Australian Geothermal company Earths Energy is studying the possibility of geothermal-powered data centers in Queensland.
The company, which is stylized without an apostrophe, kicked off an internal scoping study on 19 September on locations in Queensland already selected by the company as potential sites for data centers.
The study will look at the feasibility of powering data centers with geothermal power, as well as using geothermal cooling through vapor absorption chillers.
Earths Energy notes that in addition to providing renewable energy with 24/7 baseload power, "geothermal wells in Queensland could provide a compelling opportunity to address these challenges by leveraging direct geothermal energy to cool data centers efficiently."
It will investigate how geologically suitable the sites could be, and what savings can be made in terms of cost and carbon emissions.
Earths Energy says it is in "early-stage discussions with potential partners" including data center operators, and stakeholders in the cooling technology supply chain.
Josh Puckridge, Earths Energy CEO, said: “Incorporating geothermal energy sources into data center designs and operations has become popular with global leaders like Google, Microsoft, and Meta who are each developing large-scale new data centers incorporating geothermal energy."
Puckridge added: "This power independence provided by geothermal resources is an important aspect of data centers achieving data sovereignty, a significant strategic priority in developing modern data centers. The data center market itself has also never been more buoyant – evident by Blackstone’s $24 billion purchase of Airtrunk and NextDC’s $750 million raising to continue expansion plans throughout Asia."
Geothermal power is electricity generated from geothermal energy, for example using dry steam power stations, flash steam power, and binary cycle power.
In August 2024, Meta signed a deal with startup Sage Geosystems to use the latter’s geothermal technology to power the social media firm’s data centers. Sage’s approach leverages hot dry rock, which is a more abundant geothermal resource than traditional hydrothermal (hot aquifer) formations.
Google has previously signed geothermal PPAs in Nevada with Nevada utility company NV Energy and Fervo Energy.
