What if you could pull power from the ground below us?
That’s all New Mexico does, Merritt. First coal, now oil and gas. Been at it for over a century now. Tell us something new.
All right, smarty pants. What if we had tremendous amounts of power in the ground here in New Mexico that was older than coal and even older than the Permian Basin (fun fact: the oil in the Permian Basin is older than most coal)?
Next-generation geothermal energy production taps into the heat under the Earth’s surface to generate electricity. If you have visited one of our many lovely hot springs in New Mexico for some rejuvenation, congratulations, you have seen geothermal energy at work!
New Mexico combines unique geology – we have two major geologic formations, the Jemez Lineament and the Rio Grande Rift – with home-grown expertise in advanced water-free drilling techniques to position our state as the national powerhouse in geothermal energy.
One of the perks of my day job is that it allows me to speak and work every day with some of the smartest people in the state. I was passed a link to a new report out from Project Innerspace, New Mexico Tech, and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, The Future of Geothermal In New Mexico (hyperlinked here for digital publications, it’s also easily searchable online), this week. The 238-page report has 15 primary authors with twice as many additional contributors. The title is dry and the length daunting, but I highly recommend at least reviewing the executive summary.
In June, Meta and XGS Energy inked a geothermal energy deal in New Mexico to develop a 150-megawatt geothermal plant to support Meta’s data centers here. The deal is expected to bring in $1 billion in private investment, 3,000 construction jobs, and 100 plant operation jobs. That’s just for a single power plant.
The advanced geothermal plants envisioned by XGS and in The Future of Geothermal In New Mexico have a smaller footprint – as little as 15 acres required to generate enough power for 50,000 homes (or one data center). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, if New Mexico were to exploit all its available geothermal resources, there is a potential of 160 gigawatts of power capacity, more than 15 times the installed capacity from all sources in the state today.
Accessing geothermal energy is dependent on several factors: how close “hot spots” are to the surface, where they are located, and having the equipment and skills to access them. New Mexico is uniquely suited to leverage its considerable geothermal resources.
Geothermal energy is clean and renewable. The latest geothermal power generation technology requires minimal water. And New Mexico is sitting on some of the easiest to tap resources. Other key advantages include the fact that we already have a geothermal plant delivering power to the grid and our robust oil and gas industry already has the skills and equipment in the state to tackle next-generation geothermal exploration.
Some of the mostly likely sites for power generation are in Hidalgo County (where the Lightning Dock 1.5-megawatt geothermal power plant in Animas has been supplying PNM since 2019), Catron County, Sierra County, Sandoval County and Doña Ana County. New Mexico is one of just seven states actively deploying geothermal energy in power generation.
This also means we have a head start in figuring out what governing a geothermal industry would look like. Who owns the rights to the heat under the Earth’s crust? Is it a surface right or a mineral right? What about on Federal lands, which make up a third of our state? These questions and several others will have to be considered carefully and need to be given priority so that clear policy is in place to support rapid and robust acceleration for New Mexico’s energy diversification.
Notable contribution to the report comes from the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA); its CEO, Dr. Missi Currier, authors a chapter. The appeal and strategic importance of geothermal energy to NMOGA is clear: tapping into a massive renewable resource at the beginning of the AI boom positions New Mexico well to maintain its dominance in the energy economy. If we are currently the country’s No. 2 oil producer, the No. 1 geothermal producer sure looks good next to that.
No one knows better than our oil and gas industry the limitations of our fossil fuel resources. As I have written previously, Permian Basin production was expected to begin declining in ten years or so. Due to unforeseen global market conditions, it may have peaked already (although the state held its first oil lease sale last month since raising royalty rates to 25% and saw bid records broken, with 14 leases in Lea and Eddy Counties all receiving bids, nine at the new rate).
Regardless of market volatility, everyone knows eventually the oil will run out. A strategic pivot to geothermal energy timed with the AI boom and renewable energy mandates in the state looks to create many winners in New Mexico.
The current White House administration is on our side, too, in this case, in a time of uncertainty about many Federal programs. The Department of Energy is specifically calling for expertise in developing AI infrastructure on DOE sites, including at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories right here in New Mexico. The Department of Defense would also like to lower its utility bills and see military installations use geothermal power; four of our military bases in New Mexico - Ft. Bliss, White Sands Missile Range, Holloman Air Force Base and Kirtland Air Force Base - are adjacent to some of our most potent geothermal sites.
The Future of Geothermal In New Mexico is making five basic policy recommendations:
- Create the legal and regulatory infrastructure to support a well-managed geothermal industry;
- Set a regulatory goal of 5 gigawatts of geothermal energy on the New Mexico grid by 2035 while maximizing geothermal deployment on federal lands and installations;
- Expand state geothermal incentives, including expansion of the existing grant and revolving fund, establishing targeted grants and loans for geothermal power and industrial process heat and incentivizing geothermal-powered data centers;
- Support the development of geothermal heating and cooling by allowing utilities to create Thermal Energy Networks (TENs) and continuing incentives for consumer installations of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs); and
- Expand geothermal-specific training and apprenticeship programs for workforce development and public education campaigns.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham held a public event when the Meta-XGS deal was signed. It got good local coverage in New Mexico. When Mark Zuckerburg bought his own nuclear plant, it made national news. One would think that Zuckerburg piping into the Earth’s core to fuel cat-face memes on Snapchat would be considered just as cool.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at
