The outgoing US government is set to streamline permitting for geothermal energy development as part of a broader executive order to support energy infrastructure for the artificial intelligence (AI) data center sector, according to a Bloomberg report.
The order, which would be one of President Joe Biden's last in his term of office, is expected to be published next week, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. However, timing is subject to change.
The new measures will include establishing a competitive process for companies to build data centers on federal land, and steps to speed approvals for geothermal and nuclear energy development.
Under Biden's draft executive order, the Department of the Interior would set up geothermal energy priority zones to reach a total permitted geothermal capacity target.
In addition, the Departments of Defense and Energy would identify sites currently owned by federal agencies that could house large-scale data centers.
Facilities located on government-owned land must comply with specific physical and cybersecurity standards and face restrictions on foreign funding. Businesses would also be required to allocate a portion of their data center computing capacity to national AI research initiatives, covering the costs related to infrastructure development and construction.
President Biden has issued a flurry of executive orders in the last month of his presidency. However, there are concerns that when Donald Trump assumes office, he could roll back the orders. President-elect Trump has already promised to reverse Biden's ban on new offshore and gas drilling, which was announced this week.
Despite this, the Trump administration has signaled that it will prioritize data center developments as a matter of national security, pledging to unleash all forms of energy to support the massive spike in demand from AI.
Earlier this week, Trump announced that UAE property firm Damac would invest "at least $20 billion over a very short period of time" in data centers.
Trump said the company would invest in sites in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. Further details on locations, specifications, and timelines weren't shared.
In a later release, the company said it will deliver data centers with a total capacity of 2GW over the next four years.
Several major hyperscalers have signed agreements with geothermal firms to power their operations over recent years.
In August last year, Meta announced a deal with geothermal startup Sage Geosystems to use the latter's new technology to power the social media firm's data centers. The first phase of this project will aim to be online and operating in 2027. Meta aims to deliver up to 150MW of new geothermal baseload power to support its data center growth.
Google has previously partnered with Fervo Energy and NV Energy to procure more than 100MW of geothermal energy in Nevada.
Microsoft has previously signed a geothermal-based Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in New Zealand with Contact Energy, and is developing a geothermal campus in Kenya alongside G42.
