Meta and energy company announce plans for geothermal plant in New Mexico
Meta and a California-based geothermal energy company announced plans on Thursday to build a geothermal power plant in Northwestern New Mexico, as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other officials touted a report outlining how the state has the resources to produce substantial geothermal power.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and XGS Energy aim to build a geothermal energy site capable of producing 150 megawatts at a location that has not yet been named. A recent report indicates the Santa Fe region, as well as portions of Sandoval and Tao counties, are particularly well positioned to produce geothermal energy.
"We sit on, no kidding, one of the best dry hot rock energy resources not just in Western United States but in the entire world," said Josh Prueher, XGS Energy CEO, during a news conference at the state Capitol, flanked by Lujan Grisham. "The statistics are staggering."
Meta in 2019 opened a sprawling data center in Los Lunas where the tech giant stores videos, photos and other media that its billions of users have posted to the social network. It is unclear whether the new geothermal power plant would support its existing footprint in New Mexico and the Southwest or a future expansion.
Prueher said XGS is considering public, private and tribal lands to site the planned plant and is engaged with landowners in each of those categories. Asked whether Sandoval, Santa Fe and Taos counties might be potential locations, Prueher said they could be.
The 200-page "The Future of Geothermal in New Mexico" report, published by Project InnerSpace in collaboration with New Mexico Tech and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, notes the potential for 163 gigawatts of geothermal power to be generated in the state.
The Future of Geothermal in New Mexico
The vast subsurface heat present in the state could help boost the Land of Enchantment's clean energy future, advocates of the project say.
"It's a big damn deal," Lujan Grisham said, praising the economic and job creation impact the project could have.
Geothermal resources, typically reservoirs of hot water that exist at various temperatures, generate renewable energy from hot water sources deep beneath Earth's surface.
Most of the geothermal power plants in the U.S. are in western states and Hawaii, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, where geothermal energy resources are close to the earth's surface. California generates the most electricity from geothermal energy.
Lujan Grisham said the project is not receiving state money at this time.
The geothermal power plant in Northwestern New Mexico would be the second in the state, with one such power plant already in operation in Hidalgo County.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
10 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Port of LA Imports Drop 19% in May as Tariffs Hit US Businesses
Import volumes through the busiest trade hub in the US fell 19% from the month before, a fallout from President Donald Trump's tariffs. 'It's very slow here seasonally,' Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka told reporters Friday. Seroka warned that US businesses are facing high tariffs and uncertainty during what is typically the start of the peak season, and the consequences are likely to show up on store shelves in a few months.
Fox News
16 minutes ago
- Fox News
TSA warns travelers about sneaky way hackers are stealing people's data at airports
Flight passengers need to know about a new way hackers can access personal information. In a public statement posted to Facebook, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) warned that just simply plugging your phone into USB ports for a charge while sitting in the airport can be a cybersecurity risk. (See the video at the top of this article.) "In this technology age, cybersecurity has never been more important," TSA wrote in the post. "Hackers can install malware at USB ports (we've been told that's called 'juice/port jacking')." It continued, "So, when you're at an airport, do not plug your phone directly into a USB port." The agency instead suggested bringing a TSA-compliant power brick or battery pack to charge your devices. TSA also reminded travelers not to use free public Wi-Fi, especially when planning to make online purchases. "Do not ever enter any sensitive info while using unsecure Wi-Fi," the agency warned. In an appearance on "Fox & Friends" earlier this week, Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson revealed that the issue with USB "juice jacking" in airports has grown. "This is not new in terms of how they're doing this," Knutsson said. "Criminals tamper with the popular USB charging ports that are located throughout the terminal when you're at the airport, especially in the gate areas," he said. "What they do is – you plug your phone in, and they've got something in front of it that then installs malware on your phone while it's charging. [And] you've got no idea." Once the malware is installed, the hackers will search for sensitive and personal information such as passwords, banking information and credit card numbers, said Knutsson. Knutsson highly encouraged people not to plug the USB part of the phone charger into public ports, and instead to plug the charging block into an outlet.
