President Obama on Wednesday announced more than $467 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to expand and accelerate the development of geothermal and solar energy.
The funding is meant to help the solar and geothermal industries overcome technical barriers, demonstrate new technologies, and provide support for renewable energy jobs.
"We have a choice. We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy," said President Obama. "We can hand over the jobs of the future to our competitors, or we can confront what they have already recognized as the great opportunity of our time: the nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy. That’s the nation I want America to be."
Geothermal Energy
The Recovery Act makes a $350 million new investment in this technology, dwarfing previous government commitments. Recovery Act funding will support projects in four crucial areas:
- Geothermal Demonstration Projects ($140 Million)
- Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology Research and Development ($80 Million)
- Innovative Exploration Techniques ($100 Million)
- National Geothermal Data System, Resource Assessment, and Classification System ($30 Million)
Solar Energy
DOE will provide $117.6 million in three areas to leverage partnerships that include DOE’s national laboratories, universities, local government, and the private sector:
- Photovoltaic Technology Development ($51.5 Million)
DOE will expand investment in advanced photovoltaic concepts and high impact technologies, with the aim of making solar energy cost-competitive with conventional sources of electricity and to strengthen the competitiveness and capabilities of domestic manufacturers. - Solar Energy Deployment ($40.5 Million)
Projects in this area will focus on non-technical barriers to solar energy deployment, including grid connection, market barriers to solar energy adoption in cities, and the shortage of trained solar energy installers. - Concentrating Solar Power Research and Development ($25.6 Million)
This work will focus on improving the reliability of concentrating solar power technologies and enhancing the capabilities of DOE National Laboratories to provide test and evaluation support to the solar industry.
More information on these and other funding opportunites is available at the link below.
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