seeing green

Houston geothermal co. expands DOD partnership with South Texas initiative

Sage Geosystems will onboard its technology at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi. Photo via Naval Air Station Corpus Christi/Facebook

Expanding on its partnership with the United States Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit, Sage Geosystems has been selected to conduct geothermal project development initiatives at Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi.

Along with the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, Sage will provide its proprietary Geopressured Geothermal Systems technology, will be able to evaluate the potential for geothermal baseload power generation to provide clean and consistent energy at the Naval Air Station base.

“We’re pleased to expand our partnership with the DOD at NAS Corpus Christi to demonstrate the advantages of geothermal technology for military energy independence,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, says in a news release.

Sage is also conducting initiatives at Fort Bliss and has completed an analysis at the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. The analyses could “pave the way for expanding geothermal energy solutions across additional U.S. military installations,” according to Sage.

The company’s proprietary technology works by leveraging hot dry rock, which is a more abundant geothermal resource compared to traditional hydrothermal formations, and it provides energy resilience for infrastructures. In addition, Sage is building a 3 megawatt commercial EarthStore geothermal energy storage facility in Christine, Texas, which is expected to be completed by December. Sage also announced a partnership with Meta Platforms. With Meta Platforms, Sage will deliver up to 150 megawatt of geothermal power generation east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is considered a critical training and operations hub for the U.S. Navy, and the partnership with Sage shows the Navy's commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. Sage’s technology will be assessed for its ability to create a microgrid, which can reduce reliance on the utility grid and ensure power supply during outages.

“As we advance our Geopressured Geothermal Systems, we see tremendous potential to not only provide carbon-free power, but also strengthen the operational capabilities of U.S. military installations in an increasingly digital and electric world,” Taff adds.

In September, the Air Force awarded Sage a grant of $1.9 million in a first-of-its kind contract to determine whether a power plant using Geopressured Geothermal Systems is able to generate clean energy needed for a base to achieve energy resilience.

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A View From HETI

Texas outpaced the rest of the country in a new energy resilience report, despite grid challenges and rising AI demand. Photo courtesy of ERCOT

A new report by mineral group Texas Royalty Brokers ranks Texas as the No. 1 most energy-resilient state.

The study focused on four main sources of electricity in hydroelectric dams, natural gas plants, nuclear reactors and petroleum facilities. Each state was given an Energy Resilience Score based on size and diversity of its power infrastructure, energy production and affordability for residents.

Texas earned a score of 71.3 on the report, outpacing much of the rest of the country. Pennsylvania came in at No. 2 with a score of 55.8, followed by New York (49.1) and California (48.4).

According to the report, Texas produces 11.7 percent of the country’s total energy, made possible by the state’s 141,000-megawatt power infrastructure—the largest in America.

Other key stats in the report for Texas included:

  • Per-capita consumption: 165,300 kWh per year
  • Per-capita expenditures: $5,130 annually
  • Total summer capacity: 141,200 megawatts

Despite recent failures in the ERCOT grid, including the 2021 power grid failure during Winter Storm Uri and continued power outages with climate events like 2024’s Hurricane Beryl that left 2.7 million without power, Texas still was able to land No. 1 on an energy resilience list. Texas has had the most weather-related power outages in the country in recent years, with 210 events from 2000 to 2023, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Climate Central. It's also the only state in the lower 48 with no major connections to neighboring states' power grids.

Still, the report argues that “(Texas’ infrastructure) is enough to provide energy to 140 million homes. In total, Texas operates 732 power facilities with over 3,000 generators spread across the state, so a single failure can’t knock out the entire grid here.”

The report acknowledges that a potential problem for Texas will be meeting the demands of AI data centers. Eric Winegar, managing partner at Texas Royalty Brokers, warns that these projects consume large amounts of energy and water.

According to another Texas Royalty Brokers report, Texas has 17 GPU cluster sites across the state, which is more than any other region in the United States. GPUs are specialized chips that run AI models and perform calculations.

"Energy resilience is especially important in the age of AI. The data centers that these technologies use are popping up across America, and they consume huge amounts of electricity. Some estimates even suggest that AI could account for 8% of total U.S. power consumption by 2030,” Winegar commented in the report. “We see that Texas is attracting most of these new facilities because it already has the infrastructure to support them. But we think the state needs to keep expanding capacity to meet growing demand."

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