The Potential for Superhot Rock Energy in North America

The document explores the potential of superhot rock energy in North America, estimating that 13% of the land area has potential at depths below 12.5 km. It argues that this resource could provide massive amounts of carbon-free electricity, leverage existing oil and gas expertise, and require significantly less land than other energy sources, with mature costs potentially as low as $25-40 per MWh.

• Preliminary modeling by the Clean Air Task Force and the University of Twente indicates that superhot rock energy potential exists across approximately 13% of North America's land area, which is more than 3.3 million square kilometers, at depths below 12.5 km.
• The resource capacity in North America is vast; just 1% of the superhot rock resource could potentially provide 7.5 terawatts of energy capacity and generate over 62,000 terawatt-hours of electricity.
• Superhot rock energy is highly land-efficient compared to other power sources. Producing 1 GW of superhot rock energy is estimated to require roughly 12 square kilometers of land, whereas solar requires 180 square kilometers, natural gas requires 160 square kilometers, offshore wind requires 520 square kilometers, and biomass requires 14,000 square kilometers.
• While initial costs for first-of-a-kind projects will be higher, electricity from mature 'Nth-of-a-kind' superhot rock energy resources could be competitive with conventional sources, with global average prices potentially as low as $25-40 (USD) per MWh.

APA

Clean Air Task Force (2024). The Potential for Superhot Rock Energy in North America. https://www.catf.us/superhot-rock/heat-mapping/north-america/

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. The Potential for Superhot Rock Energy in North America. 2024. https://www.catf.us/superhot-rock/heat-mapping/north-america/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=The Potential for Superhot Rock Energy in North America |date=21 March 2024 |url=https://www.catf.us/superhot-rock/heat-mapping/north-america/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cleanairtaskforce2024potential, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{The Potential for Superhot Rock Energy in North America}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://www.catf.us/superhot-rock/heat-mapping/north-america/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }