Episode Details

Does next generation geothermal have the capital and regulatory certainty to scale? In part two of this two-part series, host Sebastian Duque Rios continues the conversation on geothermal energy, turning to the financing and policy side of the equation with a panel of experts: Caroline de Bossart (Grantham Foundation), Drew Nelson (Project InnerSpace), and Susannah Dibble (Environmental Law Institute).

The conversation first digs into the challenges of financing geothermal energy. The panel unpacks the unique risk profile of geothermal projects (front-loaded drilling costs, resource uncertainty, and the absence of standardized data) and how emerging tools could unlock institutional lending and insurance the way similar frameworks have for oil and gas. They also explore the regulatory patchwork shaping geothermal's growth state by state, from Texas and Colorado's bipartisan legislative wins to the Mountain West Coalition's push for coordinated permitting and financing reform, and what an ideal legal and regulatory environment — one built to keep pace with fast-moving technology — could look like.

Along the way, the panel covers permitting timelines, water rights and reinjection issues, and where organizations like ELI can help close the remaining research and policy gaps. It's a wide-ranging look at what stands between geothermal and the capital it needs to scale, and the policy moves that could unlock it.

For more information, see part one of this two-part series and ELI's webinars on The Future of Geothermal:

• Power Generation
• Heating and Cooling of Buildings

• Financing geothermal: why capital is lagging behind (3:48)
• Building a regulatory environment that unlocks investment (14:01)
• State-by-state: geothermal's regulatory patchwork (18:59)
• Water law as a case study (30:58)
• Concluding thoughts & what to watch for as geothermal scales (35:19)