Record geothermal lease sale highlights growing federal interest

A geothermal lease auction in New Mexico last month shattered federal records, with a top bid of $701 per acre and total revenue exceeding $16.5 million. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sale marked the second-highest-grossing event in the agency’s history, reflecting growing developer interest in geothermal energy amid rising electricity demand. ## Competition intensifies for prime geothermal sites The June auction offered 68 parcels across nearly 200,000 acres in southern New Mexico, with 47 tracts sold at an average of $107 per acre. This was more than triple the $32 per acre average from 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 developers targeted sites with stronger development potential. Major participants included Ormat Technologies, Zanskar, and Invenergy, with Rock Canyon Resources securing the record bid of $3.14 million for a 4,479-acre tract. The sale represented a significant expansion from New Mexico’s previous federal geothermal auction in 2024, which offered just seven parcels. ## Transmission access drives higher bids Analysts at Enverus Intelligence Research noted that proximity to high-voltage transmission infrastructure was the strongest financial factor in the bidding. The firm estimated that access to transmission added about $43 per acre in value, with competition now pushing federal geothermal bids higher. “For years, operators could secure acreage at the minimum bid, but New Mexico showed that window is closing,” said Graham Bain, a principal analyst at Enverus. He added that access to transmission lines with available capacity is becoming a key driver of bid prices, setting expectations for upcoming sales in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho. Enverus projects that average bids in Idaho could rise from $58 per acre to $70 per acre once the Gateway West and Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission lines are energized. The firm also modeled a premium scenario reaching $344 per acre, though it characterized this as an upper limit rather than an expected outcome. Twenty-one of the 35 parcels in Idaho’s November sale are within 25 kilometers of these transmission routes. ## New Mexico sees broader geothermal growth Beyond federal leasing activity, New Mexico has become a hub for geothermal development. The state is home to Zanskar’s Lightning Dock geothermal project, the only operational utility-scale plant supplying Public Service Co. of New Mexico. The 15-MW facility reached full capacity in May 2025 after an AI-driven overhaul. Next-generation geothermal investments are also flowing into the state, including a $1 billion partnership between XGS Energy and Meta to build a 150-MW plant, announced in June 2025. Additionally, Eavor Technologies completed a 2022 demonstration project that produced the first deep, two-leg multilateral geothermal well in the U.S. Revenue from federal geothermal leases, including bonus bids, rentals, and royalty payments, is shared between the state, local counties, and the U.S. Treasury. Upcoming BLM geothermal lease sales are scheduled for Utah in August and Nevada in October.