Citing 100% renewable push, Polis leads effort by Western governors

Geothermal energy will be the top priority for Gov. Jared Polis’ upcoming term as the chairman of the 22member Western Governors’ Association.

The push will seek to establish “actionable items” on how to tap the “heat beneath our feet,” Polis said. That includes efforts states can pursue individually and collaboratively and that the bipartisan governors’ group can push with officials in Washington, D.C.

“The beauty of geothermal electric is, while it can cost money upfront to build, the cost is very close to free for decades,” Polis said. “There’s minimal maintenance, minimal manpower.”

The constant energy put out by the Earth has the potential to meet the baseload needs of the state while it works toward 100% clean electricity emissions by 2040, he said. Polis expects the state to hit 80% clean electricity production in 2029 — but going from 80% to 100% will need new energy production and storage.

“Solar and wind are the driving force of all new energy production in our state because they’re simply far less expensive than coal and slightly less expensive than natural gas,” Polis said. “But the question is, when you have solar and wind as a big part of your grid, you need something else for stability, right?”

The push has a uniquely Western flavor. Polis pulled up a map on his phone that showed favorable geothermal sites across the country. The East is largely pale, indicating no or minimal favorability for geothermal. It starts to turn orange around Texas and north up to North Dakota — the easternmost states in the conference — and deepens to a most-favorable red in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho.

Polis officially will take the gavel of the association this week. As chairman, he’s able to set a priority for the group. He cited a 2020 initiative by then-leader Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to examine how, and take steps, to best build out electric vehicle infrastructure through the wide-open West as a prior successful initiative.

The Western Governors’ Association’s push comes soon after Polis signed two bills aimed at geothermal energy law. SB22-118 adds geothermal energy to state code and puts it “on the same footing” as solar energy, sponsor Sen. Rob Woodward, a Loveland Republican, said. He also sponsored HB22-1381, which creates a grant program to support geothermal energy development.

Woodward said he took up the cause after talking with a friend who owns Sweet Heart Winery in Loveland. They use geothermal energy to cool the facility in the summer and heat in winter, and Woodward thought why doesn’t the state examine and facilitate that.

“I had a sort of growing unrest with whether we were going to have the infrastructure in place fast enough for the energy transition,” Woodward said.

“I thought what better way to make sure you and I could keep our families cool in the summer and warm in the winter than tapping the resources under our houses?”

Woodward said he’s also been fielding calls from legislators in neighboring states about the concept, and plans a greater push if he wins reelection this fall. While there’s potential for geothermal in large-scale energy production — there have been very preliminary conversations about a facility near Buena Vista — he sees more immediate opportunity for heating and cooling.

That alone would take some of the stress off the grid from natural gas and electricity use using a clean, closed-loop system of energy transfer.

“The Earth’s temperature is a constant, so it can be used anytime, all the time, forever,” Woodward said.