Unlocking California’s Geothermal Potential

California possesses vast untapped geothermal potential, particularly in superhot rock resources, which could significantly support the state's clean energy goals. However, the industry faces substantial barriers, including a lack of long-term strategic planning, complex and lengthy permitting processes, outdated regulations, and interconnection uncertainties. The report recommends the creation of a statewide strategic plan, streamlining environmental reviews, updating well regulations, and establishing a clean energy infrastructure financing fund to attract private capital and accelerate deployment.

• California has immense untapped geothermal potential; modeling suggests that using only 1% of the state's superhot rock geothermal resource could generate approximately 380 GW of electricity, which is 13 times the state's 2023 electricity consumption.
• The state lacks a coordinated, long-term strategic plan for geothermal energy, leading to uncertainty for developers regarding transmission availability and alignment with future energy strategies. The current Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) process is limited by a 10-year horizon and biennial updates that may not align with the five-to-ten-year development timelines of geothermal projects.
• Permitting and environmental review processes are described as lengthy and complex, often totaling several years of delays. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process is specifically noted as being inconsistent and time-consuming.
• Existing geothermal well regulations are outdated, with many established in the 1970s, and do not account for next-generation technological advancements such as engineered reservoirs, advanced drilling, or modern GPS-based subsidence monitoring.
• Interconnection and deliverability uncertainty pose significant financial risks. High up-front costs mean that delays or unexpected spikes in upgrade costs can strand millions of dollars in capital. One developer reported an interconnection cost increase from $500,000 to $7 million after another project left the queue.
• Current state grant programs are considered insufficient for the high capital requirements of next-generation geothermal projects. While the Geothermal Grant and Loan Program exists, its average grant size of $360,751 is small compared to the estimated $600 million cost of a 100 MW project.

APA

Rogers, T., Garth, A., & Arax, A. (2025). Unlocking California’s Geothermal Potential. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/23162128/california-geothermal-report.pdf

Chicago

Rogers, Terra, Ann Garth, and Ashley Arax. Unlocking California’s Geothermal Potential. Clean Air Task Force, 2025. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/23162128/california-geothermal-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rogers |first1=Terra |last2=Garth |first2=Ann |last3=Arax |first3=Ashley |title=Unlocking California’s Geothermal Potential |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=June 2025 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/23162128/california-geothermal-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rogers2025unlocking, author = {Rogers, Terra and Garth, Ann and Arax, Ashley}, title = {{Unlocking California’s Geothermal Potential}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/23162128/california-geothermal-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }