DOE launches Geothermal Center of Excellence to push U.S. geothermal toward gigawatt scale The U.S. Department of Energy has launched a new Geothermal Center of Excellence in Golden, Colorado, with a clear mandate: connect industry with the national labs, accelerate geothermal innovation, and help move the technology toward gigawatt-scale deployment. The center is part of DOE’s effort to position geothermal as a more competitive source of reliable baseload electricity in the United States. The announcement matters because it comes at a time when geothermal is gaining fresh attention from policymakers, developers, and power buyers, especially as data centers and industrial users look for firm clean electricity. DOE says the U.S. already leads the world in geothermal electricity capacity at just over 4 GW, but that current output represents only a fraction of the country’s technical potential. [1] Why DOE created it DOE says the new center is designed to become industry’s main entry...
Endurance Energy raises $54M to harness a massive untapped energy source on the ocean floor Subsea geothermal startup, founded by SpaceX alumni, deploys first 100kW generator this fall By: Robert Buluma After you've worked on rockets that find their way to outer space, it can be hard to come up with a second act. For SpaceX alumni Andrew Redd, it meant looking not to the stars, but to the deepest, darkest reaches of the ocean floor. Redd, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest—a region scarred by uncharacteristic heat waves and catastrophic wildfires in recent years—knew he wanted to tackle climate change. But after a decade at SpaceX working on the Dragon capsule and Starship, incrementalism wasn't in his blood. That philosophy has led to Endurance Energy, a stealthy startup that is today announcing a $54 million Series A round to build the world's first subsea geothermal power plants. Founders Fund led the round, with participation from Felicis, Voyager Ventures, Riot Ventu...