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Utah Geological Survey seeks state funds for geothermal expansion; governor’s budget includes $4.3 million
Summary
The Utah Geological Survey detailed a multi-year plan to accelerate geothermal resource assessment and site studies. The governor included $4.3 million in his proposed budget, below UGS’s $5 million request, and UGS staff described how the money would be used for equipment, data, and a limited number of hires.
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) presented a statewide plan on Jan. 15 to expand geothermal resource assessment and early-stage site characterization, a campaign tied to the governor’s Operation Gigawatt energy initiative. UGS leaders said the agency requested $5 million and the governor’s proposed budget included $4.3 million for geothermal work beginning in fiscal 2026.
UGS geothermal section manager Christian Arbic described the request as a mix of equipment upgrades, data synthesis, software and two years of staff time to build a public-facing statewide geothermal dataset and a set of prospect leads. “Good policy requires good data,” Arbic said, quoting U.S. Geological Survey director Dave Applegate while emphasizing the agency’s role in producing foundational science the state and industry can use.
Why it matters: UGS staff said more state-level funding would let the agency move beyond federally funded, project-specific work and create a consistent, statewide dataset that can be handed to industry or other state programs. The work is meant to identify promising targets for both high-temperature power generation and lower-temperature direct-use applications.
UGS outlined a roughly four- to five-year workflow: compile and standardize existing datasets, produce statewide favorability maps, perform more detailed site characterizations for three to four top prospects, and — where warranted — drill scientific boreholes to collect temperature and downhole data to “ground-truth” surface interpretations. The presentation noted that an engineered geothermal system (EGS) project in southwest Utah helped attract private investment and that a commercial developer expects to bring a commercial project online in coming years.
UGS staff told the board that the largest line-item in the request is equipment purchases (geophysical instruments and software) and that a scientific drill hole could cost in the low seven figures. Agency staff also proposed a small competitive grant program to support university research and student projects tied to state priorities.
UGS officials and board members said the request would also benefit other UGS programs — for example groundwater, mapping and hazards — because several of the measurements and datasets (geophysics, subsurface models, and data-management tools) can be reused across programs.
Next steps: The governor’s budget proposal now moves to the Legislature for consideration. UGS said it will brief legislators and other partners in coming weeks and would ask the board to help advocate if the agency asks for any changes or expansions to the request.
Funding context: UGS staff described decades of geothermal publications and federal grant activity, noting that federal funding has supported a large share of past geothermal research. The building-block request is meant to give the state a focused, flexible tool to accelerate prospect identification and early-stage de-risking.
UGS said the bulk of the proposed program’s spending would occur in the first year on data aggregation, equipment and hiring; subsequent years would emphasize modeling, site characterization and outreach to industry.
Closing note: Agency staff asked the board to be prepared to support outreach to legislators and other decision-makers while the request moves through the 2025 session.
