SPRINGFIELD, IL. (September 1, 2026) This Mission Geo webinar brought together experts in geothermal heating and cooling, rural electric cooperatives, and energy infrastructure law and policy to discuss leading challenges and opportunities in the new period of renewed U.S. electricity demand growth.
Data centers dominate the headlines, but manufacturing, electric vehicles, and electric heating and cooling are also adding load–especially in rural areas. A small number of peak hours can determine investments in generation, transmission, and distribution. Webinar experts discussed these and other issues, and the role of geothermal heating and cooling in managing load and lowering costs.
John Thomas, President and CEO of WaterFurnace, opened the webinar by describing how geothermal heating and cooling can reduce the need for costly utility construction. “This cycle is creating demand stress on the grid in the coming decade,” Thomas said. “Well, we’re among some of the most durable, reliable energy infrastructure available in the market today.”
Allison Hamilton, Markets and Rates Director at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), described the electric cooperative perspective. Only 30 to 40 of nearly 900 member cooperatives have operating data centers, she estimated, and perhaps a dozen serve hyperscalers. Most continue to welcome more manageable growth from homes, electric vehicles, and electrified heating.
Cooperatives have managed peaks for decades through controlled water heaters, interruptible loads, and rates that vary by time. A data center can double or triple a small cooperative’s load. Hamilton described protections against costs if projected demand fails to materialize. “They want to make sure they cover the potential stranded investments, so they’re requiring letters of credit, deposits, parent guarantees,” she said. Cooperatives also seek upfront payments for substations and distribution construction and deals that are “transparent, negotiated separately.” “Their number one priority is protecting their members,” she said.
Ryan Dougherty, Executive Director of the Geothermal Exchange Organization, presented Mission Geo’s 10% Initiative. Using ResStock and ComStock building models, the analysis estimates that geothermal adoption by 1 percent of U.S. buildings annually for a decade could avoid 62 gigawatts of peak demand by 2035.
This is an adoption scenario, not a forecast. Cooperatives supported geothermal early because, as Dougherty explained, geothermal systems “inherently lower peak demand and they build winter base load. This is known commonly in the utility business as load factor improvement. It makes the cost and the ability of utilities to provide consistent, reliable, affordable energy that much better.”
Geothermal systems use stable ground temperatures to reduce electricity demand during extreme weather, when air source equipment loses efficiency and heating and cooling loads contribute to grid peaks.
Dougherty connected those reductions to benefits for members who never install geothermal. He cited CKenergy in Oklahoma, which pursued geothermal installations to avoid a peaking plant, and Central Hudson Gas and Electric, which offered a geothermal rate impact credit recognizing reduced grid costs. Avoiding utility investment can benefit all customers, beyond the energy savings received by participating building owners.
Scott Segal, Partner and Co-Chair of Bracewell’s Policy Resolution Group, emphasized forecast uncertainty and responsibility for costs. “The useful question is how do we serve some very large loads without letting their peaks dictate the cost of the entire power system. This is a question of electricity at the margin.”
Announced projects can overlap in interconnection queues, ramp gradually, or bring onsite resources. Segal recommended that utilities should establish whether demand is real, whether customers need uninterrupted service, who pays if projects shrink or disappear, what resources customers can provide, and what existing demand can be reduced.
Segal illustrated this last point with a cooperative facing 100 megawatts of prospective data center demand. Alongside generation, storage, and transmission improvements, he suggested examining 10 to 20 megawatts of customer flexibility and another 10 to 20 megawatts of heating and cooling reductions.
The figures were illustrative, but the point underscored how geothermal can reduce building peaks while benefiting consumers even if anticipated data centers never arrive. “Capacity is also created by changing when and how consumers consume electricity,” Segal said.
Click Here to Watch the Webinar Managing Peaks & Power Costs in the Age of AI