TechCrunch
19 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
TechCrunch Mobility: The cost of Waymo
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced late this week that it plans to streamline the Part 555 exemption process to make it faster for automakers that want to deploy self-driving vehicles built without human controls like a steering wheel or pedals. The letter sent to 'stakeholders' (meaning those companies working on AVs) is fairly opaque still. And manufacturers will still have to demonstrate that vehicles without traditional steering wheels, driver-operated brakes, or rearview mirrors provide an equivalent safety level as compliant vehicles and that the exemption is in the public interest. The main gist here is that the NHTSA contends the current Part 555 exemption process is not well suited for automated driving system-equipped vehicles and that it is a lengthy and complex process. In short: The agency wants to speed things up. In other federal agency-related news, Trump issued a few executive orders related to drones and fast-tracking supersonic travel. Side note: I see that my predictions (from last edition) that the Trump-Elon Musk fallout would turn into one of those on-again, off-again relationships was correct. Let's get into the rest of the news. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW A little bird Image Credits:Bryce Durbin Last week, I shared our scoop about Jony Ive's LoveFrom firm working alongside Rivian designers and a skunkworks team that would end up spinning out into Also, a micromobility startup. Well, a few more little birds have popped up to share a bit more and to clarify the relationship. I learned that the project was code-named Inder. Rivian actually applied for a trademark of the name Inder but later abandoned it. Sources also shared that while the LoveFrom team brought its industrial design expertise to the effort — and apparently a cool motor design — it was not involved in any UI/UX. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. Deals! Image Credits:Bryce Durbin JetZero, the Long Beach, California-based zero-emissions jet aircraft company working on blended wing airplanes, plans to build a factory in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company, which has backing from a variety of venture capital (like Trucks VC) and from strategic investors like United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, said it will invest $4.7 billion over the next decade on the project, The Wall Street Journal reported. Construction on the facility is expected to begin in the first half of 2026, with first customer deliveries in the early 2030s, the company said. There is an important detail in this deal: It includes more than $1.1 billion in state performance incentives that would be paid over nearly 40 years and are contingent on JetZero creating over 14,000 jobs between 2027 and 2036, Reuters reported. Other deals worth noting … Mitra Chem, a battery material startup, raised $15.6 million of a planned $50 million funding round. Notable reads and other tidbits Image Credits:Bryce Durbin Autonomous vehicles Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft — and people are paying anyway, according to Obi, an app that aggregates real-time pricing and pickup times across multiple ride-hailing services. The company published what it's calling the 'first in-depth examination of Waymo's pricing strategy.' The TL;DR: Waymo's self-driving car rides are consistently more expensive than comparative offerings from Uber and Lyft — and it doesn't seem to matter. Waymo robotaxis became a symbol of the LA protests after imagery showing several driverless vehicles — with anti-ICE graffiti and slashed tires — on fire. Waymo removed its remaining vehicles from the downtown LA area and plans to pursue criminal prosecution of and collect damages from those who vandalized its robotaxis. The incident raises some important surveillance questions about how the numerous cameras and sensors on Waymo vehicles are used and whether it is providing camera footage to authorities to identify protesters. Waymo didn't answer our questions about that. June 22 is the big Tesla robotaxi launch day in Austin, Texas, at least according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Wayve and Uber announced plans to launch a fully driverless robotaxi service in London. This isn't happening right away, though, and the timing is notable here: The U.K. government recently announced an accelerated framework for self-driving commercial pilots to roll out in spring 2026, up from late 2027. Electric vehicles, batteries, & charging Infinite Machine, the New York-based micromobility startup backed by a16z, revealed a seated scooter called Olto that will cost $3,495 when it starts shipping later this year. The Olto will feature 40 miles of range, pulled from an easily swappable 48V lithium-ion battery. In-car tech During Apple's WWDC 2025 event, a few car-related items were revealed, including that the company is adding widgets and message tapbacks to CarPlay with iOS 26.
