Office: Geothermal Technologies Office 
FOA number: DE-FOA-0002826
Link to apply: Apply on EERE Exchange
FOA Amount: $74 million 
First Round Letters of Intent Due: March 8, 2023
First Round Full Applications Due: June 16, 2023 (corrected)

On February 8, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $74 million to support enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) pilot demonstration projects called for in President Biden’s landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The legislation authorizes DOE to support up to seven competitively selected pilot projects that collectively demonstrate EGS in different geologic settings, using a variety of development techniques and well orientations. 

These demonstration projects will provide valuable information about EGS in the field, maintain progress towards DOE's ambitious Enhanced Geothermal Shot™ and GeoVision analysis goals, and help spur further growth of geothermal energy, which has vast potential to be a critical source of abundant, always-available low-carbon energy. The untapped potential of EGS could provide at least 90 gigawatts of U.S. electricity-generating capacity alone by 2050, resulting in enough clean, reliable power to power the equivalent of more than 65 million American homes.

Under this funding opportunity announcement (FOA), DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) anticipates making several awards on a rolling basis over the course of fiscal years 2023–2025. Individual awards may range between $5 million and $25 million.

Objective

GTO's EGS program actively pursues research, development, and demonstration projects to facilitate technology validation and demonstration, reduce cost, and improve performance of EGS. The economic viability of EGS depends on developing and improving enabling technologies and detailed understanding of the subsurface, including geologic qualities, permeability, and other attributes. 

The objective of this funding opportunity is to identify and develop EGS pilot demonstration projects in a variety of geologic formations and subsurface conditions that will act as:

• Models, proving reliability and performance, and ultimately de-risking the suites of technologies required to develop and sustain EGS reservoirs.
• Experiments from which to learn (learn-by-doing), using the upscaled opportunity to identify new problems that are not apparent at smaller, lab-based scales.
• An opportunity to test hypotheses and validate design approaches for the geological conditions in which projects are located and extend those approaches to broader EGS development.
• Opportunities for collaboration, such that best practices can be established and general operational processes can be standardized and improved.
• Opportunities to begin connecting with consumers and off-takers to understand their needs and define the market, and to take those factors into account in design.

The pilot demonstration activities funded through this FOA will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035. Strategic goals for this FOA are derived from the Enhanced Geothermal Shot™, the GeoVision analysis, and GTO’s Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP).

Topic Areas

A key component of this FOA is the variety of geologic formations and subsurface conditions in which these pilot demonstrations take place.

To ensure that variety, the projects selected under this FOA will build on the lessons of previous GTO EGS demonstration initiatives to help accelerate EGS commercialization pathways throughout the United States under four Topic Areas. The technology developments targeted in this FOA are intended to increase geothermal power production in the United States in the near-term from areas surrounding existing geothermal fields (Topic Area 1) while facilitating new opportunities for widespread power (or power with cascaded heat production) in the future from regions where heat is present, yet no geothermal energy production exists (Topic Areas 2, 3, and 4).