Baker Hughes Earns ‘Awardable Status’ to Explore Geothermal Power for Military Sites

The U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) granted Baker Hughes “Awardable” status to explore and develop geothermal energy supply for national security applications. Baker Hughes may now develop utility-scale geothermal power plants at U.S. military bases internationally, generating reliable, low-cost electricity off the grid, preventing downtime during outages.

“The ability of geothermal to provide reliable, secure baseload power makes it an ideal addition to America’s energy mix,” said Ajit Menon, Vice President of Geothermal, Oilfield Services & Equipment at Baker Hughes. “Baker Hughes has been in this field for more than 40 years, and our subsurface-to-surface expertise and technology across the geothermal value chain will help the U.S. military unlock this critical domestic energy source, while simultaneously driving economic growth and energy independence.”

The CDAO solicitation process, otherwise known as the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace (TSM), accelerates the procurement and adoption of mission-critical technologies, such as:

• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Resilient energy technologies

Baker Hughes’ solution was submitted among additional applicants in the TSM, demonstrating degrees of innovation, scalability, and positive impact on DoD missions.

“The U.S. Air Force leveraged the Tradewinds solicitation process to quickly collaborate with American companies to build resilient, next-generation geothermal technologies at our bases, using private capital instead of taxpayer dollars,” said Kirk Philips, Director, Air Force Office of Energy Assurance.

More Baker Hughes News

This week, Baker Hughes, under a framework agreement with NextDecade Corp., agreed to deliver its gas turbine and refrigerant compressor equipment packages for Trains 4 – 8 at the Rio Grande LNG facility. The company will also perform maintenance on these equipment packages. Baker Hughes anticipates orders as NextDecade’s project continues.Once NextDecade permits, constructs, and operates Trains 6 through 8, the company’s total liquefaction capacity will increase by approximately 18 MTPA. The permitting processes for Train 6, 7, and 8 are currently under development and scheduled to begin soon.

NextDecade is progressing the commercialization of Rio Grande LNG Trains 4 and 5, expecting to make positive final investment decisions and begin construction once the following are satisfied:

• Maintaining government approvals
• Finalizing and executing engineering, procurement, and construction contracts
• Entering commercial agreements
• Obtaining financing to build trains and associated infrastructure

Recently, Baker Hughes and Woodside Energy signed a technology development agreement (TDA) and established a joint initiative to develop a small-scale, low-carbon power generation solution utilizing the Net Power platform. The solution will use natural gas to generate low-cost power while capturing most CO₂ emissions. Under the TDA, the partnership will also assess the feasibility and industrial market scalability of Net Power’s platform.

Baker Hughes and Woodside will recruit additional development partners to modify the concept in accordance with the continuously evolving requirements of various captive power generation segments. This agreement builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022, which planned to decarbonize the natural gas supply chain. Baker Hughes is the sole provider of small-scale technology for the Net Power platform.The Net Power platform will use lessons learned from the development and testing at Net Power’s La Porte, TX, demonstration facility and the company’s power plant near Midland, TX.