US Geothermal Tax Credits in 2026: What Is Actually Still Alive After OBBBA For an industry that spent more than a decade building financial models around a stable federal incentive structure, 2026 has been a year of whiplash. The 30% federal geothermal tax credit that developers and homeowners built forecasts around is gone in one form and still alive in another, and even the IRS’s own public guidance has been confusing enough to trigger uncertainty across the market. That confusion is not a minor clerical issue. It is shaping investment decisions, contractor sales pitches, homeowner timelines, and project finance assumptions right now. If you work in geothermal, the key question is no longer whether federal incentives exist, but which incentive applies, to which project type, and under what ownership structure. The law that changed the timeline To understand where things stand in 2026, you have to start with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which created a long runway for clean e...
For years, geothermal energy has lingered in the shadows of wind and solar power. Now, it's stepping into the spotlight, attracting big-name investors, political endorsements, and global attention as a reliable, renewable, and baseload power source. By: Robert Buluma However, while geothermal is experiencing an unprecedented rise, a series of unexpected challenges so-called "black swan" events are casting shade over its growth. In this article, we’ll explore why geothermal is finally getting the recognition it deserves, why former President Donald Trump has endorsed geothermal while dismissing solar and wind, the high-level negotiations within Chevron and BP on integrating geothermal with oil and gas, and the major hurdles geothermal faces along with strategies to overcome them. The Rising Popularity of Geothermal Energy 1. A Reliable and Baseload Renewable Energy Source Unlike wind and solar, which depend on weather conditions, geothermal energy provides a...