The United States Department of Energy has launched a Geothermal Center of Excellence to accelerate gigawatt-scale geothermal discovery, development and commercialization.
Led by the National Laboratory of the Rockies with support from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the center will unite capabilities across America’s national laboratory system. It will also provide industry with a central entry point to federal research expertise, while an advisory board helps align research priorities with commercial needs.
The initiative reflects an important reality: geothermal infrastructure is not being built from an entirely new industrial base. It is emerging from many of the same technologies, institutions and workers that built America’s oil and gas sector.
Drilling engineers, geoscientists, reservoir engineers, directional drillers, completions specialists and field-service companies already possess much of the expertise required to locate, access and manage subsurface heat. Existing knowledge in well design, geosteering, seismic interpretation, project delivery and risk management can move directly into geothermal development.
Source Geothermal was born from this American oil and gas ecosystem. Its foundation combines practical subsurface experience with a new objective: deploying geothermal infrastructure to provide reliable power and efficient cooling for data centres and other energy-intensive facilities.
That transition does not require abandoning the conventional-energy workforce. It creates a larger market for its skills.
The DOE’s decision to connect geothermal research with the National Energy Technology Laboratory reinforces that opportunity. America can convert decades of hydrocarbon expertise into leadership in next-generation geothermal systems.
This is an industrial evolution that preserves valuable capabilities, strengthens domestic supply chains and opens new export markets for American companies and workers.
For Source, this model also has international relevance. The same U.S. expertise can help Gulf countries develop geothermal infrastructure for artificial intelligence, industry and resilient energy systems—exporting specialized American knowledge while creating a new generation of jobs at home.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, “DOE Announces Geothermal Center of Excellence,” September 3, 2026.
