The Department of Energy (DOE) will distribute $99 million to advance geothermal energy development across 21 projects, furthering innovation to unlock additional energy reserves.
Each project will conduct either field-scale tests of next-generation geothermal technologies or exploration drilling designed to identify abundant geothermal resource sites. The agency has selected 16 projects for exploration drilling, with the remaining five dedicated to performing enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) field tests.
A selection of the projects receiving funding include:
The University of Utah (U of U) will design, drill, stimulate, operate and validate a high-performance EGS doublet at a geothermal field. The project will help demonstrate that engineered reservoirs developed adjacent to existing hydrothermal systems can provide sustained circulation, enhanced permeability and adequate thermal output.
U of U has also been selected for a second project centered on exploration drilling. The university plans to perform targeted drilling and subsurface characterization of a large thermal anomaly in a geothermal field. As part of the project, U of U will utilize modern drilling, logging and data integration methodologies to learn about how heat and fluids are distributed in carbonate rock formations.
A Fort Worth-based energy company will conduct staged drilling of thermal-gradient wells in eastern Oregon as a potential next-generation geothermal resource. The project will constrain the thermal regime and refine subsurface targets. The company will follow up drilling with a reservoir-depth exploration well, advanced diagnostics and integrated reservoir modeling.
An AI-native geothermal energy company based in Salt Lake City will design, drill and hydraulically stimulate a short-lateral horizontal injection well at a geothermal field located in Hidalgo County, N.M. The project will prioritize using engineered pressure support to an actively producing hydrothermal reservoir, enabling the company to capture heat from impermeable, hot rock near the system.
An energy management consulting company in Arlington, Va., has been selected to site and drill two reservoir-depth wells into a geothermal site at Pisgah Crater in California. The company will collect data to characterize and confirm the resource, determine power production feasibility and accelerate opportunities for commercial-scale geothermal power.
The DOE will make all information gathered through these projects available through its Geothermal Data Repository (GDR). Industry, researchers, developers and other stakeholders will have ready access to the data to help inform future technology innovation and geothermal exploration.
Photo by Sona Gustian from Pexels
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