Renewable energy is an important part of the energy landscape for much of the Mountain West, including established sources like hydropower, and newer technologies like wind and solar. Research shows renewable energy is getting cheaper.
One technology that’s become very popular in recent years is geothermal energy.
But what exactly is geothermal energy?
“Really, what geothermal energy refers to is the fact that there’s heat beneath our feet,” says Will Toor, the director of the Colorado Energy Office (CEO). “So when you go down underground, it gets hotter as you go deeper. And in some locations, there is enough heat close enough to the surface that you can use that heat to make electricity.”
According to the Colorado Geological Survey, one way to use geothermal is to use the heat from the ground without converting it. This geothermal heat can’t be transported very far, and is primarily used at the local level. The easiest way to do this is through heat pumps. In the summer, heat pumps draw heat from a house, cooling it down, and pushes the heat into the ground, which acts as a heat reservoir. In the winter, the heat pump draws from that reservoir, pumping heat into the house. CGS researchers say pumping heat in and out of a building is a more efficient use of electricity than using electricity directly to heat and cool.
Using geothermal energy to generate electricity is more complicated, because the heat must be converted. CGS says that geothermal heat is typically used to drive a turbine and rotate a generator.
“The western U.S. is very well poised for geothermal because when you look at the heat map of the heat beneath our feet around the country, it's really the western U.S. that has the best resources,” Toor said.
Toor says the full extent of the nation’s geothermal resources wasn’t realized until recently. Most of the resources were concentrated in California and Nevada.
“But over the last several years, there are new technologies that have developed that… allow you to produce geothermal over a much wider range of areas where, as long as you have heat at the right depths, there is a potential to do geothermal electric production,” he said.
In Colorado, geothermal at scale is a relatively new enterprise. The state’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) has done a few studies over the past several years, looking into opportunities for geothermal development, and how they should regulate it.
Because geothermal energy often requires steam and groundwater resources, Colorado’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) has been heavily involved in researching geothermal.
The latest recommendations from the ECMC include removing duplicative permit requirements. Essentially, officials want there to be one permitting process, rather than developers going to both the ECMC and DWR.
“We want to make sure that there's a single point of contact and a single decision maker between deep and shallow operations,” said Julie Murphy, the ECMC’s director.
CEO awarded $7.7 million in grants for geothermal last year.
The Aspen-Pitkin County Airport received $250,000 for a heating component of its airport’s microgrid. Carbondale received a combined $312,000 for its Third Street Center heat pump and geothermal system. In Crested Butte, a workforce housing project got $157,000 for geothermal heat pumps in the 32 new units. Pagosa Springs received $140,000 to repair and upgrade its geothermal heating district, which is the 7th largest in the country.
Some projects in Weld County that received funding use inactive oil wells to study geothermal electricity generation.
Bigger projects also got funding. Mt. Princeton Geothermal got $500,000 to drill a confirmation well near Mount Princeton in Chaffee County. The Florida Mesa Project in La Plata County got $1 million for an enhanced geothermal project that will combine methane recovery infrastructure and data analytics.
“We were kind of overwhelmed with interest when we put out that request for proposals for a grant program,” Toor said. “So we're really seeing a lot of folks all around the state trying to develop geothermal.”
Colorado is interested in geothermal as a way to supplement other renewable energy resources, as the state looks to end coal production by 2030 and reach 100% net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Toor says wind and solar are a big part of those goals.
“But as people always point out, they are only working when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining,” he says. “So they need other sources of power to complement that wind and solar, and geothermal is really appealing because it's also zero pollution. But it's 24/7 power that's available whenever you need it.”
Utah has become a national hub for geothermal energy, and is home to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE). The site, located in Milford in Beaver County, does extensive research and development, examining how geothermal interacts with other renewable energy sources, and improving geothermal technology.
Between 2021 and 2024, researchers at FORGE were able to create two wells for geothermal energy, essentially creating a geothermal energy reservoir.
U.S. Representative Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) recently introduced the Geothermal Energy Opportunity (GEO) Act. It would require the U.S. Department of the Interior to expedite its processing of applications for geothermal drilling permits. It would set a limit of 60 days for processing geothermal applications.
In a press release, Maloy praised the FORGE project, and expressed interest in exploring more geothermal opportunities in Utah.
“Sadly, bureaucratic red tape regularly delays such projects,” she wrote. “My bill will enable us to produce geothermal energy more quickly in Utah and beyond as we seek to secure U.S. energy independence.”
According to the Wyoming Geological Survey, tourism is the primary use for geothermal energy in Wyoming, including thermal springs in Yellowstone National Park. Some state buildings and fish hatcheries also use direct geothermal.
There’s potential for geothermal energy development in western Wyoming, according to NREL and the WGS. The state has done geothermal temperature mapping in the Wind River Basin, the Green River Basin, and the Overthrust Belt.
Copyright 2025 Rocky Mountain Community Radio. This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including Aspen Public Radio.
