The Geothermal Technologies Office has uploaded an updated version of the Geothermal Electricity Technology Evaluation Model (GETEM) provided by Idaho National Laboratory. GETEM is an Excel-based tool used to estimate the Levelized Cost of Energy for definable geothermal scenarios. Electrical power generation is the sole geothermal use considered by GETEM and does not provide assessment capabilities for geothermal direct-use or geothermal heat pumps.  The model evaluates either a Hydrothermal or an EGS resource type, and then either a flash-steam or air-cooled binary power plant based on specific resource parameters.

GETEM aids the Geothermal Technologies Office in understanding the performance and the cost of the technologies it is seeking to improve. It is a detailed model of the estimated performance and costs of currently available U.S. geothermal power systems. GETEM can be used to analyze and evaluate the state of existing technologies, and estimate the cost of certain technologies five to 20 years in the future, given the direction of potential RD&D projects. The model is intended to help GTO determine which proposed RD&D programs and projects might offer the most efficient improvement when based on taxpayer funding. 

Download GETEM 

This site allows access to the current version of GETEM available in an Excel spreadsheet format. This version focuses on the use of an enhanced geothermal resource with an air-cooled binary generation plant. This beta version has not been subjected to any rigorous check or validation.

Do not use the model without accessing the GETEM manuals and revision notes (reference to 2012 Beta version only). The model requires that Solver is installed in Excel. After downloading and running GETEM, view the instructions for determining if Solver is installed and installing it, if it is not.

The 2016 version is an update from the 2012 Beta Version. A 2016 GETEM user manual is being finalized for release. 

Download the GETEM tool.

Notification

This model and its documentation were prepared as required work under a subcontract from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a U.S. DOE national laboratory, to Princeton Energy Resources International, Rockville, Maryland. The estimates and correlations for the performance and costs of geothermal electric power systems are intended for use in analysis of government policies, and should not be construed or represented as "official U.S. DOE estimates of performance and/or cost of any real geothermal power system or any of its components."

Further, neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its usefulness would not infringe privately owned rights.