Clean Energy EXPO 2026: Innovating Next-Generation Energy Systems

The 29th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucuses serving as honorary co-hosts. It featured six panels, including Innovating Next-Generation Energy Systems.

Highlights

Jeff Crater, Head of Government Relations, Quaise Energy

• Geothermal energy systems fall into two categories: shallow geothermal and deep geothermal. Shallow geothermal is used for thermal heating and cooling of buildings and residences, while deep geothermal is used for large power generation.
• Deep geothermal requires targeting hotter rock at greater depths, requiring stronger technology than conventional drilling equipment. To make deep geothermal energy systems more economical, Quaise Energy uses millimeter wave drill technology developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science Fusion Lab.
• A millimeter wave drill uses a microwave beam to pulverize rock into dust as it drills deep into the Earth. The dust is removed from the ground using forced air, and reaches temperatures of around 400 degrees Celsius.
• A $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) helped millimeter wave drill technology attract market investment and begin real-world applications at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
• Deep geothermal drilling is geologically easier in the western United States, where shallow hot rock is abundant. Millimeter wave drill technology removes the geographic constraint by drilling into deep hot rock, allowing geothermal energy production to expand eastward.
• Quaise Energy recently broke ground in Central Oregon on its first geothermal project and built a four-acre drilling pad expected to generate up to 50 megawatts of power. The company plans to replicate this zero-carbon technology at least four more times to generate a project total of 250 megawatts in Oregon with plans to expand eastward.

Katrina McLaughlin, Clean Energy Manager, World Resources Institute (WRI)

• Geothermal energy accounts for less than 1% of all U.S. electricity generation. California and Nevada together account for over 90% of all U.S. geothermal energy production.
• Conventional geothermal sites require three key features: heat, fluid, and permeability. Next-generation geothermal energy production explores and identifies ways to engineer artificial reservoirs to make more regions viable for production, enhance predictability, and increase the scale of geothermal generation as a clean power source.
• Technological advancement and state and federal policy levers continue to drive the geothermal industry forward along with market demand.
• Hyperscale data centers and other large clean energy buyers are top drivers of geothermal energy demand growth. A 2025 market assessment by the National Lab of the Rockies reported that 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of new geothermal energy has been contracted since 2021, adding to the current grid capacity of 4 GW.
• Fervo Energy’s first commercial project, expected to launch later in 2026 in Cape Station, Utah, will deliver a total of 500 megawatts of geothermal energy to southern California’s utilities.

Compiled by Megan Davies and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.

2026 Clean Energy EXPO Policy Forum

Panel 1    Lowering Household Energy Bills
Panel 2    Managing Data Center Energy Demand
Panel 3    Planning for a Reliable Clean Energy Future
Panel 4    Innovating Next-Generation Energy Systems
Panel 5    Improving Building Resilience and Efficiency
Panel 6    Building Reliable and Resilient Energy Systems

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