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Rodatherm Energy<\/a>, a new geothermal startup, emerged from stealth Monday with $38 million in funding and a plan to build a pilot plan in Utah.\u00a0<\/p>\n The startup differentiates itself by plumbing its boreholes with a closed loop, likely made of steel, that\u2019s filled with a refrigerant. That contrasts with other enhanced geothermal companies, which tend to use water to transport heat from deep within the Earth.<\/p>\n The Series A round was led by Evok\u00a0Innovations with participation from Active Impact Investments, Giga Investments, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, MCJ, TDK Ventures, Tech Energy Ventures, and Toyota Ventures.<\/p>\n Rodatherm faces stiff competition with an established field of players, including Fervo Energy, Sage Geosystems, XGS Energy, and Quaise.<\/p>\n Fervo is considered the frontrunner in the space having raised nearly $1 billion. The company is on track to complete a 100-megawatt first phase<\/a> of its Cape Station power plant next year with an additional 400 megawatts coming online in 2028. It also has a deal to supply Google with electricity for its data centers. XGS Energy also has a data center deal, one with Meta<\/a>, to develop a 150-megawatt power plant in New Mexico to power the tech company\u2019s data centers.<\/p>\n Rodatherm says that its closed-loop, refrigerant-based approach is 50% more efficient than a typical water-based system. Air-source heat pumps, commonly called minisplits, use hydrocarbon-based refrigerants to shift heat between indoors and out.<\/p>\n