Bipartisan Support for Expanding Geothermal Production Is Encouraging News for Clean Energy Markets

A federal tax law passed last year, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, set expiration timelines for clean-energy tax credits tied to wind and solar power. Two credits in particular, known as 45Y and 48E, support companies that build clean electricity plants. Under the new rules, wind and solar projects that break ground after July 5, 2026, must be up and running by the end of 2027 to get the 45Y credit. Other clean technologies get more time: they can break ground anytime before 2033 and still claim the full credit, with the incentive gradually shrinking in the years after that.

Geothermal energy was left out of the administration's broader pushback against renewables. Its 45Y and 48E credits stayed intact, and an industry group called Geothermal Rising has said this gives geothermal developers the long-term certainty to plan projects, line up funding, and build out the technology. Now a group of bipartisan bills in Congress, bundled together as the Geothermal Energy Advancement Act, aims to build on that momentum and expand geothermal production further.

This news is about large-scale geothermal power plants that feed electricity into the grid, not the ground-source heat pumps some homeowners install to heat and cool individual houses. Still, steady federal support for geothermal could mean more of this clean power showing up in the broader electricity mix over time.