Who Is Really Funding Next-Gen Geothermal in 2026? Next-generation geothermal has moved beyond laboratory research into a capital-intensive commercialization phase. In 2026, the most important financing is no longer coming from one investor category: venture capital funds are financing drilling, subsurface modelling and hardware; strategic energy companies are providing equipment, project access and market credibility; banks are beginning to lend against contracted projects; and governments are absorbing exploration and first-of-a-kind technology risk. The strongest financing activity is concentrated in the United States and Canada, but Europe is becoming increasingly important through Germany-based deployment, European Union grants, UK innovation support, and strategic participation from European energy companies. The central investment question is changing from “Can this technology work?” to “Can the developer deliver repeatable, financeable projects at commercial cost?” The 2026 fun...
In this interview, Dr. Amel Barich, Founder & CEO of Geoscience Research and Communications (GRC), shares insights into the future of geothermal energy, covering superhot geothermal systems, advanced drilling, international collaboration, social license to operate, developing-country opportunities, and the growing role of geothermal in integrated energy systems.
Image : Dr. Amel Barich
Founder & CEO, Geoscience Research and Communications (GRC)
Geoscientist | Geothermal R&D&I | Social License to Operate
Founder & CEO, Geoscience Research and Communications (GRC)
Geoscientist | Geothermal R&D&I | Social License to Operate
Q1. Could you briefly introduce yourself and describe your current role in advancing geothermal innovation?
I am a geoscientist and geothermal professional with a background spanning geothermal research and innovation, international collaboration, policy and science diplomacy, stakeholder engagement, and strategic communication.
Over the past decade, I have worked from Iceland across major European and international geothermal initiatives, leading collaborative R&D&I projects covering areas as diverse as superhot geothermal systems, geothermal CCS and CCUS, alternative financing, and the social dimensions of geothermal development.
This breadth has shaped how I think about geothermal innovation. Through projects such as COMPASS and the development of the Krafla Magma Testbed, I worked at the scientific and technological frontier of superhot and near-magma geothermal systems. Through CROWDTHERMAL, which explored alternative financing and community participation in geothermal development, my work increasingly focused on the relationship between projects and society. It was within this project that I conceptualized and developed the first Social License to Operate framework specifically for geothermal energy.
Today, as Founder and CEO of Geoscience Research and Communications (GRC), I bring these different dimensions together, working across geothermal research, strategic collaboration, stakeholder engagement, communication, and responsible energy development.
For me, geothermal innovation is not only about developing better technologies. It is also about creating the conditions that allow those technologies to succeed and generate lasting value.
Q2. What emerging geothermal technologies do you believe will have the greatest impact over the next decade?
I am particularly interested in technologies that expand geothermal beyond conventional hydrothermal resources. Enhanced and advanced geothermal systems, closed-loop concepts, advances in deep drilling and subsurface characterization, and superhot geothermal systems could significantly broaden both the geographical reach and energy potential of geothermal.
Superhot geothermal is particularly close to my own experience. Having led R&D&I work in this area, I have seen both its extraordinary potential and the challenges associated with operating under extreme conditions. Advances in drilling, materials, monitoring, resource characterization, and our understanding of near-magma environments will be critical to unlocking that potential.
Digital tools, improved subsurface imaging, data integration, and AI-assisted exploration will also increasingly help reduce uncertainty and improve decision-making.
Technological breakthroughs alone, however, will not determine which innovations scale. Their success will also depend on economics, regulation, financing, public confidence, and demonstrated value.
Q3. How important is international collaboration in accelerating geothermal development?
International collaboration is essential.
Geothermal resources are geographically specific, but much of the knowledge required to develop them is transferable. Iceland is a particularly good example of how decades of accumulated expertise can contribute far beyond national borders through training, research collaboration, industry partnerships, and knowledge exchange.
I have experienced this throughout my career. Some of the most valuable advances happen when geoscientists, engineers, governments, industry actors, communities, investors, and researchers from different countries work together.
At the same time, I believe international collaboration needs to evolve from simply transferring expertise towards co-development. Geological conditions differ, but so do institutions, cultures, economic priorities, regulatory environments, and community expectations.
The strongest partnerships combine international experience with local knowledge and capacity. Successful collaboration should ultimately leave behind not only projects and infrastructure, but stronger local expertise, institutions, and ecosystems.
Q4. What are the biggest scientific and non-technical barriers currently facing the geothermal sector?
