Critical Energy raises $22 million for geothermal turbines to power AI

Los Angeles startup Critical Energy has raised $22 million to develop modular geothermal turbines — technology capable of giving AI data centers something that neither sun nor wind can provide: stable electricity at any time of day.

Why Geothermal is Relevant Again

The AI boom has created unprecedented demand for electrical power. Major data centers consume hundreds of megawatts, and unlike factories or offices, they cannot "wait" for the sun to emerge or the wind to blow — servers run continuously, at 3 AM just as at noon. Sun and wind are cheap, but inconsistent.

Batteries help smooth out peaks, but cannot replace baseline load during weeks of clouds and calm weather. Geothermal energy fixes this flaw in principle: heat from Earth's interior is available constantly, regardless of weather or time of day. The technology is not new — geothermal power plants have operated for decades in Iceland, Kenya, and California.

The new question is how to make it cheaper and more scalable for AI needs.

Where Development Got Stuck

Until recently, the main barrier was considered drilling: punching a borehole several kilometers deep cost tens of millions of dollars. But progress in drilling — largely thanks to oil and gas technologies and pioneering companies — began to reduce these costs. It turned out that the next bottleneck was the turbines themselves. Standard equipment was designed for large centralized stations — it is expensive, bulky, and rated for capacities from tens to hundreds of megawatts. A small, flexible geothermal source with capacity of 1–10 MW that could be placed next to a data center simply has no suitable equipment on the market. This is exactly what Critical Energy is set to change:

• Modular turbines at smaller scales that can be quickly installed
• Parallel launch of multiple units to scale up power
• Flexible placement — next to a data center, not in the middle of nowhere
• Reduced cost through mass production
• Compatibility with accelerated borehole drilling infrastructure

Team and Money

The company was founded by an engineer from SpaceX. In the technology industry, alumni from that team traditionally know how to handle extremely complex engineering problems under intense deadline pressure — and attract serious investors. The $22 million round will allow Critical Energy to move from prototypes to first commercial pilots.

The company has not yet disclosed details of the turbine design or the composition of investors, but the raised amount is sufficient for building several demonstration units and conducting resource testing. The geothermal sector overall is experiencing a renaissance. Google has signed an agreement with Fervo Energy for geothermal power for its data centers, Microsoft is exploring deep geothermal as part of its carbon neutrality program.

This creates fertile ground for startups like Critical Energy: there is already a solvent buyer with clear requirements.

What This Means

Geothermal energy is transforming from a niche technology into a strategic asset for Big Tech. Whoever first learns to quickly and cheaply deploy small geothermal units next to data centers will gain a long-term advantage in a market where reliable electricity has become more expensive than computing chips.