U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies. These grants will support 123 projects in 39 states, with recipients including private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments and DOE National Laboratories. The grants will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds.

“The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy,” said Chu. “These investments in America's technological innovation will allow us to capture more of this clean, carbon-free energy at a lower cost than ever before. We will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help to jumpstart the geothermal industry across the United States.”

The grants are directed toward identifying and developing new geothermal fields and reducing the upfront risk associated with geothermal development through innovative exploration and drilling projects and data development and collection. In addition, the grants will support the deployment and creative financing approaches for ground source heat pump demonstration projects across the country.

According to the DOE, collectively these projects will represent “a dramatic expansion of the U.S. geothermal industry,” and will create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration, construction and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source heat pump equipment.

DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program works in partnership with U.S. industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply. Learn more information about these awards on the Geothermal Technologies Program website.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy