Today, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $18.8 million toward the research and development (R&D) of innovative subsurface geothermal technologies. DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office will fund up to six projects focused on two topic areas:
- Topic 1: Exploration RD&D: Hidden Geothermal Systems in the Basin and Range; and
- Topic 2: Advanced Energy Storage Initiative (AESI): Bi-directional Energy Storage Using Low-Temperature Geothermal Applications.
Topic 1 builds on the success of GTO’s Play Fairway Analysis (PFA) initiative, which over the past five years has adapted the PFA technique from the oil and gas industry to the geothermal industry. PFA is a method of targeting undiscovered, or hidden, hydrothermal systems by incorporating a regional or basin-wide distribution of known geologic factors that control the occurrence of particular geothermal systems. This technique reduces uncertainty in geothermal exploration, ultimately reducing cost and risk for geothermal operators.
Topic 2 aligns with DOE’s prioritization of energy storage as a critical area of research, and continues GTO’s recent work in assessing the feasibility of DDU across various regions of the U.S. RTES is a technology that greatly complements DDU for space heating – for example, excess thermal energy generated in the summer could be redirected and stored in a subsurface reservoir for winter heating. In addition to providing a renewable source of heat, DDU and RTES help enhance electrical grid reliability by potentially offsetting heating and cooling demands that would otherwise manifest as electrical loads.
Applicants must first submit a letter of intent by 5:00 p.m. ET on February 28, 2020 to be eligible to submit a full application. Full applications will be due by 5:00 p.m. ET on April 6, 2020. Please view the FOA and application instructions for more information.
