The discussion broadly focused on geothermal energy advancements and policy pathways for accelerating its deployment. Waldorf spoke about the strong bipartisan support of geothermal energy and the importance of cross-industry collaboration to advance the geothermal sector.

“I go back to the power of the partnership,” he said when asked how states can best develop a capable geothermal workforce. “It’s making sure academia and industry are talking, it’s making sure that government is providing the right programs, pathways, or incentives, or in some cases letting the market do its thing. So everyone has a role to play, but it doesn’t happen without clear communication and conversations like this.”  

Waldorf was joined by Morgan D. Bazilian, the Director of Payne Institute and Professor of Public Policy at Colorado School of Mines; Ravi I. Chaudhary, the former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment; Brian George US Federal Lead at the Global Energy Market Policy and Development at Google and Tim Latimer, the CEO and Co-Founder of Fervo Energy.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who led the Heat Beneath Our Feet initiative while serving as the Chair of WGA in 2023, also spoke about geothermal advancements at the Atlantic Council on Thursday. For that conversation, he was joined by Jeremy Harrell, the Chief Executive Officer at ClearPath. “We really feel, and I think this is a similar calculation for many western states, that geothermal has a tremendous opportunity to be extremely price competitive and reliable,” Governor Polis said in his remarks.

Watch both discussions in the embedded video player below and learn more about the potential for geothermal energy by reading the Heat Beneath Our Feet initiative report or by listening to the companion episodes of WGA’s Out West podcast, The Heat Beneath Our Feet: Exploring the Potential of Geothermal Energy with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and The Well of the Future: Repurposing Oil and Gas Wells for Geothermal Energy Production.