The US Department of Defence (DoD) is exploring the possibility of developing “utility-scale” geothermal power plants to supply electricity to military bases in the United States and abroad.
A consortium of contractors was identified this month by the US Air Force (USAF) and the DoD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to explore potential options. The group is led by Energy System Group (ESG), an infrastructure solutions provider in the US, and includes global energy heavyweight, GE Vernova. Other members of the consortium include Sage Geosystems (Sage) and The Energy & Geoscience Institute at The University of Utah (EGI).
Together, the group has been shortlisted by CDAO, after it achieved ‘Awardable’ status on 12 March, 2025, to increase energy resilience at DoD sites using geothermal and hydrogen solutions. The team said in a statement that it will now explore how to tap into America’s abundant geothermal energy supply to enhance national security.
Kirk Phillips, Director, Air Force Office of Energy Assurance, said the USAF leveraged the so-called ‘Tradewinds’ solicitation process to “quickly collaborate with innovative American companies to build resilient, next-generation geothermal technologies at our bases, using private capital instead of taxpayer dollars.”
Tradewinds is a digital repository of post-competition, readily awardable pitch videos used by the DoD to address critical challenges and needs in areas such as data, analytics and AI. GE Vernova's video, ‘GEO2X,’ or ‘Advanced Geothermal Energy-to-Everything’ — accessible only by government customers on the Tradewinds marketplace — presents a solution that could provide 5MW energy resilience 24/7 at about 50 DoD sites along the western Gulf of America and to the west of 101 degrees’ longitude.
The solution includes geothermal assessment expertise (offered by consortium partners, EGI and Sage), drilling (Sage), power conversion, delivery, microgrid design and control (GE Vernova), hydrogen generation and storage (GE Vernova), and power generation and project development (ESG). With its combined expertise, the group is now “poised to explore the development of utility-scale geothermal power plants in the United States and abroad, with the goal of supplying US military bases with reliable and cost-effective electricity, even during grid outages,” a GE Vernova statement read.
“We are excited to play a role in helping unleash American’s energy dominance with secure, plentiful, geothermal energy,” said Steve Smith, ESG’s VP of Federal Business. “We are honoured to lead this innovative team that brings a wide range of technology and experience to help the DoD safeguard mission-critical operations.”
The ESG-led team boasts decades of experience in the geothermal sector, in addition to GE Vernova’s energy industry clout. EGI brings over 30 years of experience in geothermal resource exploration and characterisation, while Sage will contribute its patented, proven pressure geothermal system, which operates like a multi-cylinder engine, utilising two wells in an injection and production pattern to maximise efficiency and sustainability.