The comments came during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee hearing on geothermal energy — the first such hearing held in front of the committee since 2006 in a sign of the technology's growing prominence to help further unleash renewables.
"Whether it is used for heating our homes or keeping the lights on, geothermal provides clean and always-on energy that requires no external backup," ENR Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in her opening statement.
"These resources are constant and reliable," she added. "There is no such thing as fluctuating, intermittent earth heat. And that's a big advantage."
The hearing followed the recent release of a Department of Energy report on the potential for a twenty-sixfold increase in the deployment of the technology by 2050 with the right permitting reforms and innovation improvements through research and development.
DOE says geothermal energy has the potential to reach as much as 60 gigawatts by 2050, or 3.7% of total U.S. installed capacity in 2050 and as much as 8.5% of all U.S. electricity generation.
Geothermal makes up about 0.4% of the nation's generated electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Murkowski and ENR ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) recently visited a geothermal facility in Iceland as part of their congressional delegation trip throughout the Arctic region.
"If the people of Iceland can harness their hot springs and underground resources to generate clean energy, it makes me think there are even more ways that we can utilize this set of climate solutions here in the United States if we support the needed research and development," Manchin said.
While much of the hearing focused on geothermal's potential, industry representatives made sure to highlight how the technology is currently seeing successes in states like California and Nevada.
California has sought geothermal procurements in the range of 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour almost as "a backbone" to its push for more wind and solar, said Paul Thomsen, vice president of business development of Americas for Ormat Technologies Inc.
"They recognize that when they take the energy value of geothermal and its capacity benefits, meaning it's there when it's night or when the intermittent resource aren't there, that it is of value to them," Thomsen said.
"With geothermal prices going below 7.5 cents, it's absolutely commercially viable today in states that are looking for high renewable penetration rates," he added.
Among the policy requests, senators floated ideas to better map out areas across the country that could use geothermal energy.
They also suggested the benefit of extending an investment tax credit (ITC) that benefited geothermal as a way to help the technology.
That ITC for geothermal expired at the end of 2017, but there may be some movement to extend the credit along with a host of other energy-related measures in a tax package.
"All we are doing today is trying to breathe more life into the understanding of geothermal so that our colleagues will understand, at least the members of this committee will be supportive of it as the opportunity presents itself this year," said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who also serves on the Senate Finance Committee.
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