# Geothermal Technicians

> Perform technical activities at power plants or individual installations necessary for the generation of power from geothermal energy sources. Monitor and control operating activities at geothermal power generation facilities and perform maintenance and repairs as necessary. Install, test, and maintain residential and commercial geothermal heat pumps.

- **SOC code:** 49-9099.01
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-49-9099-01
- **Also known as:** I C and E Technician (Instrumentation, Control, and Electrical Technician), Operations Technician, Operations and Maintenance Technician (O and M Technician), Plant Technician, Geothermal Service Technician, I and C Technician (Instrument and Controls Technician), I and E Technician (Instrumentation and Electrical Technician), Operator Technician
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Adjust power production systems to meet load and distribution demands.
- Monitor and adjust operations of geothermal power plant equipment or systems.
- Prepare and maintain logs, reports, or other documentation of work performed.
- Identify and correct malfunctions of geothermal plant equipment, electrical systems, instrumentation, or controls.
- Collect and record data associated with operating geothermal power plants or well fields.
- Calculate heat loss and heat gain factors for residential properties to determine heating and cooling required by installed geothermal systems.
- Maintain electrical switchgear, process controls, transmitters, gauges, and control equipment in accordance with geothermal plant procedures.
- Maintain, calibrate, or repair plant instrumentation, control, and electronic devices in geothermal plants.
- Install and maintain geothermal plant electrical protection equipment.
- Design and lay out geothermal heat systems according to property characteristics, heating and cooling requirements, piping and equipment requirements, applicable regulations, or other factors.
- Install and maintain geothermal system instrumentation or controls.
- Determine whether emergency or auxiliary systems will be needed to keep properties heated or cooled in extreme weather conditions.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Mechanical _(knowledge)_
- Operations Monitoring _(transferable_skill)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(ability)_
- Physics _(knowledge)_
- Education and Training _(knowledge)_
- Troubleshooting _(transferable_skill)_
- Perceptual Speed _(ability)_
- Public Safety and Security _(knowledge)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Physics _(Specialized Skill)_
- Chemistry _(Specialized Skill)_
- Telecommunications _(Specialized Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Autodesk AutoCAD _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- SAP software _(hot technology)_
- ClimateMaster GeoDesigner
- Distributed control system DCS
- Email software
- Geographic information system GIS systems
- Geothermal Properties Measurement Tool
- Thermal Dynamics Ground Loop Design GLD

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 33rd percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 32nd percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 35th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 39th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 2.4% growth (About average); 21.5k annual openings; 221.2k → 226.5k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $48,640; 183,690 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-49-9099-01_