U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for up to $84 million to support the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).
Geothermal energy technologies use energy from the earth to heat buildings and generate electricity. Enhanced Geothermal Systems offer the potential to extend geothermal resources to larger areas of the western United States, as well as into new geographic areas of the entire country.
Conventional geothermal energy systems must be located near
easily-accessible geothermal water resources, limiting its nationwide
use. EGS technology would allow power generation in a broad variety of
geographic locations. EGS makes use of available geothermal resources
to heat engineered reservoirs, which can then be tapped to produce
electricity.
The FOAs will explore two specific areas: component research and development/analysis; and support for EGS demonstration projects.
The first FOA seeks advanced technology to address important aspects of engineered geothermal reservoir creation, management, and utilization. DOE anticipates making 20 to 30 awards for a total value of up to $35 million. Proposals will be evaluated based on their applicability to the program’s multi-year research, development and demonstration plan; level of technical innovation; and ability to introduce new technologies into the marketplace. Research teams comprised of academia, industry, or both are expected to apply.
The second FOA seeks domestic projects in a variety of geologic formations that will quantitatively demonstrate and validate reservoir creation techniques that sustain sufficient fluid flow and heat extraction rates for 5-7 years and that produce at least 5 MWe per year per project.
DOE anticipates making 5 to 10 awards under this announcement for up to $49 million, based on annual appropriations. Applicants eligible to apply include institutions of higher education, non-profit entities, for-profit private entities, State/Local Governments, and Indian tribes.
The FOAs can be found on Grants.gov.
In Related News…
A new report "U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development Update" by the Geothermal Energy Association shows strong growth in new geothermal power projects continuing into 2009. There has been a 25% increase in new geothermal projects from August of 2008, when the last GEA report was released. There is also an increase in overall production potential by 35%. The report can be found at the link below.
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United States used up all our credit on the Iraq War, refinancing our houses and bailouts. Now there’s little money left for improvements. That’s too bad – geothermal offers a real clean alternative to burning fossil fuels. Perhaps if President Obama stopped borrowing so much, there’s be more capital to be loaned to the private sector going forward.