Beneath the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the deserts in between, lies a massive energy source — and it isn’t a fossil fuel. The smashing and separating of tectonic plates that produced many of the West’s most dramatic landscapes have also allowed heat from the planet’s core to rise nearly to the surface. Now, an explosion of new geothermal energy companies wants to drill into the Earth and capture that heat for clean electricity. … These new geothermal projects are located in dry Western states because of their geology, but they face an ironic practical challenge: Most new geothermal technologies need water to produce power. … A company called XGS Energy is trying to provide geothermal energy that requires nearly no water to New Mexico, which is currently suffering a decades-long drought. 

Other geothermal news:

• The Desert Review (Brawley, Calif.): IID secures major, local geothermal agreement to strengthen reliability