Sage Geosystems CEO on the Promise of Geothermal Energy

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Sage Geosystems CEO on the Promise of Geothermal Energy

Podcast: Bloomberg Businessweek
Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec
Guest: Cindy Taft, CEO of Sage Geosystems
Air Date: February 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the potential of next-generation geothermal energy, particularly as a solution for growing power demands driven by artificial intelligence and data centers. Hosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec interview Cindy Taft, CEO of Sage Geosystems, a company innovating in geothermal technologies by leveraging oil and gas expertise. The conversation covers the distinction between conventional and next-gen geothermal, the resource potential, industry partnerships (notably with Meta), regulatory environment, and economic feasibility.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Sage Geosystems & Next-Gen Geothermal

• Cindy Taft shares her oil and gas background and how Sage uses that expertise for geothermal innovation.

• Sage was founded five years ago by industry veterans aiming to advance "next generation geothermal."

  "We're using that knowledge of the subsurface and of our oil and gas background to advance what we're calling next generation geothermal."
  — Cindy Taft (03:37)

2. Conventional vs. Next-Gen Geothermal Explained

• Most people envision geysers, hot springs, or volcanically active areas as geothermal’s limits—what’s called “conventional geothermal.”

• Conventional geothermal requires rare geology and only represents about 2% of global potential.

• Next-gen geothermal, like Sage's approach, targets “hot, dry rock.” This dramatically increases viable geothermal territory:

  "Instead of the 2%, you're talking about 50 or 60% of the geothermal around the world."
  — Cindy Taft (05:21)

• Certain regions, particularly where hot rock is deep (e.g., the eastern US), are less practical due to drilling costs.

3. Partnering with Data Centers: The Meta Deal

• Industry giants like Meta, Google, and Microsoft are turning to geothermal to meet surging AI-driven power needs.

• Sage has a virtual Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Meta: geothermal power is generated near data centers and placed on the same grid.

  "That gives us flexibility on location... it's still a virtual PPA."
  — Cindy Taft (06:40)

• The resource opportunity is massive:

  "If you can expand it to this hot, dry rock, you're talking about between 5 and 7 terawatts...in the lower 48 US only."
  — Cindy Taft (07:28)

4. Regulatory and Policy Outlook

• Geothermal energy enjoys bipartisan support in the US, with strong recent momentum.

  "Geothermal has always been supported by both sides of the aisle... you've seen geothermal in a couple of the executive orders. It's actually very well supported."
  — Cindy Taft (08:14)

5. Industry Challenges & Risks

a. Capital Costs & Timelines

• Geothermal projects are capital-intensive and have long lead times, similar to other infrastructure projects.

  "Upfront capital costs are large... in an infrastructure project, it's going to be two or three years until you know that that is successful."
  — Cindy Taft (09:23)

b. Seismic Risk (Earthquakes)

• Concerns stem from potential for tremors caused by subsurface fluid injection, as seen in oil/gas operations.

• Sage mitigates this risk by alternating injection/extraction cycles and avoiding volume buildup.

  "We're putting water into that fracture, but then we're taking it out...the risk, at least for the way we operate...is a lot lower than what you're seeing in the oil and gas industry."
  — Cindy Taft (10:25)

6. Water Usage & Environmental Impact

• Water use is significantly lower than traditional coal or combined-cycle gas plants due to a closed-loop system.

  "The water needed for our operations is less than a coal plant, it's less than combined cycle natural gas... losses are, what we've measured is less than 2%."
  — Cindy Taft (11:30)

7. Cost Competitiveness & Future Outlook

• Currently, next-gen geothermal is at a similar point as wind and solar 15 years ago—costs are higher but expected to drop with scale.

  "Right now, 10 to 12 cents a kilowatt hour. If you're above scale, that can be driven down to 6 to 7 cents a kilowatt hour at scale."
  — Cindy Taft (12:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I love talking about next generation geothermal." — Cindy Taft (03:37)
• "Instead of the 2%, you're talking about 50 or 60% of the geothermal around the world." — Cindy Taft (05:21)
• "That gives us flexibility on location... it's still a virtual PPA." — Cindy Taft (06:40)
• "If you can expand it to this hot, dry rock, you're talking about between 5 and 7 terawatts...in the lower 48 US only." — Cindy Taft (07:28)
• "Geothermal has always been supported by both sides of the aisle." — Cindy Taft (08:14)
• "The water needed for our operations is less than a coal plant... losses are less than 2%." — Cindy Taft (11:30)
• "We are where wind and solar were 15 years ago." — Cindy Taft (12:45)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:26 — Episode opens with energy context & Sage Geosystems intro
• 03:37 — Cindy Taft describes next-gen geothermal and Sage’s founding
• 05:21 — Breakdown of geothermal resource potential
• 06:32 — Discussion of Sage’s partnership with Meta and virtual PPAs
• 07:28 — Assessment of geothermal resource size (US and global)
• 08:14 — Policy and regulatory momentum for geothermal
• 09:23 — Capital cost, development timelines, seismic risk explained
• 11:30 — Water usage and environmental impact
• 12:45 — Cost competitiveness and the road ahead

