New Mexico governor touts $1B partnership on new geothermal plant for Meta’s data center power needs
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during a previous event. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Officials and academics say New Mexico is poised to be a geothermal leader after Michelle Lujan Grisham announced what she called a “big damn deal” for green energy production.
This article was originally published by Source NM.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday announced what she described as a “big damn deal” for green energy production in New Mexico, one that she said will provide Meta’s New Mexico data centers with huge amounts of green energy they need without using much water or costing taxpayers a dime.
At a news conference at the Roundhouse, surrounded by cabinet agency heads and leaders from the Silicon Valley giant and also XGS Energy, the governor said the deal means XGS Energy would produce 150 megawatts of energy for Meta through its “advanced geothermal technology.”
Geothermal energy taps into heat under the Earth’s surface to generate electricity using steam turbines or further uses for heating and cooling. Leaders touted the “advanced” version of that technology as a way to minimize water usage through a “closed-loop” system and also by using a tiny surface footprint, claiming only 15 acres is needed on the surface for a project that produces enough energy to power 50,000 homes.
In addition to the energy production, the new geothermal plant will mean a $1 billion private sector investment that will create 3,000 construction jobs and 100 “really good” jobs running the geothermal power plant, the governor said.
It’s not clear when the company will break ground on the plant or plants or where they will be located. Company leaders described at least a three-year permitting timeline.
The governor and XGS Energy CEO Josh Prueher said New Mexico has the exact right geology to greatly expand geothermal projects. A 238-page academic report released Thursday claims the state has enough capacity to produce 163 gigawatts of geothermal power, which the report authors say is more than 15 times the amount of capacity the state had in 2023.
Combine the right geology with what Prueher called an easy permitting process, and then add in an oil and gas workforce that could be trained to work in geothermal technology, and you’ve got an environment that’s “easy and inviting for developers and investors” he said.
The governor said the state helped the deal come together through years of policy and legislative work, but stressed that no taxpayer money would be spent on it. She also said there isn’t any state agency rulemaking required or legislation that will need to pass at the upcoming legislative session.
“This is born from all the groundwork all of us have been laying in the state, which is why, frankly, it’s a great announcement jointly, and it should be a bit of a celebration,” she said.
The governor’s proposal is the latest she’s offered that seeks to enable continued growth while confronting the state’s arid climate, diminishing water supply and reliance on the oil and gas industry. In 2024, she announced a push for a so-called Strategic Water Supply that sought to create a market for wastewater produced by oil and gas drilling, along with brackish water.
The state’s 50-year water plan released last year says the state can expect a 25% reduction in its water supply over the next 50 years, thanks to climate change-caused aridification.
While leaders were tight-lipped about where the projects could go, they said the public is welcome to weigh in via the permitting process.
In a presentation elsewhere in Santa Fe as part of the release of the academic report, Melanie Kenderdine, secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, showed a map that suggested the sites could be in Sandoval, San Miguel, Doña Ana, Catron and Hidalgo counties, and listed an additional 13 other counties that have “most favorable potential for other sites.”
The state aims to move forward with further projects, Kenderdine told attendees at a conference hosted by Project InnerSpace, a nonprofit pushing for further geothermal projects.
The state has competing needs for the space underground beyond geothermal, Kenderdine said, such as sequestering carbon underground or developing geologic hydrogen as another fuel source.
“We need to do very, very detailed mapping of the New Mexico subsurface and we need to do it quickly,” she said.