Singapore maps deep geothermal heat; Nevada lease sale takes in $4.8M

Geothermal news from October 20 to 26, 2026 ran from a survey of hot rock several kilometres under Singapore to a Nevada land auction and a turbine retrofit in West Java.

Singapore's survey finds high-temperature heat several kilometres down

Singapore has high-temperature geothermal resources at depths of several kilometres underground that may be suitable for electricity generation, the Energy Market Authority said on October 26, 2026, reporting the findings of a non-invasive geophysical survey run from 2024 to 2026 by a consortium including Chevron, Metatek Group and Surbana Jurong. EMA puts the initial estimate of that resource's technical potential at over sixty times the country's current annual electricity consumption of around 60 TWh. It has appointed a consortium of Surbana Jurong and GLJ Ltd to study deploying next-generation geothermal plants; the study is scheduled to begin by the end of 2026 and to take about 15 months.

Technical potential is a ceiling, not a supply forecast, and EMA's own caveats point the same way: further studies are needed to validate the estimates and to determine how much geothermal energy can feasibly be extracted, and any decision to deploy will follow those studies and depend on the progress of deep geothermal technologies. Energy minister Tan See Leng, giving the Singapore Energy Lecture the same day, said the government has not yet decided whether to deploy geothermal. "It could take many years before we get to that decision point," he said.

The survey measured rather than drilled, reading gravity variations caused by differences in rock density and the electrical resistivity of the subsurface to model the rock to depths up to 10 km, per the release's annex. Metatek acquired and processed the data, and Chevron built the 3D geological and heat resource model from it. An oil major drew Singapore's heat map, and Chevron says it evaluates multiple geothermal technologies, with a current focus on enhanced geothermal systems. EMA had written in April 2026, when it sought proposals for the feasibility study, that Singapore is unlikely to have conventional geothermal resources, which is why the study is about next-generation systems. Enhanced geothermal is what Fervo builds in Utah, where its first 33 MW Cape Station GeoBlock declared commercial operation on September 30, 2026.

Nevada's lease sale takes in $4.83 million, about half of 2025's

The Bureau of Land Management accepted winning bids on 60 parcels totaling 186,641 acres, for $4.83 million in total receipts, at its October 20, 2026 Nevada geothermal lease sale, the bureau said. The sale announcement of August 21 had offered 83 parcels totaling 265,691 acres in ten counties. The sale results summary lists 32 registered bidders, 18 of whom placed bids, and 239 bids in all.

The winners are a mix of developers and land companies. By our count of the high bids in the bidding results, Invenergy Geothermal Development won 10 parcels, Ormat Nevada 8 and Desert Valley Land Company 7, and 16 different bidders won at least one. Ormat also placed the top bid, $201 an acre.

The money fell further than the interest did. The October 21, 2025 sale offered 113 parcels, drew bids on 86 of them covering 280,558.65 acres, and took in $9,446,442, with a high bid of $410 an acre. By our arithmetic the 2026 receipts are 51% of the 2025 total, while the share of offered parcels drawing bids slipped only from 76% to 72% and registered bidders rose from 22 to 32. BLM Nevada Acting State Director Justin Abernathy said the sale "demonstrates continued strong interest in developing our nation's natural resources to support energy security, create economic opportunities and generate revenue for local communities." BLM California's sale, down to 17 parcels totaling 37,168.65 acres after its second amendment on October 20, 2026, is set for October 27 (our coverage of the sale notice).

Darajat Unit 3 returns to commercial operation after a turbine retrofit

Unit 3 at the Darajat geothermal plant in Indonesia has entered commercial operation at 129 MW, up from 121 MW, after a steam-turbine retrofit, Mitsubishi Power said on October 20, 2026, calling it the largest single-unit geothermal power unit in Indonesia. Mitsubishi Power says the unit achieved operational performance exceeding guaranteed values. A completion ceremony was held in Jakarta on October 14, where Mitsubishi Power and owner Star Energy Geothermal Darajat II signed a Technical Study and Cooperation Agreement to discuss using newer maintenance technologies to raise steam turbine output and the plant's reliability and availability. Mitsubishi Power won the turnkey contract in October 2024, with work scheduled to finish in the fall of 2026, and had provided a steam turbine for the plant in 2007.

The owner's numbers are a little bigger and its superlative a little smaller. Star Energy Geothermal Darajat II's own announcement, published by its parent Barito Renewables on October 26, says the retrofit raised Unit 3 from 122 MW to 130.55 MW, "making it one of largest single geothermal power units in Indonesia." Barito says the upgrade lifts the Darajat complex to 280.55 MW and its own installed geothermal capacity to 935.55 MW, against a target of 1 GW by the end of 2026. Neither release explains the difference between the two sets of figures.