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Summary Takeaways

Sage Geosystems, led by oil and gas veterans, is at the forefront of next-generation geothermal energy, promising a dramatic expansion of geothermal’s reach by tapping hot, dry rock. With supportive policy, interest from major tech firms, and declining costs with scale, next-gen geothermal is poised to join wind and solar as a major player in decarbonizing the energy grid—particularly as AI and data demand drive the need for reliable, round-the-clock clean power.

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Transcript

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Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news.

[Tim Stanvak]

You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with.

[Cindy Taft]

Carol Massar and Tim Stanvak on Bloomberg Radio.

[Tim Stanvak]

Hey, I want to talk a little bit about energy. So in October, Bloomberg reported on how for the first time in years, the US Federal government has leased every parcel of public land. It's open for geothermal development and at record prices on that, just last month, Bloomberg's Michelle Ma reporting that Ormont Technologies, one of the world's biggest geothermal energy developers, co led a $97 million Series BE funding round for a company that's tapping hot rocks to generate electricity.

[Carol Massar]

Yeah, that startup, Sage Geosystems, it is one of the companies leading the push to utilize innovative technology to really harness energy from the ground and meet surging power demand from artificial intelligence. You know, from everything that we've talked about, that this demand to build out AI data centers means a lot of power is needed. And whether it's going to be solar or nuclear or carbon based, we need it all geothermal as well. So let's get more on the company. For that we do head to Houston, Texas, and to Cindy Taft. She's CEO of Sage Geosystems. She spent more than three decades in the oil and gas industry, including most recently as VP of unconventional wells and logistics over at Shell. She's had teams around the globe. We are so delighted to have you here. We've been looking forward to having you on. Tell us a little bit about your company.

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah, thanks for having me on. I love talking about next generation geothermal. So, yeah, we founded Sage about five years ago. So as you described, my background is oil and gas. My co founders, Levering and Lance Cook, their background is oil and gas. However, they spent their careers doing something a little bit different than I did. They are the scientists, the innovator. So they created a lot of very challenging technologies for the oil and gas industry. And so we're using that knowledge of the subsurface and of our oil and gas background to advance what we're calling next generation geothermal. What the industry calls the next generation geothermal.

[Tim Stanvak]

Okay. So people think of geothermal. They think of the. Okay, I'm sorry to. To bruise my freshman year geology teacher because I'm going to butcher this a little bit. But they think of the.

[Carol Massar]

Don't do it.

[Chase Ad Narrator]

Don't do it.

[Tim Stanvak]

You know, the warm temperatures of the. As you go further down when you drill and using that heat water to generate steam. Correct.

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah, Tim. So maybe just a brief overview.

[Tim Stanvak]

So she's like.

[Cindy Taft]

She's like, yeah.

[Tim Stanvak]

Give you like a C minus, but I'll just take it from here.

[Chase Ad Narrator]

Okay, go ahead.

[Cindy Taft]

No, when most people think about geothermal, even myself when I still at Shell, you think about Iceland or the geyser, the California. So that's conventional geothermal. That's where you're drilling into a hot pocket or pool of water that's just below the surface. It's very convenient if you have a volcano or the ring of Fire in your backyard, because that is the circumstances that you need for that very unicorn geology to find the conventional geothermal. So the challenge is it represents only about 2% of the geothermal around the world. What Sage is doing, and there's other companies, of course in the industry, is we're tapping into hot, dry rock. This is what that next generation geothermal is. So it's rock that has the heat, but it doesn't have that large body of water. And what that allows you to do is increase the geology that you can find that heat. So Instead of the 2%, you're talking about 50 or 60% of the geothermal around the world. And the only reason why it's not 100% is because in some areas, like eastern US the heat is there, but it's very deep and just not economic to drill for.

[Carol Massar]

Hey, my understanding is we've seen Alphabets, Google Metal platforms among the data center operators who have actually inked deals with geothermal companies to provide the power. Meta is a partner with you guys. Tell us about that partnership. And what does inking a deal mean? Like, are they ponying up money? Are they helping you in development? And I'm also curious, how much power can geothermal ultimately provide and how long does it take to kind of ramp up?

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah, so no, great question. So, yes, we have a term sheet with Meta, so we are going to be. That will become a virtual ppa. So we'll be building geothermal in the vicinity. Vicinity of one of their data centers. But we'll be putting it on the same grid that they're taking power off of. So that gives us flexibility on location. But. And it's. But it's still a virtual ppa.

[Tim Stanvak]

Yeah. Power purchase agreement.

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah, sorry, via virtual power purchase agreement. That's exactly right. So we like the flexibility of not having to necessarily put the power in the backyard of the data centers. Although into the future, that seems to be probably the solution that we're all headed for so that you don't congest the grid. And so that's what our agreement with Meta is. Now to your other question. What is the resource? What's the size of the resource? So when we talk about conventional geothermal, again, those large pools of hot water just below the surface, you're talking about 40 gigawatts. But if you can expand it to this hot, dry rock, you're talking about between 5 and 7 terawatts. And this is in the lower 48 US only. So if you do that around the world, the resource potential is huge.

[Tim Stanvak]

So I'm curious about sort of these PPAs that you have and why we're not necessarily hearing as much from the government about this type of energy development versus natural gas and of course, nuclear. Geothermal doesn't seem to get a lot of love.

[Cindy Taft]

A lot more love as, as of late. So one thing I will say is geothermal has always been supported by both sides of the aisle. The current administration, especially with Chris Wright as the energy secretary, and he is very familiar not only with conventional geothermal, but with next generation geothermal and the resource growth that you can have in that area. And so you've seen geothermal in a couple of the executive orders. It's actually very well supported in the one big beautiful bill. So, you know, I think geothermal is coming into a huge momentum. Supported, you know, supported by not only the last administration, but also very much by this administration.

[Carol Massar]

We're talking to Cindy Taft, she's chief executive officer of Sage Geosystems, joining us from Houston, Texas. Our Bloomberg NEF folks who track all things energy have noted that the primary downsides of geothermal energy include high upfront capital costs, long project development timelines and potential seismic risks. So earthquakes from drilling, can you address those?

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah, so it is an infrastructure, you know, project. So yes, upfront capital costs are large. Just like a lot of infrastructure projects, timelines can be longer. I mean, you know, if you want to invest, say in a software, you know, you're going to know in six months whether that software is going to be successful in an infrastructure project. It's going to be two or three years until you know that that is successful. As far as earthquakes. Yeah, I'd actually like to talk about that. And so it really depends on how you're operating in the subsurface. So the earthquake and tremors that you have seen from, say the oil and gas industry or other industries is when they're pumping water continuously or any type of fluid into the subsurface and it will find its way to natural faults and fractures that are connected to what they call the basement rock. It'll lubricate those fractures and make those fractures slide or slip, and that's what results in the earthquake. What we're doing with we are using fractures to harvest the heat because in a matter of a week you can create very large surface contact areas with those fractures. But the way we're operating our fractures is we're putting water into that fracture, but then we're taking it out, we're putting it in and we're taking it out. And so we're not pumping volume upon volume into that subsurface, meaning that not going to, we have, we have a less, less likelihood of connecting to these natural faults which would result in the earthquake. So I think the, the risk, at least for the way we operate our fractures at Sage is a lot lower than what you're seeing in the oil and gas industry, in particular in the disposal of water, which is a waste product for the oil and gas.

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[Tim Stanvak]

Okay. So that's what I want to talk about. As Carol always says, there's, there's no such thing as a free lunch. And you know, coming from the American west and growing up in drought stricken California, I'm curious about where you can do this, where there is an abundance of water. So you're not actually using that natural resource.

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah, Tim, it's a great question. We do need water. I will say that the water needed for our operations is less than a coal plant. It's less than combined cycle natural gas. And that's because we are reusing the water. We're putting it into the subsurface to harvest the heat or absorb the heat, and then we're using it as a carrier to bring that heat to surface. And then we turn around and we pump it back into the subsurface. And so in our geothermal applications, that water stays in a pressurized system. So the losses are, what we've measured is less than 2%. So you don't have to use a lot of makeup water because you're not losing a lot of water to the production of the energy. So we do need upfront water volumes. But again, those, those losses being less than 2%, the makeup water is very immaterial.

[Carol Massar]

Hey, Cindy, just got about 30 seconds. I mean ultimate. Ultimately it comes down to, we saw this with solar and wind, cost comparisons between that alternative energy and existing forms of energy, and also the financial viability. So where does geothermal fit in? Does it have a ways to go before it can be like, oh, well, this makes sense financially and I'm so sorry. Just about 20 seconds. 25 seconds.

[Cindy Taft]

Yeah. Carol, I think we are where wind and solar were 15 years ago. Right now, 10 to 12 cents a kilowatt hour. If you're above scale, that can be driven down to 6 to 7 cents a kilowatt hour at scale.

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