It sounds like PGA Tour talk. “Play fairway analysis” – maybe a new way to track how well golfers stay out of the rough? No, it’s a mapping and analysis technique that the U.S. Department of Energy says could make geothermal energy less expensive to pursue.
Just as the government helped bring about the shale gas revolution by backing a wide range of research and development efforts, it’s looking here to partner with private companies, dangling $3 million to support R&D projects. The payoff in this case could be clean energy.
This gets to the heart of one of the most expensive aspects of geothermal development: the risk of drilling and coming up empty (or even a little bit short). It’s one of the main reasons a seemingly attractive energy source like geothermal, which is able to provide around-the-clock low- and no-emissions energy, remains a bit player in the larger picture.