Geothermal already showed increasing demand before the passage in August of the Inflation Reduction Act. The IRA, however, could grow geothermal into something bigger, putting it on a level with solar and wind. Of course, readers want to know about anything that could mean a steady flow of profitable projects, so we reached out to Jeff Hammond to clarify things.
Hammond, the executive director of the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA), sees geothermal heat pumps as complimentary to wind and solar (and vice versa), not as a competitor. The funds from the Inflation Reduction Act give all of these carbon-free technologies room to grow, he says.