POLITICO - BLOWING STEAM: Will California remain king of U.S. geothermal energy production? Or will other states snatch the crown? That was the decision before Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to the geothermal industry and its allies, as he weighed signing their two top-priority bills of this session.
Newsom signed one and vetoed the other on Monday evening. Will that mixed message cede the state’s geothermal leadership? Assemblymember Chris Rogers, author of the bill that made it across the finish line, isn’t sure.
“I think it’s going to be up to the industry,” Rogers said in an interview.
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Michael McKibben, research professor of geology at the University of California, Riverside, warned that there’s still significant barriers that the industry has to overcome to make enhanced geothermal technology widely viable. To him, that’s a strong argument in favor of the state helping companies experiment.
“Enhanced is a risky technology; it’s high-cost,” McKibben said. “If you want to try and do the exploration and experiment with it, you need some incentives.”