: Geothermal Without the CAPEX Nightmare

Heat-as-a-Service takes geothermal from a capital-intensive power project to a financeable, contract-based heat utility: instead of selling electrons, you sell stable, decarbonized heat under long-term contracts that match what industrial customers and investors actually want. Image: A thematic picture of a geothermal power plant By shifting risk and ownership away from end users and toward specialised developers and infrastructure capital, it can unlock geothermal in markets where electricity tariffs are low but demand for reliable, low-carbon process heat is strong. From kWh to “heat-as-a-service” Traditional geothermal projects earn revenue by selling electricity into a grid, often at wholesale prices that barely cover high up-front drilling and plant costs unless there is a feed-in tariff or premium.Many industrial users, however, do not need electricity; they need heat for processes like brewing, greenhouse climate control or pulp and paper production, and they currently buy that ...

Geothermal Breakthrough in Henan: China’s Deep Earth Clean Energy, Record‑Breaking Connection Wells and High‑Efficiency District Heating

Breaking Through the Deep Earth: China’s Record‑Breaking Geothermal Connection Wells in Henan By: Robert Buluma China is quietly rewriting the rules of clean heating—and one of the most exciting breakthroughs is happening deep underground in Henan Province. Two seemingly ordinary wells, drilled only 35 meters apart at the surface, are reshaping how cities can tap geothermal energy safely, efficiently, and at scale. If you care about clean energy, smart engineering, or how future cities will stay warm without burning fossil fuels, this story is worth your full attention. In this article, we’ll walk through what happened in Henan, why it matters technically and economically, and what it might mean for the rest of the world. A New National Record in Deep Geothermal Recently, in Henan Province, China, the first pair of deep geothermal “connection wells” for the Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley Clean‑Energy Central Heating Phase II Project was successfully completed. These wells are not just a...

ALPHAXIOMS Geothermal News & Energy Research

Search This Blog

Just In

Exergy Gemini Turbine vs Ormat Ormega100: Geothermal Binary Power Comparison