Next-generation, or “next-gen,” geothermal resources have the potential to increase geothermal power generation in the U.S. by twenty-fold by 2050. Next-gen geothermal concepts use technologies developed by the oil and gas industry to engineer reservoirs for geothermal energy generation, vastly expanding the available resource base.
Typically, the term next-gen geothermal refers to enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) or advanced closed-loop systems (AGS), which have been getting a lot of attention due to the success of high-profile government and private pilot projects. However, there is another, largely overlooked next-gen geothermal approach with a lower technology risk than EGS and AGS: sedimentary geothermal systems.
