Could Mount Baker be tapped for geothermal energy? Salish Current reports

State officials and clean energy developers investigate the potential of tapping into the nearby volcano.

||| FROM THE SALISH CURRENT |||

Seen from afar, Mount Baker appears to be a sleeping giant, a glacier-armored peak lying in repose. Mountaineers who have reached the summit know that the stratovolcano is very much awake.

Climbers who approach the summit from the east skirt past the Sherman Crater, where sulfurous steam billows skyward — evidence of the vast energy roiling beneath the peak.

Now, officials with the Washington state departments of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Whatcom Public Utility District and clean energy developers are accelerating long-simmering efforts to tap into the heat beneath Mount Baker for geothermal energy. Last month, the Whatcom PUD and the Nooksack Indian Tribe held a meeting in Deming for county, state, tribal and federal stakeholders to discuss the geothermal potential surrounding the 10,000-foot peak. And last month state officials held two virtual public listening sessions for Washington residents to learn more about geothermal resources in the Evergreen State.

Spurred by AI

The heightened interest in plumbing Mount Baker is part of a bigger rush. Spurred by increasing electricity demands from the AI sector and enabled by recent technological innovations, geothermal energy is experiencing a surge of enthusiasm not seen since the 1970s.

“I’ve been in geothermal myself for 17 years, and this is by the most exciting, biggest boom that I’ve seen,” said Trenton Cladouhos, vice president for geothermal resource development at Quaise, a developer specializing in next-generation drilling technologies for geothermal.

It’s no secret among geologists that the area surrounding Mount Baker has significant geothermal energy potential. In the 1980s, DNR drilled some test wells near Baker Hot Springs, located between Baker Lake and the summits of Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan. In the 1990s, Seattle City Light leased some of the area from the U.S. Forest Service for possible geothermal development.

‘Enhanced geothermal’

Then things went quiet — until recent advances in drilling technologies reignited interest.

Geothermal energy works by tapping into the heat within Earth’s crust — which in much of the Mountain West, including volcano-pocked Cascadia, is relatively close to the surface. The first generation of geothermal plants built in the 1970s — like The Geysers facility in California, the world’s largest conventional geothermal facility — rely on steam coming straight from the ground to spin the turbines. Today, clean energy developers are using what’s called “enhanced geothermal,” 21st century drilling techniques perfected by the oil and gas industry to drill deeper into hotter areas.

These technological advances have made the Mount Baker area much more attractive for clean energy developers. While no company has yet submitted a proposal to site a geothermal plant in the area, the pieces are falling into place for a developer to eventually make a bid.

Investigating potential

In 2015, the U.S. Forest Service released an environmental impact assessment for geothermal energy development around the mountain, a first step in the leasing process. Separately, the Whatcom PUD and the Nooksack Indian Tribe in 2024 hired a Seattle firm, Hotrock Energy Research Organization, to investigate the energy potential of the mountain.

“Whatcom PUD believes that as a utility it is critical for us to be looking at the future needs of our community, even as far ahead as 50 years,” and agency spokesperson wrote in an email to Salish Current, noting that geothermal is cited an area of focus in the PUD’s most recent strategic plan. “Long-term solutions require long-term planning and foresight. We anticipate the number of people who call Whatcom County home will increase substantially over the next 50 years, making power supply more difficult. We believe we can play a large part in a power supply solution.”

According to Cladouhos, who served as a consultant on the feasibility study commissioned by the PUD and the Nooksack Tribe, a geothermal plant using conventional techniques could generate about 40 megawatts of electricity. An enhanced geothermal plant could increase that figure more than tenfold, to about 435 megawatts. That’s enough electricity to supply more than 80,000 homes — roughly 80%of Whatcom County’s total current electricity demand.

“This is kind of theoretical at this point,” Cladouhos told Salish Current, “but that’s how much heat is under the ground in that area along the west side of Baker Lake.”

Energy and beauty

Geothermal energy now produces less than 1% of the globe’s electricity. Enhanced geothermal could boost that figure to about 15% of global energy growth demand in 2050, according to the International Energy Agency. For the most part, national environmental organizations have been supportive of geothermal energy, which doesn’t come with any carbon pollution. And unlike some renewable energy sources, geothermal plants run around the clock — supplying so-called “baseload power” much like a nuclear plant, only without the problem of waste disposal, since enhanced geothermal plants have no effluent.

But Cladouhos acknowledges that “the question is still up there whether (geothermal development near Mount Baker) would be feasible from an environmental standpoint, as far as protecting the scenic beauty of that area.” The Whatcom PUD-Nooksack Tribe feasibility study locates a future power plant not far from the popular campgrounds along the shores of Baker Lake. And while geothermal plants have a relatively small footprint compared to other power plants, there would be some forest clearing. Cladouhos estimates that a 400-megawatt plant would involve about 180 acres of “surface disturbance.”

To give Washington residents a chance to weigh the trade-offs of geothermal development, state officials have already launched a series of public information sessions, as mandated by a law the legislature passed in 2024 to investigate geothermal resources in the state. In addition to the areas around Mount Baker, the state-led process is also looking at the geothermal potential near Mount St. Helens and the Wind River Valley off the Columbia River

The first meeting was held in August and two others in early in November. All were well attended, according to staff from Ecology. Additional sessions will be scheduled for early 2026. Ecology staffers say that so far they’ve heard few concerns about geothermal development in the state — just a curiosity about the technology and its potential.

“We really are trying to hear from people as early as in the process as we can,” Diane Butorac, a clean energy coordination manager at Ecology, told Salish Current. “We are trying to say, ‘Here’s what we know about the technologies. Here’s what we know about our resources. What are your concerns? Where do you see risks? Where do you see opportunities?’ And then use that as a starting point for further discussions. This is really the first stage.” The fact-finding process is scheduled to run through June 2027, at which point Ecology will submit its findings to the state legislature.