Biden-Harris Administration Invests $60 Mn To Expand Renewable Energy

US New Initiative Aims To Bring Energy Efficient, RT Heat Pump By 2027

United States (US) Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of three projects for which it claimed to receive up to $60 million. This project is undertaken to demonstrate the efficacy and scalability of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). It was funded by DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these projects are expected to provide reliable, cost-effective electricity to tens of millions of US homes and businesses. They also support the goals of DOE’s Enhanced Geothermal Shot, which seeks to cut the cost of EGS by 90% in the same period.

“These projects are expected to help us advance geothermal power, including into regions of the country where this renewable resource has never before been used,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “With significant investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these pilot demonstrations can help us realize the full potential of the heat beneath our feet to reduce carbon emissions, create domestic jobs, and deliver clean, cost-effective, reliable energy to Americans nationwide.”

The three projects are:

• Chevron New Energies—This EGS pilot demonstration will use drilling and stimulation techniques to access geothermal energy near a geothermal field in Sonoma County in northern California.
• Fervo Energy—This pilot within the Milford Renewable Energy Corridor in Utah and adjacent to the DOE’s Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) field laboratory aims to produce at least 8 megawatts of power from each of three wells at a site with no existing commercial geothermal power production.
• Mazama Energy—This project will demonstrate a first-of-its-kind super-hot EGS (temperatures above 375°C) on the western flank of Newberry Volcano in Oregon. This demonstration claims to help to advance the science needed to operate in extreme heat conditions.

Using geothermal resources for electricity production requires fluid to flow among hot rocks in the subsurface and then be drawn to the surface in the form of steam or hot water. While underground heat exists everywhere, many locations lack adequate water or conditions that facilitate the fluid flow necessary to recover that heat energy. In those cases, EGS can create a man-made underground reservoir to tap that heat for energy.

Geothermal resources currently generate about four gigawatts of electricity in the United States, but a recent DOE analysis showed that advancing EGS could provide 90 gigawatts of firm, flexible power to the US grid by 2050—enough to power the equivalent of more than 65 million US homes—as well as support heating and cooling solutions nationwide.  These projects are the first round of selections under the EGS Pilot Demonstrations funding opportunity announcement. The second-round funding opportunity will cover EGS demonstrations in the eastern United States.