Dive Brief:
- A June geothermal lease sale held in New Mexico by the Bureau of Land Management netted more than $16.5 million, making it the second-highest-grossing sale in BLM history, while the top bid set a federal record of $701 per acre, an agency spokesperson told Utility Dive in an email.
- Forty-seven parcels sold at an average of $107 per acre, more than triple the $32 per acre average recorded in Nevada’s October 2025 sale, according to Enverus Intelligence Research. Only 17% of parcels sold at the $2-per-acre minimum bid, down from 76% in 2019, as competition increased for geothermal sites with stronger development potential, EIR said.
- The results of the sale come amid rising electricity consumption and growing interest in geothermal resources ahead of a scheduled August 18 lease sale in Utah.
Dive Insight:
The federal geothermal leasing program provides a pathway for developers to access public lands as demand grows for additional sources of reliable electricity. The June auction offered 68 parcels covering roughly 197,000 acres across southern New Mexico.
Companies nominate areas with potential geothermal resources for consideration, and the BLM evaluates those parcels before offering selected tracts through competitive lease auctions. Major participants in the June sale included Ormat Technologies, Zanskar and Invenergy.
The record-setting bid was made by Rock Canyon Resources, which paid $3.14 million for one 4,479-acre tract.
The sale marked a significant expansion in size and scale from the state’s previous federal geothermal lease auction, which offered seven parcels in 2024.
New Mexico has seen increased interest in geothermal development outside of federal leasing activity. The state is home to Zanskar's Lightning Dock geothermal project, the only operational utility-scale geothermal power plant supplying Public Service Co. of New Mexico. The 15-MW facility reached full nameplate output in May 2025 following an AI-driven overhaul.
Next-generation geothermal investments are also streaming into the state. These include a $1 billion partnership announced in June 2025 between XGS Energy and Meta to build a 150-MW plant, as well as a 2022 demonstration project by Eavor Technologies that produced the first deep, two-leg multilateral geothermal well in the United States.
Enverus Intelligence Research said recent bidding results show developers are placing greater value on geothermal acreage with access to transmission infrastructure. The firm found that proximity to high-voltage transmission was the strongest financial factor in its analysis, estimating that access to transmission added about $43 per acre in value.
“Competition is now materially moving federal geothermal bids,” said Graham Bain, a principal analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research who authored the report. The results of the New Mexico sale set the stage for competitive bidding at lease sales scheduled for later this year in Utah, Nevada and Idaho, he said in a release.
“For years operators could lock up acreage at the minimum bid, and New Mexico showed that window is closing,” he said. “Access to transmission lines with available capacity is emerging as a top driver of what bidders will pay, and that sets the benchmark heading into Idaho's November sale.”
According to Enverus, 21 of the 35 parcels planned for auction in the Idaho geothermal lease sale are within 25 kilometers of the Gateway West and Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission routes.
Enverus estimates average bids in Idaho could increase once those transmission lines are energized, rising from $58 per acre under current grid conditions to $70 per acre. The firm also modeled a premium scenario reaching $344 per acre, but characterized that outcome as an upper limit rather than its expected case.
Other BLM geothermal lease sales planned later this year include Utah in August and Nevada in October. Revenue from federal geothermal leases, including bonus bids, rentals and royalty payments, is distributed between the state, the counties where the parcels are located and the U.S. Treasury.
