Salton Sea Geothermal: Baker Hughes and Controlled Thermal Resources Target Power for AI-Era Utilities

As data centers drive record electricity demand, California’s Hell’s Kitchen project promises clean, always-on power — but what does it mean for utilities and the people who keep them running?

Along the southeastern California desert, the earth seems to breathe. Steam escapes through natural vents in the ground — a pressure release for the immense heat trapped miles below. It’s a spectacle that draws more than a million visitors each year. For years, Controlled Thermal Resources has worked to tap that heat, chasing the promise of geothermal energy in a region better known for its environmental scars than its breakthroughs. The effort, called the Hell’s Kitchen project, once seemed like a long shot — too costly, too complicated, too small to make a dent in America’s energy needs. But with Baker Hughes now on board, bringing its decades of oilfield drilling expertise, the project is being reimagined as one of the world’s largest geothermal power plants — and as a bridge for workers whose skills were forged in fossil fuels.

For decades, geothermal energy has lingered at the margins of the U.S. grid, providing less than 0.5% of electricity. The barrier has always been cost — and expertise.

Projects like Hell’s Kitchen in California are showing how the very skills honed in oil and gas — deep drilling, high-temperature systems, capital-intensive project management — could unlock geothermal at scale.

That shift creates a new career bridge: workers with fossil fuel experience may find fresh opportunities in clean energy, just as utilities face surging demand from AI-powered data centers. Yet the promise doesn’t come without tradeoffs. Geothermal development raises questions about water use, brine waste, and its role in a fragile desert ecosystem already under stress.

The Workforce Opportunity

Industry analysts say the energy transition won’t just change what powers the grid — it will change who powers it. Deloitte projects that utilities will need to expand their skilled workforce by more than 200,000 roles in the next decade, from engineers and technicians to project managers.

For Imperial County, one of California’s most economically challenged regions, projects like Hell’s Kitchen also hold out the possibility of steady local jobs. What was once seen as a stranded resource may now become a workforce pipeline — if investment follows through.

With Baker Hughes’ entry into the Salton Sea, the same drilling skills once used to tap oil and gas fields are now being redeployed to reach geothermal reservoirs.

Some of that demand may be met by workers already skilled in subsurface mapping and high-temperature drilling — in other words, oil and gas employees finding new opportunities within the utility sector.

For workers, it’s a chance at career continuity in a clean-energy context.

The Power Potential

The scale of the Salton Sea project is what sets it apart. Controlled Thermal Resources envisions producing 500 megawatts in its second phase — enough to power nearly 375,000 homes. For utilities, geothermal’s appeal is straightforward: it’s 24/7 baseload power, carbon-free and weather-independent, unlike solar or wind.

And demand is there. Data centers already consume 6–8% of U.S. electricity, and that share could climb to 15% by 2030. AI alone is projected to push electricity demand by hundreds of terawatt-hours in the next five years, according to Deloitte. For companies like Google and Meta, geothermal contracts are a way to secure clean, reliable power that can run servers day and night.

For utilities, tapping resources like the Salton Sea may be less about novelty and more about necessity. The question isn’t whether to find new baseload sources — it’s how quickly they can be brought online.

The Environmental Stakes

Cleaner doesn’t mean impact-free. The same brine that makes the Salton Sea basin rich in lithium also contains toxic elements like arsenic and lead. Managing that waste stream safely is complex and costly.

Water use is another concern. Geothermal plants require significant volumes for cooling and reinjection, and Imperial County already faces long-term water stress — a challenge that will only intensify as climate change alters Colorado River allocations. Pairing geothermal with water-intensive data centers could compound those pressures.

And then there’s the Salton Sea itself: a shrinking, saline lake that has become a major environmental crisis. As water recedes, it leaves behind toxic dust that harms nearby communities. Adding large-scale industrial activity raises the stakes for how development interacts with ongoing remediation efforts.

Geothermal may emit 99% less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels, but here the question is whether carbon savings outweigh the strain on a fragile desert ecosystem already pushed to its limits.

The Bottom Line

The Salton Sea’s Hell’s Kitchen project captures both the promise and the tension of the energy transition. For workers, it hints at a new bridge from oilfields to clean energy careers. For utilities, it offers a rare source of round-the-clock carbon-free power at a time when AI and electrification are driving demand to historic highs. And for nearby communities, it raises environmental questions that must be answered if geothermal is to grow responsibly.

Whether or not you ever set foot in Imperial County, projects like this shape the reliability of the grid, the cost of electricity, and the pace of the clean-energy transition nationwide. Geothermal won’t replace fossil fuels overnight, but it shows how innovation — and the workers behind it — can reshape where our power comes from, and what it takes to keep the lights on.

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