Geothermal

Unlock geothermal opportunities across power, industrial heat, and subsurface energy

Geothermal is emerging as a strategic component of the energy transition, offering a reliable, baseload, and low-carbon energy source that complements intermittent renewables. Interest is accelerating as operators, technology developers, and investors look to leverage advances in subsurface engineering, drilling, and reservoir management—many of which originate from oil and gas.

Despite this momentum, geothermal remains underdeveloped relative to its potential. As highlighted in ADI’s perspective on geothermal energy as a forgotten renewable, the underlying resource base is vast, but adoption has historically been constrained by geology, cost, and execution risk.

ADI Analytics helps oil & gas operators, energy companies, technology developers, and investors evaluate geothermal opportunities, define strategies, and translate subsurface expertise into commercial growth.

Geothermal is gaining renewed attention, but adoption remains uneven

Geothermal offers structural advantages in the evolving energy mix. It provides dispatchable baseload power, supports industrial heat applications, and plays a role in improving grid reliability as electrification increases.

However, adoption remains uneven. Conventional geothermal has proven viable in select regions, but scaling beyond these areas has been challenging. As discussed in ADI’s analysis examining whether geothermal is poised for structural growth, the central issue is not resource availability, but consistent delivery of projects at competitive cost.

Recent activity suggests momentum is building. ADI’s geothermal market work, including our comprehensive geothermal energy market study, highlights increasing investment, a growing ecosystem of developers and technology providers, and renewed interest from both public and private stakeholders.

Oil & gas capabilities are central to unlocking geothermal

The geothermal industry is increasingly converging with oil & gas. Many of the technical challenges—drilling cost, reservoir performance, and subsurface uncertainty—are directly comparable to upstream development.

ADI’s assessment of how oil and gas technology will help geothermal development shows how horizontal drilling, advanced completions, and reservoir stimulation are already improving well productivity and expanding the range of viable resources.

This convergence is reshaping the opportunity. It expands the geothermal resource base beyond traditional regions, reduces technical risk through established subsurface practices, and creates a clear pathway for oil & gas operators and service companies to participate.

For many companies, geothermal is no longer viewed as a niche renewable but as an adjacent subsurface opportunity built on existing capabilities.

Technology innovation is expanding geothermal beyond traditional limits

Geothermal is evolving from a site-constrained technology into a more scalable energy platform, supported by multiple development pathways.

Conventional geothermal remains dependent on favorable natural conditions. In contrast, emerging approaches such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and closed-loop designs are enabling development in regions that lack natural permeability or fluid systems.

ADI’s dedicated analysis of the lifecycle economics of engineered geothermal systems highlights how these technologies can reshape cost structures and improve scalability by reducing dependency on natural reservoir conditions.

Innovation is also occurring across the broader value chain, including drilling technologies, reservoir engineering, system design, and integration with power and industrial systems. These developments are driving a new wave of activity from start-ups, developers, and investors focused on scaling geothermal globally.

Cost and execution remain the defining challenges

While geothermal has clear advantages, cost and execution remain the primary constraints on widespread adoption.

Project economics are heavily influenced by drilling outcomes and subsurface performance, with variability in depth, temperature, and flow rates introducing uncertainty. This variability impacts both capital costs and long-term returns.

Improving competitiveness will depend on reducing drilling and completion costs, improving reservoir predictability, and scaling repeatable project designs. Many of these challenges have been recognized for over a decade. ADI’s early research on advancing next-generation geothermal technologies and our historical marketplace commentary on geothermal energy challenges emphasize that sustained progress depends on cost reduction and scalability.

A growing ecosystem across operators, technology providers, and investors

The geothermal landscape now includes a broader mix of stakeholders, reflecting its increasing relevance in the energy transition.

Oil & gas operators and service companies are applying subsurface expertise, technology developers are advancing EGS and closed-loop systems, utilities are incorporating geothermal into renewable portfolios, and investors are backing early-stage technologies and platforms.

This expansion is accelerating innovation while also increasing complexity in technology selection, partner strategy, and investment decisions.

How ADI helps

ADI Analytics supports stakeholders across the geothermal value chain—including operators, technology developers, and investors—with consulting and research services that guide strategy, investment, and execution:

• Market intelligence & demand assessment including geothermal market sizing, regional outlooks, resource potential, and application-level demand across power generation, industrial heat, and emerging opportunities such as lithium extraction and hydrogen production.
• Technology & cost assessment covering evaluation of geothermal technologies (conventional, EGS, AGS, and emerging systems), cost benchmarking, LCOE analysis, and identification of key cost drivers such as drilling, completions, and reservoir development.
• Subsurface strategy & oil and gas integration involving application of drilling, completions, and reservoir engineering capabilities from oil & gas to geothermal development, with a focus on improving performance, scalability, and economics.
• Project development & feasibility analysis including assessment of site characteristics, resource quality, project economics, and risks associated with geothermal exploration, development, and operations.
• Competitive landscape & ecosystem strategy covering mapping of geothermal developers, technology providers, start-ups, and investors, along with benchmarking of capabilities, positioning, and partnership opportunities across the value chain.
• Commercialization & go-to-market strategy including customer segmentation, value proposition development, and go-to-market planning for geothermal technologies, services, and solutions targeting industrial and energy markets.
• Investment support & commercial due diligence such as opportunity screening, technology and start-up assessment, cost and scalability evaluation, and transaction support across geothermal projects, platforms, and emerging players.
• Strategic planning & growth strategy including market entry, portfolio prioritization, partnership strategy, and long-term positioning for companies seeking to capture value in geothermal energy.