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Baker Hughes ( BKR ) to collaborate on 500-megawatt project

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Geothermal energy gains interest from Big Tech for AI

power

needs

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CTR's Hell's Kitchen project spans 4,500 acres near Salton

Sea

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Baker Hughes ( BKR ) to help raise capital for Hell's Kitchen

project

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. oilfield services firm

Baker Hughes ( BKR ) is collaborating with Controlled Thermal

Resources in California to develop one of the world's largest

single geothermal power projects, with plans to market the

electricity to data centers, the companies said on Tuesday.

Energy-intensive data centers, which are used to produce the

next wave of artificial intelligence technologies, are driving

U.S. power demand to record highs and propelling the advancement

of electricity sources that had been in decline or sparsely

used.

CTR has been working on the development of its "Hell's

Kitchen" geothermal power and critical minerals project for

roughly 13 years. The privately-held company has about 4,500

acres (18.2 square kilometers) in and around the Salton Sea in

Imperial County, California for development.

Baker Hughes ( BKR ) has signed onto the second phase of Hell's

Kitchen, which involves producing 500 megawatts of power, or

enough to power about 375,000 homes, with the possibility of

expanding from there, CTR told Reuters.

Baker will deploy high-temperature drilling technologies,

power systems, and services historically used for oil and gas

field production to help streamline and lower project costs, CTR

CEO Rod Colwell told Reuters.

"That kind of expertise is very powerful," Colwell said.

Baker will also assist in raising capital for the project.

While geothermal energy has been used in the U.S. for

decades, it remains less than 0.5% of the country's electricity

supplies due partially to high upfront costs.

Recently, however, geothermal power producers have found new

customers in Big Tech as the Silicon Valley companies scour for

the vast amounts of electricity needed for their AI expansion

plans.

Meta, in June, said that it had signed power purchase agreements

for advanced geothermal in New Mexico for its data centers.

Google reached an agreement last year for geothermal power in

Nevada.

Conventional geothermal energy production involves drilling

wells deep into the earth to release extremely hot salty brine,

which produces steam that can be used to propel power turbines.

Geothermal power plants, according to the Energy Information

Administration, emit about 99% less carbon dioxide than fossil

fuel power plants.

CTR declined to provide details on the total project costs.

CTR is nearing a final investment decision on the first

phase of Hell's Kitchen, which involves producing 50 MW of

electricity that has been committed to the local electric

utility. Commercial operations for that phase are supposed to

begin in 2027.

The timeline for the start of operations of the second-phase

power plants is likely to be in the late 2020s.