Sep 24, 2026
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Tapping the Earth's Heat: A Q&A on Invenergy's Geothermal Strategy with James J. Murphy
by Invenergy
Geothermal energy is having a moment. Long confined to a handful of naturally hot, water-rich locations, the technology is now being reimagined with drilling techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry— and Invenergy is positioning itself at the center of that shift.
We sat down with James Murphy, Senior Vice President of Development, to unpack what Invenergy is building, why now, and what sets the company apart in this fast-emerging space.
For people who don't work in energy every day, what is geothermal?
When most people think of renewable energy, they picture wind turbines or solar panels. Geothermal works differently. It taps the Earth's natural heat to generate 24/7 electricity. Our approach involves drilling wells more than 12,000 feet down into granite formations where temperatures exceed 400°F, then circulating fluid through that hot rock to bring the heat to the surface and convert it into power.
The industry calls this an "enhanced geothermal system," or EGS, because instead of relying on naturally occurring hot-water reservoirs, we're engineering the system ourselves — essentially building a giant underground radiator in rock that wouldn't otherwise release its heat on its own.
How big is Invenergy's geothermal footprint today?
We've moved quickly. Invenergy has assembled a portfolio of nearly 20 geothermal projects across Idaho, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and California, representing multiple gigawatts of potential generating capacity or enough to power millions of homes. We're now one of the largest federal geothermal leaseholders in the country, with more than 151,000 acres under lease. This year alone, we secured over a gigawatt of interconnection queue positions.
We were also recently selected by the Department of Energy’s Office of Geothermal for a grant that will help us advance exploratory drilling at one of our most promising large sites in Idaho.
Geothermal has existed for decades. Why is it suddenly attracting so much attention?
It really comes down to a convergence of factors. Advances in drilling and subsurface technology mean we're no longer limited to searching for pockets of hot, briny water near the surface. In many places, especially west of the Rockies, there's extremely hot rock deep down. By adapting the same drilling techniques the shale industry pioneered, we can now access that heat at a cost point and a scale that simply wasn't possible before, and it happens to be perfectly positioned near growing power demand.
On top of that, demand for clean energy is growing at scale, and geothermal is one of the few resources that can deliver true, around-the-clock baseload power with a carbon-free profile. That combination has both parties in Washington, utilities, and large energy buyers paying close attention.
What gives Invenergy a real competitive advantage as more companies enter the geothermal space?
The market is splitting into two camps: those with a deep understanding of drilling and geology and others who lack the depth of power market experience to deliver a fully integrated solution on their own.
Invenergy sits in a rare position to bridge that gap. We've spent 25+ years developing power infrastructure, and we already have the relationships with customers, transmission providers, investors, and communities that this industry needs to scale responsibly. Our goal is to combine our deep power-market expertise with world-class subsurface partners to execute. That combination is genuinely hard for either camp to replicate alone, and we’re excited about our future with this technology.
How are you leveraging Invenergy’s existing expertise to pursue a new technology for the company?
This is honestly one of the things I'm proudest of. So much of our early progress has come from teams that already exist across the company – development, project management, engineering and construction services, GIS, interconnection, government and regulatory affairs, finance, legal, and communications have all played a huge role in laying the foundation. We're layering in specialized talent like geoscientists and subsurface professionals, but we're building geothermal the Invenergy way, leveraging the same organizational strengths, community relationships, and disciplined development process that have made the rest of our business successful.
Geothermal can also integrate with solar, battery storage, transmission, and potentially thermal energy solutions, allowing us to combine multiple technologies into one energy platform. That is something very few companies in this space can do at scale, and a big part of why we're excited about where this goes from here.
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