Title page 1

Contents 3

Acknowledgements 2

Executive Summary 4

Introduction 5

The Current State of Geothermal and How We Got Here 7

Geothermal Has a History 7

The Rocky Road to a Geothermal Paradigm Shift 8

The Promise of Next-Generation Geothermal 13

Geothermal Technologies 13

Supporting Technologies 17

Commercialization Potential: Opportunities and Challenges 19

Policies to Capture the Potential of Next-Generation Geothermal 24

1. Continue funding research, development, and demonstration of next-generation geothermal and novel drilling technologies 24

2. Continue incentivizing the development of firm, dispatchable clean energy sources with clean energy tax credits 25

3. De-risk early phases of geothermal development through federal loans, loan guarantees, and lending support mechanisms 25

4. Improve project certainty through streamlined permitting 26

5. Leverage and optimize existing federal financing tools to expand American geothermal companies' access to domestic and international energy markets 26

Conclusion 28

Endnotes 29

TABLE 1A. GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGIES AT A GLANCE 14

TABLE 1B. GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGIES AT A GLANCE (CONTINUED) 15

FIGURE 1. ELECTRICITY DEMAND IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE 5

FIGURE 2. CUMULATIVE AND POTENTIAL GEOTHERMAL CAPACITY IN THE U.S. 7

FIGURE 3. CONVENTIONAL VS. EGS GEOTHERMAL POWER GENERATION 9

FIGURE 4. APPROACHES TO GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE USE 12

FIGURE 5. ECONOMIC GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IS CLOSER THAN WE THOUGHT 18

FIGURE 6. LCOE OF NEXT-GENERATION GEOTHERMAL IN THE UNITED STATES 22

Boxes 9

BOX 1. Conventional vs. Enhanced Geothermal Systems - How They Work 9

BOX 2. A Tale of Two Technologies - Unconventional Gas and Next-Gen Geothermal 11

BOX 3. Next-generation Geothermal Technologies at a Glance 12