Birch Geothermal Launches to Apply Oil-Field Methods to Power Generation

Birch Geothermal began operations on June 20, 2026, as a portfolio company of Montauk Capital. The company will use sensors and autonomous systems to regulate water flow through geothermal wells and will apply reservoir-design methods first developed for oil and gas production.

Mike Matson, CEO and cofounder, previously worked as a drilling and reservoir engineer at Kinder Morgan and later served as geothermal lead at Boston Consulting Group. He stated that the firm will target sites across the Mountain West rather than limiting activity to Nevada and Utah.

Matson said the company expects its approach to shorten project timelines compared with natural-gas turbine orders, which currently face a five-year backlog. Geothermal electricity remains more expensive to produce than solar or natural-gas generation, and Birch aims to narrow that gap through tighter flow control and optimized underground reservoirs.

The company cited recent cost reductions achieved by other geothermal developers, including Fervo, which completed an initial public offering last month and reached a $10 billion market capitalization.

U.S. electricity demand has risen in part because of data-center construction, while new gas-turbine supply is constrained. Geothermal provides continuous baseload power and has received support from both political parties. Matson told Forbes that demand exceeds current industry capacity, reducing the significance of direct competition among geothermal developers.