U.S. Energy Department Launches Initiative to Reduce Cost of Geothermal Power

The U.S. Energy Department announced on Sep. 8 a new objective to make enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS, an extensive renewable energy alternative in the U.S. by reducing its expense by 90 percent to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035.

As it stands, there are five terawatts of heat resources that exist in the U.S, enough to meet the electricity requirements in the world. The new Enhanced Geothermal Shot is the fourth part of the department’s Energy Earthshots initiative designed to drive integrated program development to rapidly advance solutions towards achieving climate and economic competitiveness goals. The other Earthshots initiatives pertain to hydrogen, long duration storage, and carbon negative solutions.

The new geothermal initiative aims to reveal the Earth’s boundless heat resources to deliver dependable, clean power to U.S. households and develop possibilities for a strong geothermal industry. EGS resources are found at least 4,000 feet under the ground, implying that the extreme conditions – high temperatures, hot and abrasive rocks, and a corrosive environment – pose significant challenges. The Enhanced Geothermal Shot seeks to address these challenges by speeding up research, development, and demonstrations for a better understanding of the subsurface, enhance engineering to drill more wells faster, and capture more energy with larger wells and power plants.

EGS can facilitate technologies for the extensive distribution of geothermal heating and cooling, which will allow structures and whole neighbourhoods to decarbonize.  Accomplishing the Enhanced Geothermal Shot will help fulfil President Biden’s goal of 100 percent carbon pollution free electricity by 2035 and net zero emission across the U.S. by 2050.

The Earthshots initiative is expected to push geothermal technology from research and development to cost efficient profitable implementation, assisting energy communities shift to generating clean energy in the future.

The department is spending money on research and development that will assist the U.S. gain access to its complete geothermal capability and achieve the Enhanced Geothermal Shot goals. Recent ventures include $44 million to aid stimulate EGS innovations for the department’s Frontier Observatory for Geothermal Energy Research field lab and up to $165 million to pass on top systems from oil and gas to improve both EGS and conventional geothermal.

Geothermal energy at this point in time produces about 3.7 gigawatts of electricity in the U.S. As it stands, a considerable amount of geothermal energy is inaccessible with existing technology. Research and innovation to enhance EGS drilling, and engineering can reveal those resources and provide new, clean electricity on the grid.