Geothermal Energy Technology Sees Boost from New Department of Energy Funding

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it has selected seven projects to receive $11.4 million in funding to focus on accelerating the research and development (R&D) of innovative geothermal energy technologies in America. The selected projects will focus on early-stage R&D that will seek to identify new innovative technologies for drilling geothermal wells with an end goal of that show the ability to reducing non-drilling time, improving rates of penetration, and identifying methods to accelerate the transfer of geothermal drilling.

“Geothermal energy is a clean and efficient base-load energy resource, making it an important part of our nation’s diverse energy portfolio,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said. “Developing new, efficient drilling technologies will reduce these costs and increase the availability of this domestic renewable energy resource.”

Geothermal electricity production in the U.S. is currently only located in the western states. One of the aims of these new projects is to expand the scope of electricity production sites beyond this. Through innovative new technologies, there is the potential to expand the current scope of hydrothermal and geothermal systems, and tap into a whole new set of currently inaccessible resources.