Scientifically and technically, we still face major challenges around exploration risk, drilling costs, reservoir characterization, materials, extreme-temperature operations, and reducing uncertainty before large amounts of capital are committed.
Beyond these technical challenges, there is another category of risk that I believe we still underestimate: social risk.
A technically viable resource does not automatically become a viable project. Geothermal development takes place within communities, landscapes, political systems, regulatory environments, and existing relationships with land and resources.
This is why I became interested in Social License to Operate. SLO is not a permit, and it cannot be obtained through a communication campaign. It is dynamic and relational. It develops through trust, procedural fairness, meaningful participation, transparency, credible governance, and perceptions of how benefits and risks are distributed.
The sector has become increasingly sophisticated at characterizing the subsurface. We now need comparable sophistication in understanding the social environments in which projects are developed.
As geothermal scales globally, earning public trust may prove just as important as accessing the resource itself.
Q5. How can developing countries strengthen their geothermal industries?
I would begin by reframing the objective. The goal should not simply be to develop geothermal projects; it should be to build geothermal ecosystems.
That means investing simultaneously in geological knowledge, exploration capacity, universities and research institutions, regulatory frameworks, financing mechanisms, skilled professionals, local supply chains, entrepreneurship, and community participation.
International cooperation can accelerate this enormously, but capacity building should ultimately reduce dependence rather than institutionalize it. Local scientists, engineers, policymakers, businesses, and communities need to become part of the knowledge and value chains created by geothermal development.
Emerging geothermal countries should also avoid equating geothermal exclusively with electricity generation. Direct uses of heat can create significant local value through agriculture, food processing, heating and cooling, tourism, industry, and other applications, sometimes at resource temperatures unsuitable for power production.
This is particularly relevant across Africa, from established geothermal markets in East Africa to emerging opportunities in North Africa and elsewhere on the continent. Geothermal should be considered not only as an energy resource, but as a potential instrument for regional development, resilience, employment, and productive economic activity.
Q6. What opportunities do you see for integrating geothermal with critical minerals, hydrogen, district heating, or other energy systems?
One of geothermal's greatest strengths is that it does not need to be viewed in isolation.
District heating is already a mature example of how geothermal heat can transform entire energy systems, particularly here in Iceland. Similar thinking can be extended to industrial heat, greenhouses, aquaculture, food production, cooling, and other cascading uses of geothermal resources.
There is also growing interest in co-producing critical minerals from geothermal fluids, while geothermal's ability to provide stable power and heat could complement hydrogen production and other energy-intensive processes.
What interests me most is the systems perspective. Instead of asking only how much electricity a geothermal resource can produce, we can ask what combination of energy, heat, materials, economic activity, and local value that resource can sustainably enable.
That broader perspective can change both the economics of geothermal projects and the value they create for the regions in which they are developed.
Q7. What advice would you give to young professionals and entrepreneurs interested in geothermal energy?
Build a strong foundation in your field, but do not let your discipline become a boundary.
Geothermal needs excellent geologists and engineers, but it also increasingly needs people who understand data, finance, policy, environmental systems, communication, communities, and governance. Some of the most interesting problems, and opportunities, exist precisely at those intersections.
I would also encourage young professionals to participate actively in the geothermal community. It is remarkably international and collaborative. Seek mentors, attend field trips and conferences when possible, ask questions, contribute to professional networks, and build genuine relationships across generations and disciplines.
Above all, remain curious. The geothermal sector you enter today will not be the geothermal sector you work in twenty years from now.
There is still enormous space for new technologies, new regions, new business models, and new ways of thinking. You do not necessarily have to fit into an existing role. Sometimes your contribution is to create the role that the sector does not yet know it needs.
Q8. Looking ahead, what developments in geothermal excite you the most?
I am excited by geothermal becoming both deeper and broader.
Deeper, quite literally, because advances in drilling, enhanced and advanced geothermal systems, and our understanding of superhot resources could significantly expand our ability to access the Earth's heat.
Just as important is the broadening of geothermal beyond electricity generation.
I see geothermal increasingly being understood not simply as an electricity-generation technology, but as part of interconnected systems involving heating and cooling, food production, industry, critical minerals, energy security, regional development, and community resilience.
I am also encouraged by the growing recognition that the future of geothermal will depend on understanding people as deeply as we seek to understand the subsurface.
That is where much of my own work is now heading: towards geothermal development in which technical excellence, environmental responsibility, responsible governance, public trust, and shared societal value are considered together from the beginning.
Related: Doug Copeland Interview: Geothermal Industry Insights for USA and Global Renewable Energy Markets
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