A company known for solar power and renewable projects in other parts of the country said Thursday it’s investing in geothermal energy in Oregon and Washington.
Hexagon Energy says it has reached an agreement with Seattle-based Weyerhaeuser Company to eventually develop as much as 3 gigawatts of power on the timber giant’s lands in Oregon and Washington. If Hexagon can reach that, it would be enough to power more than 2 million homes — and it would double the amount of energy Hexagon has developed or financed over the past decade.
The deal is still in its early days, however.
“Sites in Oregon and Washington remain in the exploration and evaluation phases, and locations for any commercial scale geothermal facilities have not yet been finalized,” a Weyerhaeuser spokesperson said by email.
FILE - Transmission towers near Eagle Creek, Jan. 5, 2023. Hexagon Energy says it has plans to add up to 3 gigawatts of geothermal energy to the electrical grid in Oregon and Washington.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Weyerhaeuser and Hexagon both declined to provide many details about their geothermal lease agreement, but did say the agreement would involve about 145,000 acres in Oregon and Washington. The timber company owns 2.5 million acres of forest lands in those states, and says its growing climate solutions business has sought to identify renewable energy opportunities across its lands.
In an email, Hexagon CEO Matt Hantzmon said his staff used a “sophisticated, proprietary model to identify sites with a high likelihood of a commercially viable geothermal resource,” and then worked with Weyerhaeuser to select areas with the greatest energy potential.
Geothermal energy has become an increasingly attractive renewable energy source across the country. At a time when the Trump administration has rolled back incentives for solar developments and actively worked to derail wind energy projects, it has supported geothermal projects.
In August, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management sold geothermal development rights to 9,500 acres on Mount Hood National Forest to unnamed developers for more than $1 million.
Related: Trump administration's latest buyback of offshore wind leases brings total to nearly $4 billion
And in Central Oregon, several developers are exploring geothermal projects — including Mazama Energy, which is drilling deep into Newberry Volcano as it works to develop “superhot rock” technology.
Hexagon Energy is at the forefront of a push to secure access to land with strong geothermal potential, according to Latitude Media, a trade publication that covers the renewable energy sector.
On the lands it is leasing from Weyerhaeuser in Oregon and Washington, the company will explore multiple different geothermal technology options, Hantzmon said.
“Hexagon’s primary focus is on sites suitable for enhanced geothermal systems,” he said. These systems inject water into the earth, where it’s heated by rocks deep underground, and then can be used to generate electricity.
Related: Oregon is digging deep to tap into an uncommon renewable energy source — Super Hot Rocks
But the company is also open to other types of geothermal technology, depending on conditions at each site it explores, Hantzmon said.
Hexagon, which is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, has made numerous major investments in solar energy since its founding in 2015, and is also focused on wind energy and battery storage developments, according to the company’s website.
