The U.S. markets soared today. News of positive earnings at embattled banking giant CITI Group (NYSE:C) indicated that there’s a spark of life remaining in the U.S. banking industry.

Shares went up close to 30%… meaning that the former banking behemoth is no longer a penny stock. TFN Hot Stock Confidential members rode the coat tails of Citi Group’s rise to watch their position in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) clock in at 21% gains.

Among the top-performing sectors today were energy and utilities. Especially alternative energy stocks.

Coincidence? Check out the stimulus bill, and you’ll find plenty of mention of renewable energy sources. Billions and billions of dollars are allocated to new battery technologies, solar energy, wind power… you name it.

Seems like only nuclear energy is too self-sufficient or promising to qualify for new subsidies. Not so geothermal energy. There’s a whopping $400 million… that’s $400,000,000… allocated for geothermal technologies.

Now, unless you live in Iceland, geothermal energy has not played a big role in your own backyard. The United States may generate more geothermal electricity than any other country. But the electricity produced represents less than one-half of a percent of the total U.S. output. And since the most active geothermal resources are usually found only along major tectonic plate boundaries, only four states have geothermal power plants so far:

California has 33 geothermal power plants that produce almost 90 percent of the nation’s geothermal electricity. Nevada has 14, and Hawaii and Utah each have one geothermal plant. So, there’s four states with geothermal capacities. That’s $100 million stimulus per state. There are a total of 49 geothermal power plants in the United States. That’s almost $8.2 million per plant.

Will $400 million in “government investments” double the U.S. output of geothermal energy? It just may. Come 2012 or 2016, geothermal energy may account for a whopping 1% of U.S. energy output. Money well spent, indeed.

Meanwhile, I expect government money to lift especially the smaller geothermal outfits. Companies like U.S. Geothermal Inc. (AMEX:HTM), which ended the fourth quarter in the hole $800,000. The company has a well-developed pipeline into government grants already.

Read the full article here: Geothermal Energy: This company is a stimulus magnet!