Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC
FNREL Mineral and Energy Law Newsletter
Pennsylvania – Oil & Gas
(By Joseph Reinhart, Sean McGovern, Gina Buchman and Matthew Wood)
On April 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) pilot program would receive $14 million to evaluate the potential for cost-effective electricity generation via enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Among the DOE-backed pilot programs, PADEP’s is the only one to “leverage the significant thermal resources in the Appalachian Utica Shale to assess the efficacy and scalability of EGS in the eastern United States.” Press Release, DOE, “U.S. Department of Energy Announces $14 Million for Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstration Project in Pennsylvania” (Apr. 14, 2026).
Geothermal energy utilizes the earth’s interior heat to create energy, is considered renewable, and produces negligible amounts of pollutants or carbon emissions. Specifically, PADEP will use this award to fund the conversion of a horizontal Utica Shale natural gas well to geothermal service and field testing needed to design and stimulate an EGS reservoir. Id. Testing will include engineering to determine well orientation and placement, and trials of fracture-creation techniques to enable fluid flow through hot rock for power generation. PADEP has indicated that because the project leverages existing oil and gas facilities, no additional land is required for the renewable generation facilities.
The PADEP pilot program will collect data on fracture performance, reservoir connectivity, fluid flow characteristics, well configuration effectiveness, and overall power production potential to determine whether a replicable EGS model can be scaled in similar eastern U.S. geologies. If successful, the project is intended to provide a replicable model to expand EGS deployment to other sites around the country and to expand knowledge and data about how EGS reservoirs function across geologies and subsurface conditions. Id.
Other projects include pilots by Fervo Energy (producing power from three wells at a site within the Milford Renewable Energy Corridor in Utah with no existing commercial geothermal power production) and Mazama Energy (super-hot EGS at temperatures exceeding 375°C on the western side of Newberry Volcano in Oregon). See DOE Geothermal Technologies Office, “EGS Pilot Demonstrations,” here.
Copyright © 2026, The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, Westminster, Colorado
