S4610-119

What This Bill Does

The Pacific POWER Act directs the Secretary of State, consulting Energy, to advance geothermal deployment through bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. Work must cover deployment goals, research, exploration-risk and financing tools, regulatory and grid reforms, and technical, environmental, safety, data, and community practices, including Indigenous free, prior, and informed consent, local revenue sharing, reservoir and seismic management, and water protection. Priority engagement includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand, using the Quad, trilateral dialogues, ASEAN engagements, the Pacific Community, IEA, and G7. Within 180 days, State and Energy must report on global resources, strategic locations, development barriers, and foreign-country-of-concern influence over geothermal sectors, financing, supply chains, infrastructure, and related critical minerals. Within one year they must establish an International Geothermal Program using public-private partnerships for exploration, technology, direct use, research, planning, workforce, supply chains, permitting, finance, community engagement, and U.S. exports. State must simultaneously select at least five willing partners, including three Indo-Pacific countries, one without commercial-scale geothermal use, and one with strong expansion potential, and pursue agreements. An advisory mechanism represents U.S. developers, manufacturers, finance, industry associations, and nonprofits. A partner strategy is due within 180 days after program and partner selection; State then reports on activities, agreements, personnel, and assistance and briefs Congress at least twice yearly. State may coordinate grants, loans, guarantees, feasibility studies, and other assistance through existing federal finance agencies. Unlike the introduced text, the reported bill contains no authorization of new appropriations for fiscal years 2027-2031 and no special interagency fund-transfer authority.

Who Benefits and How

Selected partner governments gain coordinated resource mapping, technical planning, public-private projects, workforce and supply-chain support, risk-sharing, permitting advice, and access to existing U.S. development and export-finance tools. Indo-Pacific partners may reduce exposure to coercive or blockadable energy supplies. U.S. geothermal developers, equipment manufacturers, finance institutions, laboratories, universities, and technical organizations gain overseas research, project, and export opportunities. Indigenous Peoples and project-area communities gain explicit consent, engagement, revenue-sharing, seismic, reservoir, water, and data safeguards.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State and Energy must conduct diplomacy, map resources, evaluate foreign influence, create the program, select partners, negotiate agreements, convene advisers, prepare country strategies and reports, coordinate finance agencies, and brief Congress. Participating laboratories, agencies, and finance institutions must supply expertise and evaluate projects under existing eligibility rules. Partner governments and developers may need regulatory, market, permitting, data-security, community-consent, revenue-sharing, seismic-monitoring, and water-protection reforms. Countries not selected receive no guaranteed support, and program implementers have no dedicated new appropriation or transfer authority in the reported bill.

Key Provisions

• Requires bilateral and multilateral geothermal diplomacy with environmental, safety, data, and community safeguards.
• Expands priority engagement to Thailand and United States-ASEAN energy forums.
• Requires a 180-day global-resource and foreign-influence assessment.
• Requires an International Geothermal Program and at least five qualifying partner countries within one year.
• Creates public-private project activities and a United States industry advisory mechanism.
• Requires partner strategies, recurring implementation reports, and at least two congressional briefings per year.
• Authorizes coordination of existing grants, loans, guarantees, and finance tools without new bill-specific appropriations.