Geothermal Power Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- 18.6% concentration at the top. The top 5 assignees combined hold 353 of 1,893 records in scope — real concentration, but well short of a locked field.
- Filing kept climbing through 2024. 2021 to 2024 filings rose 10%, with a peak year of 197 records in 2022; 2025-26 figures are still filling in as publications lag filing.
- Drilling and thermal-cycle claims dominate. F03G and F01K classes cover 36.5% and 23.8% of records respectively, while heat-exchange apparatus (F28D) sits at just 7.0%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (107 records) with 2024 (118) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,893 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This review draws on 1,893 published patent records filed or published between 2015 and the August 2026 data cut-off, matched on terms spanning geothermal power plants, geothermal electricity generation and the working-fluid, thermal-cycle and resource-flow language that distinguishes generation hardware from exploration or drilling-only filings. The scope favours records that combine a geothermal generation claim with an engineering mechanism — a temperature sensor, a heat flux measurement, a working fluid loop or an energy converter — rather than geology or site-survey filings alone.
Records are drawn from receiving offices led by the United States, the European Patent Office and WIPO's PCT route, with meaningful volume also filed in Australia, India and Canada — a spread consistent with a technology that ties generation equipment to specific resource geographies.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,893 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 27 in 2017 to a peak of 197 in 2022, then held at elevated levels; the 2021-to-2024 span shows +10% growth (107 to 118), the last span both years can be treated as complete. 2025 and 2026 figures (down to 9 by 2026) reflect publication lag rather than an actual slowdown in filing.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
F03G (springs, weight and misc. motors, 36.5% of records) and F01K (steam and thermal power plants, 23.8%) carry the bulk of claim density. Drilling (E21B) and geothermal systems (F24T) each sit at 15.9%, while heat-exchange apparatus (F28D, 7.0%) and turbines (F01D, 5.8%) are comparatively lighter-claimed given their role in the generation chain. Records can carry multiple classes, so these shares sum above 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,893 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Geothermal Power Generation Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about geothermal power generation patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in scope
Geothermal power generation system and method using heat exchange between working fluid and molten salt
The system stores heat collected at a heat collecting unit in molten salt held in ground-disposed containment units, transfers that heat to a working fluid surrounding each molten-salt unit, and routes the resulting steam to a turbine to generate mechanical energy — an intermediate thermal-storage step inserted between resource extraction and the power cycle.Filed by Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, published 2014-04-17.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6327994B1 | Scavenger energy converter system its new applications and its control systems | 421 |
| 2 | US20150143806A1 | Quintuple-Effect Generation Multi-Cycle Hybrid Renewable Energy System with Integrated Energy Provisioning, S… | 268 |
| 3 | US6668554B1 | Geothermal energy production with supercritical fluids | 238 |
| 4 | US20170341942A1 | Methods and systems for large scale carbon dioxide utilization from lake KIVU via a co2 industrial utilizatio… | 208 |
| 5 | US20120174581A1 | Closed-Loop Systems and Methods for Geothermal Electricity Generation | 206 |
| 6 | US4982568A | Method and apparatus for converting heat from geothermal fluid to electric power | 184 |
| 7 | US20150300327A1 | Enhanced Geothermal Systems and Methods | 179 |
| 8 | US6880402B1 | Deposition monitoring system | 144 |
| 9 | US5497624A | Method of and apparatus for producing power using steam | 143 |
| 10 | US20060026961A1 | Method and apparatus for using geothermal energy for the production of power | 139 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus skew toward older filings that have had more years to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three read-throughs from the trend, composition and citation data, aimed at where to file and where prior art is already dense.
Ownership is concentrated but not locked
The leader holds 122 records and the top 5 combined account for 18.6% of all 1,893 records in scope; by tenth place the count is down to 29. That is a real lead group, but the long tail below it means a well-drafted claim still has room to land outside the incumbents' core filings.
Growth held through the last complete filing years
Filings climbed from 107 in 2021 to 118 in 2024, a 10% rise across the three-year span, after peaking at 197 in 2022. The apparent drop-off in 2025-26 reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, not a cooling field.
