TerraLithium, BHE Renewables announce key milestones for geothermal lithium project in California
Elmore geothermal plant by BHE Renewables (source: Berkshire Hathaway Energy)
Carlo Cariaga
24 Jun 2026
TerraLithium and BHE Renewables have announced key milestones towards advancing technology for lithium extraction from geothermal brines in Imperial Valley, California.
TerraLithium, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and BHE Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, has announced the completion of key milestones as the project partners advance their direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology using geothermal brines in California’s Imperial Valley. This comes after about two years of the companies announcing a joint venture to commercialize TerraLithium’s DLE techology.
The technical milestones announced are as follows:
- Production of lithium chloride using the DLE process at the geothermal facility in Calipatria, California owned and operated by BHE Renewables, followed by the manufacture of battery-grade lithium carbonate;
- Direct conversion of lithium chloride into lithium hydroxide using a commercial-scale electrolyzer at TerraLithium’s R&D facility in Brawley, California
According to the company statement, these milestones validate that TerraLithium’s DLE technology portfolio can extract and produce high-purity lithium compound from geothermal brine that meet commercial processing standards. The joint venture further aims to demonstrate that commercial application of the technology can be made both technically feasibily and economically viable at scale.
BHE Renewables operates 10 geothermal power plants in California’s Imperial Valley, which process 50,000 gallons of lithium-rich brine per minute to produce 345 MW of clean energy. Following successful demonstration, BHE Renewables plans to build, own and operate commercial lithium production facilities in the region. In 2021, the company received a USD 15 million grant from the US Department of Energy to support its work in extracting lithium at the Salton Sea operations.
“Developing a secure supply of high-purity lithium will help meet the growing demand for electrification and reliable storage, creating optionality and confidence in our energy future,” said Jeff Alvarez, President and General Manager of TerraLithium. “These milestones demonstrate the capabilities of TerraLithium’s technology portfolio as we build a path from R&D to commercial scale.”
“These testing milestones represent a significant advancement in BHE Renewables’ commitment to pursuing commercial lithium production,” said Christina Fleming, Senior Vice President of Mineral Development for BHE Renewables. “The results will be used to inform future engineering, scale-up assessments and project planning.”
The business model of coupling lithium and critical minerals extraction with geothermal energy production is gaining increasing attention, both in the United States and in countries like Germany, France, and the UK. As demonstrated in the United Downs geothermal power project in Cornwall, lithium extraction provides additional revenue generation that can significantly improve the economics of deep geothermal projects.
Source: TerraLithium
