Quaise wins up to $25M DOE grant for world-first ultra-hot geothermal plant
What's the deal? Quaise EnergyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has been selected by the US Department of EnergyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to receive up to $25 million to advance the Obsidian Project, which it calls the world's first commercial ultra-high-temperature geothermal plant. The grant funds analysis of drilling, stimulation, and flow results from the first two wells at the central Oregon site.
What's the endgame? Quaise develops enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) that tap heat from hot rock deep underground. The Obsidian Project's three-well setup targets reservoir temperatures above 300°C and aims to demonstrate more than 25 megawatts of gross power generation.
Why now? The grant follows Quaise's $180 million Series B in August 2026, led by Nabors IndustriesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Prelude VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, with JERADealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Idemitsu KosanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → participating. That round was also earmarked for Obsidian, now under construction south of Bend, Oregon.
What's the endgame, long term? Quaise plans to drill the hottest well in the Western Hemisphere, reaching temperatures above 400°C — beyond the range of current commercial geothermal projects. The first phase is expected to deliver more than 50 megawatts to the Pacific Northwest grid by 2030, with potential to scale to one gigawatt.
"Our ambition has always been to make ultra-high-temperature geothermal a commercial reality, and the Obsidian Project is where we deliver on that promise for the first time," said Carlos Araque, chief executive officer of Quaise Energy.
What could go wrong? The full DOE funding amount is subject to the completion of award negotiations. The project team includes researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oregon State University.
The signal: At $25 million, the grant ranks around the 95th percentile among deep tech grant rounds in the US, underscoring rising federal interest in firm, clean baseload power. Quaise's millimetre-wave drilling technology, developed over more than a decade at MIT, aims to make superhot geothermal a rival to nuclear and fossil-fuel plants.
Image credit: ThinkGeoEnergy
