Geothermal Lease Prices Surge 282% as Tech Giants and Trump Admin Fuel Underground Energy Rush
The earth beneath America’s feet just became prime real estate. Federal geothermal lease prices exploded to $127 per acre in 2025 — a 282% jump from last year’s $33 — as the Bureau of Land Management sold every available parcel for the first time in years. The rush is being fueled by the soaring energy demand of data centers, the Trump administration’s support, and breakthrough drilling technologies borrowed from oil and gas fracking.
- AlphabetGOOGL and MetaMETA have signed deals with geothermal providers to power their energy-hungry AI data centers.
- Rhodium Group estimates next-gen geothermal could meet up to 64% of data center energy demand growth by the early 2030s.
The land rush continues: Despite weakening wind and solar incentives, Trump’s July tax law preserved geothermal credits. Thanks to this, veterans like Ormat TechnologiesORA have invested over $3.5M leasing 140K+ acres since 2014, while newcomer Chinati Minerals submitted its first winning bids this year. As ResFrac’s Koenraad Beckers puts it, “With the current administration, I think the focus is very much on energy security, energy reliability, and energy independence. Geothermal checks all those boxes.”