The Geothermal Electricity Technology Evaluation Model (GETEM) is an Excel-based tool, provided by Idaho National Laboratory, used to estimate the Levelized Cost of Energy for definable geothermal scenarios. GETEM aids the Geothermal Technologies Office in understanding the performance and the cost of the technologies it is seeking to improve. The model helps GTO determine which proposed research, development, and deployment (RD&D) programs and projects might offer the most efficient improvement when based on taxpayer funding. 

GETEM is a detailed model of the estimated performance and costs of currently available U.S. geothermal power systems. It 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. 

Electrical power generation is the sole geothermal use considered by GETEM. The model does not provide assessment capabilities for geothermal direct-use or geothermal heat pumps. It 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 Tool

Download the GETEM tool.

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.

The 2016 version is an update from the 2012 Beta Version. View the 2016 GETEM user manual. A new version of GETEM, integrated into the System Advisor Model (SAM), is planned for release in late 2021.  

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. View additional instructions to determine if Solver is installed.

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.