KenGen Risks Losing Olkaria Wells Over 18-Year Licence Blunder Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) faces a serious legal and operational risk at Olkaria after an error in the coordinates of its geothermal licence left part of the company’s wells, steam infrastructure and other assets outside its legally recognised area. The licensing mistake, made nearly two decades ago, remains unresolved despite the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum acknowledging the problem in 2017. The dispute has raised questions about the security of KenGen’s investments, the government’s management of geothermal resources and the potential consequences for Kenya’s electricity supply. Olkaria is the country’s most important geothermal centre and accounts for the overwhelming majority of Kenya’s installed geothermal generation capacity. Licence Error Exposes Strategic Assets The problem dates back to September 19, 2008, when the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum issued KenGen a licence covering ...
Quaise Energy Wins DOE Support for Project Obsidian as Superhot Geothermal Moves Toward Commercial Scale
Quaise Energy’s selection for up to $25 million in U.S. Department of Energy support is a meaningful milestone for superhot geothermal power, especially because it is tied to Project Obsidian, the company’s flagship commercial-scale Enhanced Geothermal System in Central Oregon. The award strengthens the case that superhot geothermal is shifting from laboratory promise toward field-tested infrastructure, with the first well triplet designed to validate a path to more than 25 megawatts of gross electric power and future expansion potential much larger than that.
DOE backs superhot geothermal
The U.S. Department of Energy selected Quaise under its Next-Generation Geothermal Field Tests and Geothermal Resource Characterization and Confirmation funding opportunity, part of a broader $99 million geothermal push announced this week.According to DOE, the selected projects are meant to advance field-scale testing, reduce technical risk, and help identify and confirm promising geothermal resources across the country. For Quaise, the funding is intended to accelerate work at Project Obsidian, including drilling, stimulation, and flow analysis for the first wells on site.
This matters because geothermal has long been valued as firm, clean power, but superhot geothermal could raise the ceiling dramatically by tapping much hotter reservoirs than conventional systems. Quaise says the project is targeting average reservoir temperatures above 300°C and aims to demonstrate commercial electricity output from a configuration that can be replicated elsewhere.
Project Obsidian details
Project Obsidian is under construction south of Bend, Oregon, and Quaise describes it as the world’s first commercial superhot geothermal power plant. The company says the project sits on one of the most extensively studied geothermal resources in the United States, which should help support drilling confidence and resource characterization. Quaise also says the site is expected to deliver first power to the Pacific Northwest grid in 2030, with potential eventual expansion to as much as one gigawatt.
The near-term engineering objective is the first well triplet, which should test whether superhot EGS can deliver the kind of sustained heat and flow rates needed for utility-scale power. Quaise says the first two wells will provide data that will inform optimization of the third well, helping the team refine drilling and reservoir design before moving deeper into phase one development. The company says phase one is expected to produce more than 50 megawatts by 2030.
Why the award matters
For investors and policymakers, this is important because the biggest barrier in geothermal is not the idea itself but the cost and technical uncertainty of drilling deep, hot rock. DOE’s support reduces some of that risk by helping generate field data that can guide future development, while also making the project more visible to partners, lenders, and utilities. The federal funding is not yet final, however, because the full award value still depends on completion of negotiations.
Quaise’s timing is also notable because it recently closed a $180 million Series B round in August 2026, led by Nabors Industries and Prelude Ventures, with participation from JERA and Idemitsu Kosan. That combination of private capital and federal backing suggests growing confidence in superhot geothermal as a long-duration clean power resource, not just a speculative frontier technology.
Technology and team
Quaise has built much of its visibility around millimeter-wave drilling, a technology it says was developed after more than a decade of research at MIT. The company’s pitch is that advanced drilling can make deeper and hotter geothermal resources commercially accessible in places that might not support conventional hydrothermal development. If that thesis holds, superhot geothermal could broaden the geography of geothermal power well beyond the small number of regions currently associated with the industry.
The project team also includes Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oregon State University, which adds scientific credibility to the field-testing program. DOE’s geothermal program has emphasized generating data and sharing it publicly through its repository, which could help other developers learn from the Obsidian program if the results are positive.
Market implications
The commercial significance of this announcement extends beyond one project because it strengthens the investment case for next-generation geothermal across the U.S. The DOE’s broader award round selected 21 projects for up to $99 million, including five EGS field tests and 16 exploration drilling projects, showing that federal policy is now supporting both near-term demonstrations and resource discovery. That is a useful signal for a sector trying to move from proof-of-concept to repeatable project pipelines.
Quaise is aiming at a market opportunity that could include grid power, industrial heat, and future high-load demand centers that want firm clean electricity. Because superhot geothermal can operate around the clock, it offers one of the few renewable pathways that can resemble the reliability profile of fossil baseload generation. If Project Obsidian performs as planned, it could become an important reference case for scaling superhot EGS in the United States and abroad.
What to watch next
The next key milestone is whether DOE and Quaise complete the award negotiations and how quickly the company can translate funding into field results. Watch for updates on drilling performance, reservoir temperatures, flow behavior, and whether the third well confirms the project’s targeted commercial configuration.
The other important question is whether the project’s technical success can be translated into financing structures that support large-scale replication. Quaise is clearly positioning Project Obsidian not just as a single plant, but as a template for unlocking superhot geothermal development more broadly. If that happens, the sector could move from niche innovation to a credible new class of firm clean power assets.
Source: Business Wire
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