Geothermal finds rare political sweet spot amid AI boom

Geothermal — power drawn from the Earth's natural heat — is pulling off something remarkable in today's hyper-polarized America: Winning fans across the political spectrum.

Why it matters: The bipartisan appeal, combined with surging electricity demand from AI , is helping fuel investment in a niche energy source yet to prove it can compete at scale.

Driving the news: Geothermal received unusually extensive attention in a bipartisan Senate bill introduced late last month to expedite infrastructure permitting .

The House this summer passed a package containing several of the same geothermal provisions, including measures sponsored by lawmakers as ideologically distant as Reps.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Mike Kennedy (R-Utah) .

The rising cachet of geothermal is the product of three trends converging: Technologies adapted from the oil and gas industry, including fracking, are making it possible to tap heat in more places than just far-flung hot springs and volcanoes.

Tech companies, on the hunt for reliable electricity, are willing to pay a premium for next-generation geothermal to power data centers.

Investment is surging as companies race to scale a renewable energy source that can generate power around the clock.

Catch up quick: The geothermal-specific provisions in the Senate bill go further than the broader permitting reforms offered to other renewable energy sources, including wind and solar.

The bill would make it easier for geothermal developers to explore and lease federal land, speed up drilling permits and exempt certain activities from environmental reviews.

Geothermal retained federal clean-energy tax credits in Republicans' sweeping tax law last year, even as wind and solar faced an accelerated phaseout.

State of play: Fervo Energy, an advanced geothermal company that went public earlier this year, is at the leading edge of this convergence.

It was founded nearly a decade ago by Tim Latimer, a former drilling engineer in the oil and gas industry.

"I don't think any of us saw in 2017 that a few years later we would be in the biggest demand power boom for electricity that we had ever experienced," said Latimer during a recent on-stage interview with Axios in an event aptly titled "The energy source nobody argues about." The AI boom has "accelerated our business tremendously." Chart: Amy Harder/Axios; Note: Other includes project finance and debt.