Two next-generation geothermal companies moved closer to the grid on the same day. Quaise Energy was picked for up to $25 million in Department of Energy support for its superhot plant in Oregon. Sage Geosystems chose Ormat’s Blue Mountain power plant in Nevada as the site for its next commercial-scale enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Different technologies, different business models. Same destination: firm power, around the clock, from rock that conventional geothermal can’t use.

The fourth edition of the 2026 Taiwan International Geothermal Conference opened with a tone that feels less like exploration and more like commitment. What used to be framed as potential is now being treated as infrastructure. Taiwan is not just testing geothermal anymore—it is trying to operationalize it at scale, and fast. Vice Minister Chien-hsin Lai’s remarks set the direction clearly: geothermal is being positioned as a domestic stabilizer in an increasingly unstable global energy environment.