The first enhanced geothermal system power generator in the United States is currently under development and is expected to launch in 2026 , marking a potential turning point for an energy technology that has quietly gained federal backing even as other renewables face headwinds. Fervo Energy's Cape Generating Station under construction in Utah will be the first large-scale commercial-scale EGS generator in the United States, with a planned maximum capacity of 53 megawatts , according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The plant is scheduled to come online in June 2026, and another two EGS generators of the same size in the same location are expected to begin operation in January 2027 . The company is planning further expansion in 2028 after signing two power purchase agreements totaling 320 MW with Southern California Edison , the EIA reported. The technology uses drilling techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry— horizontal drilling and fracking, to create hydrothermal reservoirs where they don't currently exist .

The potential is enormous. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 135 GW of potential electric-power generation is available from EGS in the Great Basin of the U.S. Southwest alone, with other studies projecting that up to 150 GW of cost-effective geothermal power generation could be operating using EGS in the coming decades . For context, the United States has a total summer capacity of 2.7 gigawatts of conventional geothermal power, representing 0.2% of U.S. summer generating capacity .

States Pull Back From Ambitious Climate Targets

While geothermal advances, the broader renewable energy landscape is facing political and economic headwinds. Several states are being forced to backtrack on their climate goals as they view them as increasingly unachievable, marking a significant shift away from Biden-era green transition policy aims across the U.S. , according to OilPrice.com.

The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, admitted recently that the state's goal for significantly reducing emissions by 2030 is now unattainable, meaning that the legislature must revise its climate law to reflect the current situation . In Rhode Island, Governor Dan McKee has proposed delaying a legal deadline, from 2033 to 2050, for when the state must attain all its electricity from renewable sources, to avoid increasing short-term consumer energy costs to support green energy construction .

This is largely in response to the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran and the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has driven up the cost of fossil fuels globally, with consumers being forced to foot the bill , OilPrice.com reported. According to market data, WTI crude traded at $71.50 per barrel on Friday, up 0.6%, while Brent crude stood at $75.20 per barrel.

Wood-Based Solar Storage Breaks New Ground

In a development that sounds like science fiction, researchers in China have turned balsa wood into a solar energy system that continues generating electricity after sunset. The researchers wrote in their paper, published in the scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials, that their work "presents a scalable and environmentally friendly wood-based platform for advanced solar thermal energy harvesting" .

In a solar simulator, it achieved a photothermal efficiency of 91.27%, meaning almost all the light hitting it became usable heat , according to a report in TechXplore. When sunlight hits the material, it heats up and melts the acid inside, which is then released gradually, meaning that the material continues to produce energy in the form of heat long after the source of sunlight is gone , OilPrice.com explained.

The process involves stripping balsa wood of its lignin to create a porous structure, then coating it with black phosphorene nanosheets that absorb sunlight and convert it to heat. The researchers filled it with a heat-storing wax called stearic acid, a bio-based phase change material that melts and stores energy when heated and solidifies and releases that energy when cooled .

Iran Crisis Accelerates Renewable Energy Push

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is having an unexpected effect on clean energy adoption. The head of the International Energy Agency said the energy transition was moving "very strongly" before the Iran war began, but countries will likely direct even more investment toward clean energy sources, with IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol stating "I expect one of the responses to this crisis will be [an] acceleration of renewables" , CNBC reported.

Clean energy sources dominated new power installations last year, with renewables accounting for 85% of all new global power capacity, Birol said, citing solar as a primary driver of this trend . Early data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air disputes predictions of a coal comeback. Coal-fired generation was flat in March globally, falling by 3.5 per cent outside of China, while seaborne coal transport volumes fell by three per cent globally, bringing them to their lowest level since 2021 , Euronews reported.

Renewables have played a significant role in cushioning the impact, with solar alone saving Europe €3 billion in March, as solar power generation rose by around 14 per cent last month, while wind energy was up approximately eight per cent in the countries analyzed by the research group.

Countries that invested heavily in renewables are weathering the crisis better. Spain and France are experiencing much lower rate increases because both countries generate a sizable share of their power from sources other than natural gas, with France's nuclear comprising about 70% of the country's electricity mix and renewables providing another 25%, while in Spain, renewables generate 57% of the country's electricity , according to the World Resources Institute.

Pakistan isn't as exposed to the loss of LNG supply in part because of its new solar and wind capacity, with the country reducing its LNG imports last year in part because of the rapid growth of solar and batteries , NPR reported.

The crisis is creating a stark lesson about energy security. Sam Butler-Sloss, research manager at global energy think tank Ember, told CNBC that "the Iran crisis accelerates the shift to renewables and electrification," noting that "in the old fossil fuel world, energy security meant diversifying fuel supply. With electrotech, nations now have the tools to increasingly eliminate imported fuels altogether" .