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.
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