The Houston-based company says it's developing a 50-megawatt plant in central Oregon that will tap into significantly hotter geothermal resources than its competitors do, using the firm's novel rock-melting technology. Quaise broke ground on that site, called Project Obsidian, last year and plans to drill a well this year that will allow it to validate the subsurface conditions, which are expected to reach over 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit).
"That's really in full swing in Oregon," Harry Kelso, the communications manager for Quaise, told Canary Media.
Quaise is seeking $100 million in Series B financing to support its first commercial plant in Oregon, as Axios first reported last week and Kelso confirmed. The company is looking to secure another $100 million in grants and debt for the project, which it plans to bring online by 2030. It has already signed a power-purchase deal for the initial 50 MW with an undisclosed customer and is working to ink agreements for an additional 200 MW in future capacity, he said.
Eight-year-old Quaise is riding the wave of interest in cutting-edge geothermal technologies.
The United States is clamoring for new sources of electricity, particularly from projects that can produce power around the clock and without carbon emissions. Next-generation geothermal, a broad umbrella that includes a variety of improvements on conventional systems, promises to deliver that but the sector is still in the early stages of development.
Already this year, investors have closed major funding rounds for startups Sage Geosystems and Zanskar. Fervo Energy, which aims to bring an initial 100-MW enhanced geothermal system online in October, filed for an IPO in January. Just last week, the Department of Energy announced $171.5 million in funding to support field-scale tests of next-gen technologies.
Strong Republican support for the industry also spurred Congress last year to keep tax credits in place for geothermal, even as the Trump administration revoked incentives for wind and solar.
This year "is by far the most exciting time for geothermal in a while, because you have an insatiable need for power," said Curtis Cook, founder and CEO of Rodatherm Energy Corp., referring to demand from data centers and electrification more broadly. His Salt Lake City-based geothermal startup closed a $38 million Series A funding round last fall to develop its "closed-loop" geothermal pilot plant on federal lands in Utah.