Thermal-cycle claims are dense; heat exchange is comparatively light
F03G and F01K together cover the bulk of records, meaning the core generation-cycle mechanics are well staked out. Heat-exchange apparatus (F28D) and turbines (F01D) each sit at single-digit shares, which is where equipment-level differentiation is easier to clear.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to geothermal power generation patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked list spans 100 companies; a handful lead by volume, but recent-year momentum shows several of the largest historical filers have gone quiet.
One clear volume leader, then a fast drop-off
The top-ranked assignee holds 122 records, more than double the fifth-place count of 39, and by tenth place the field is down to 29. The gap between first and fifth is where the real filing-strategy signal sits.
Some large historical filers have stopped filing
Multiple assignees with substantial historical volume, including some in the ranked leadership, show zero filings in the latest year and negative year-over-year momentum. That is consistent with publication lag but also suggests some incumbents have shifted filing strategy or slowed activity.
Co-assignment is rare and concentrated around one filer
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest of them cluster around a single individual filer rather than a corporate joint-development pattern — this is a field where most claim ownership is filed solo.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Daikin Industries, Ltd. | 2 | +100% |
| Ormat Industries Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Ormat Turbines (1965) Ltd. | 0 | — |
| ICE THERMAL HARVESTING LLC | 0 | — |
| Clean Planet, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Eavor Technologies Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| CGG Technology Services (Beijing) Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy or R&D scoping.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on a specific mechanism
If a design uses a working-fluid loop, molten-salt storage or a specific turbine integration, check it against the dense F03G and F01K claim space before drafting.
Explore this in EurekaTrack the quiet incumbents
Several large historical filers show zero recent-year activity; monitoring their filing behaviour over the next few publication cycles will clarify whether that is lag or a real strategy shift.
Set up monitoring in EurekaScope claims into the thinner classes
Heat-exchange apparatus and turbine subclasses carry lower claim density than the thermal-cycle core, and may offer more room for a defensible new filing.
Draft with EurekaCommon questions on the geothermal power generation patent landscape
Ownership is concentrated at the top but not locked up. The leading assignee holds 122 records and the top 5 combined account for 18.6% of all 1,893 records in scope, but the count falls quickly after that, down to 29 records by tenth place. With 100 companies in the ranked list and a long tail below the leaders, there is still meaningful room for new entrants to file around the edges of the core thermal-cycle claims.
Yes, through the last filing years that can be treated as complete. Filings rose from 107 in 2021 to 118 in 2024, a 10% increase over that span, after an earlier peak of 197 records in 2022. The apparent decline shown in 2025 and 2026 data is a publication-lag artefact — publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, so those years will fill in as more records are indexed.
F03G (springs, weight and miscellaneous motors) covers 36.5% of the 1,893 records in scope, and F01K (steam and thermal power plants) covers 23.8%, making these the densest claim areas. Earth and rock drilling (E21B) and dedicated geothermal systems (F24T) each cover 15.9%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should not be summed into a single total.
US20140102094A1, filed by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, claims a geothermal generation system that inserts molten-salt containment units into the ground as an intermediate heat store between the resource and the working-fluid loop feeding a turbine. It specifically blocks designs that combine ground-disposed molten-salt storage with a surrounding working-fluid containment structure in that particular heat-exchange arrangement. Designs that route heat directly from resource to working fluid without a molten-salt intermediate step, or that use a different storage medium, sit outside this particular claim scope.
The thinner classes relative to the core are heat-exchange apparatus (F28D, 7.0% of records) and turbines (F01D, 5.8%), both well below the 36.5% and 23.8% carried by the thermal-cycle core classes. Co-located resource applications, such as CO2 utilisation paired with power extraction, and closed-loop working-fluid configurations also show comparatively less claim density than the drilling and generic thermal-cycle classes. These are reasonable areas to scope a first claim, though any filing there should still be checked against the specific mechanism claims already on record.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.