XGS names Baker Hughes, NM Tech and Sandia for DOE-selected New Mexico well

XGS Energy said on September 28, 2026 that the US Department of Energy selected it "for federal funding to support the drilling of a deep vertical appraisal well in New Mexico," working with Baker Hughes, New Mexico Tech and Sandia National Laboratories. The release, datelined Houston, says DOE announced the selection "as part of more than $99 million in funding to accelerate geothermal energy development across the United States," a total for the whole announcement rather than for this well, and it gives no per-project amount. It says the well will acquire "downhole temperature, logging, core, and continuous drilling data" to inform what XGS calls the next phase of commercial geothermal development in the state, and it carries the sentence that selection for award negotiations "is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding."

The selection is one of the 21 that DOE announced on September 21, 2026 (covered by The Duck Curve, whose post records DOE's release saying "more than $99 million" and the Geothermal Technologies Office's same-day article saying "up to $99 million for the first budget period of work"). DOE's project list enters it among the 16 exploration drilling projects as "Drill deep vertical appraisal well in Socorro County, New Mexico," acquiring what the list calls "downhole temperature, logging, core, and continuous electronic drilling record data" to validate subsurface datasets, update thermal and geologic models and assess resource suitability; the release's version of that data list reads "continuous drilling data." XGS's release does not name the county, and neither document gives a per-project dollar figure.

Ahmed Eldemerdash, vice president for climate technology solutions at Baker Hughes, says in the XGS release that the selection "gives XGS Energy and Baker Hughes an opportunity to build on our existing collaboration in New Mexico." XGS and Baker Hughes announced jointly on March 25, 2026 a strategic collaboration and an initial order for Baker Hughes engineering services on XGS's planned 150-megawatt geothermal project in New Mexico. XGS says the DOE-supported well will advance a system that generates geothermal power without consuming water.