Power Partners: Baker Hughes and CTR Bet on Geothermal

A new Baker Hughes–CTR partnership aims to unlock geothermal’s potential with a 500 MW Salton Sea project

11 Nov 2025

Partnerships in clean energy often promise more than they deliver. But one new alliance may have real depth. In September 2025 Baker Hughes, a long-time oilfield engineering giant, and Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR), a geothermal specialist, signed definitive agreements to jointly develop a 500-megawatt project in California’s Salton Sea region.

The “Hell’s Kitchen” venture will combine Baker Hughes’s drilling and subsurface expertise with CTR’s local know-how and renewable ambitions. If completed, it will become one of America’s largest geothermal projects, producing enough steady, carbon-free electricity to power about 375,000 homes and perhaps the data centres and AI firms now crowding the state’s energy grid.

“This partnership shows what’s possible when technology meets commitment,” said Rod Colwell, CTR’s chief executive. For an industry long overshadowed by solar and wind, such industrial-scale collaboration could be what finally pushes geothermal into the mainstream. Analysts suggest Baker Hughes’s engineering skills could lower drilling costs and cut the risks of tapping high-temperature resources, turning geothermal into a more bankable form of baseload power.

California’s leaders are equally enthusiastic. The state hopes that projects like this will advance its net-zero targets while reviving the Salton Sea’s “Lithium Valley,” where geothermal brine offers not just heat but also lithium for batteries.

The partners still face familiar hurdles such as high capital costs, complex permits and slow timelines, but the alliance reflects a broader trend: fossil-fuel incumbents teaming up with renewable pioneers. For Baker Hughes, the move signals how traditional energy firms can evolve; for CTR, it offers the industrial heft needed to scale.

If the collaboration succeeds, it may not just power homes but redefine how old and new energy firms work together. In America’s geothermal push, partnerships like this could prove the hottest commodity of all.