Mar 8, 2025 By Rick Shrum 5 min read

The heat is on to launch a project that could lead to large-scale extraction of geothermal heat, a stable and abundant energy source located a mile-and-a-half underground.

Increased access to and transport of geothermal energy from subterranean depths could result in enhanced electricity production for use by businesses and consumers across Pennsylvania.

Electricity also could be sold to area farms and/or placed on the region’s currently stressed electric transmission grid – PJM Interconnection, which encompasses all or part of 13 northeastern states — including Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio and the District of Columbia.

Southpointe-based CNX Resources Corp. is leading a geothermal pilot project that will be conducted at its Marchand well pad in northern Indiana County.

For the project, the natural gas producer plans to either repurpose an existing Marcellus Shale well, which produced a subpar amount of natural gas years ago but revealed the high temperatures below; or drill a new deep well on the well pad to access geothermal.

Sources for this heat – which go beyond 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water – are underground layers of rock that sit less than 8,000 feet below the surface. These layers are found across the state.

“The earth gets hotter the deeper you go,” said Terry Engelder, a geologist and professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University.

Extraction of geothermal heat, in theory, seems simple. If the layers are hot enough to boil water, they create steam. Steam can spin a turbine, which would create electricity.

But expanding geothermal use faces challenges. Well site success will be a key. Are there enough literal “hot spots” across the state? Rock formations differ. Will this be profitable for companies involved?

And how sufficiently hot should the layers be?

Corey Young, director of the Center for Energy Policy and Management at Washington & Jefferson College, said “some experts believe ‘the hotter the better.’ They want 350 to 450 degrees.”

And need gallons of water.

“If you are taking heat out of the ground, you have to have water circulating,” said Terry Jordan, an engineering emerita professor at Cornell University. “You will need some consumers nearby who need hot water. Water will be happy to sit in the well and stare at you.”

She also said she is not sure that “extracting geothermal would be profitable in what have been gas fields. And if you are landing these drills in (shale formations) and try to circulate water, you will be gumming things up.”

CNX last fall teamed with officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Idaho National Laboratory and about a half-dozen other organizations to discuss the proposal.

A group of 10 individuals from four Pennsylvania colleges – including W&J – collaborated on a report titled, “The Future of Geothermal in Pennsylvania.”

Project Interspace, a nonprofit that is striving to expand geothermal use globally, funded the report. Pennsylvania State, Lehigh and Villanove universities also participated.

“We were the second state to report on the prospects of geothermal,” Young said. Texas was first.

CEPM said the report, released Feb. 26, found that “if Pennsylvania takes steps now to fully access the geothermal heat that exists underground, the Commonwealth could leverage the know-how of its oil and gas workers to generate enough energy to meet 100% of its electricity, heating and low- and medium-temperature industrial process needs in as few as 10 years.”

Young and two W&J colleagues – Linda Ritzer, program manager for CEPM, and Max Clark, former assistant director of the center – teamed up to author a chapter of the report.

That chapter, titled “Opportunities for Pennsylvanians: Navigating Geothermal for Landowners, Communities and other Stakeholders,” chronicles the importance of engaging stakeholders, including labor unions, environmental groups and energy providers.

“Benefit” could be an operative word in geothermal endeavors. There are a number of uncertainties, including the heat itself.

“A well bore may produce a sufficient amount of natural gas,” Young said, “but if you want to convert to geothermal, how – in some instances – do you convince a company to convert a well? Or convince landowners who may not benefit from the change.”

Geothermal energy has been used for more than a century, but in relatively few locations. Depending on how the CNX pilot project – and similar endeavors – develop across the nation, this source could become prevalent.

While Invoking the mantra of a real estate agent – Location! Location! Location! – Terry Jordan advised stakeholders in geothermal to proceed cautiously.

“You have to go to places with potential for need,” she said. “The more that they try it, the more experience they get, the better their chances will be that this will work.”

Despite questions and concerns, Young is bullish on the project. “I’m very hopeful for the future of this,” he said. “I think it will be a win-win for the state.”

To read the full report, visit https://celp.psu.edu/projects/pa-geothermal/ or wjenery.org.