The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) partners with industry, academia, and research facilities to further the development of geothermal energy technologies through funding and support of geothermal projects. Competitive solicitations issued as Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are the principal mechanism used to contract for cost-shared research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects. Other types of funding announcements include Notices of Technical Assistance, Notices of Intent, Prizes and Competitions, and Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs.
Current geothermal-related funding opportunities are listed below. Although GTO maintains current information on these solicitations, the official source for funding information is the EERE Funding Opportunity Exchange, also called the EERE Exchange.
All potential applicants and reviewers need to have a login.gov account to access EERE Exchange and apply to open opportunities. For more information, please read the Multi-Factor Authentication Quick Guide.
To receive notice of new GTO funding opportunities, sign up for GTO office updates and subscribe to our monthly newsletter, The Drill Down, which also includes information on other DOE funding opportunities.
Open Opportunities
The EnergyTech University Prize (EnergyTech UP) awards a total of $550,000 to winning competitors for developing a business plan that incorporates an up-and-coming energy technology. The competition is supported by the Office of Technology Transitions in partnership with GTO and other DOE offices, and GTO encourages geothermal-focused applicants to apply and further advance geothermal energy.
New this year: The 2024 competition includes a collegiate faculty track for educators to create an implementation plan for integrating or expanding energy technology commercialization or entrepreneurship activities at their home institutions.
Read the 2024 rules and regulations and sign up to compete in EnergyTech UP 2024 by February 1, 2024! For more information, stream the recording of the first informational webinar and check out the prize’s timeline for additional live webinars.
The Geothermal Geophone Prize provides $3.65 million in total incentives and engages with the nation’s innovators and entrepreneurs to rapidly discover, develop, and deliver new high temperature seismic sensor solutions. This prize was launched on April 18, 2022 and is currently in Phase 2. Visit the Geothermal Geophone Prize to learn more and apply.
SBIR and STTR Programs
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs help small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). At DOE, funding takes the form of grants for projects that must have the potential for commercialization and must meet specific DOE mission-specific R&D needs. Specific research topics are selected through the DOE SBIR/STTR Programs Office working collaboratively with DOE's program offices.
DOE offers more than 60 technical topics and 250 subtopics, spanning multiple research areas. To find out if any open SBIR opportunities have geothermal topic areas, visit the Office of Science's SBIR Funding Opportunities page and open the Topic Areas or FOA documents listed on the tables’ “Document” rows.
Closed Opportunities
|
Name |
Open Date |
Close Date |
Funding Number |
|
Aug. 1, 2023 |
Oct. 4, 2023 |
N/A |
|
|
Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Pilot Demonstrations (Round 1) |
Feb. 8, 2023 |
Jun. 16, 2023 |
|
|
FY22 AMMTO-GTO Joint FOA: Lithium Extraction and Conversion From Geothermal Brines |
Nov. 9, 2022 |
Jan. 31, 2023 |
|
|
Aug. 15, 2022 |
Jan. 10, 2023 |
N/A |
|
|
Geothermal energy from Oil and Gas Demonstrated Engineering (GEODE) |
July 28, 2022 |
Oct. 28, 2022 |
|
| May 10, 2022 | Jan. 26, 2023 | N/A | |
|
Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling Design and Deployment Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) |
May 3, 2022 |
Oct. 11, 2022 |
|
|
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)-2022 Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Pilot Demonstrations Request for Information |
April 19, 2022 |
May 13, 2022 |
|
|
Geothermal Drilling Technology Demonstration Campaign Funding Opportunity Announcement |
Feb. 4, 2022 |
June 3,2022 |
|
|
FY 2022 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Funding Opportunities |
Dec. 13, 2021 |
Feb. 22, 2022 |
|
|
Direct Air Capture Combined with Dedicated Long-Term Carbon Storage, Coupled to Existing Low-Carbon Energy |
Oct. 26, 2021 |
Dec. 22, 2021 |
|
|
Geothermal Collegiate Competition – Class of 2022 (Winners were announced in May 2022) |
June 16, 2021 |
Nov. 18, 2021 |
N/A |
|
Wells of Opportunity (WOO): Amplify II and Reamplify |
June 10, 2021 |
Aug. 16, 2021 |
|
|
Innovative Methods to Control Hydraulic Properties of Enhanced Geothermal Systems |
April 30, 2021 |
June 15, 2021 |
|
|
Opportunities to Improve Geothermal Technology Cost and Performance Modeling |
April 28, 2021 |
May 28, 2021 |
|
|
Wells of Opportunity (WOO): Pilot and Amplify |
Feb. 4, 2020 |
April 24, 2020 |
|
|
Hydrothermal and Low Temperature Geothermal Research |
Feb. 4, 2020 |
May 4, 2020 |
|
|
Jan. 29, 2020 |
Aug. 29, 2022 |
N/A |
|
|
Subsurface Stress and Loss Circulation in Geothermal Drilling |
March 28, 2019 |
June 7, 2019 |
|
|
Call for Proposals to Advance Geothermal Research and Development |
Jan. 3, 2019 |
Jan. 31, 2020 |
N/A |
|
Machine Learning for Geothermal Energy |
July 19, 2018 |
Nov. 13, 2018 |
|
|
Zonal Isolation for Manmade Geothermal Reservoirs |
June 25, 2018 |
July 25, 2018 |
|
|
Efficient Drilling for Geothermal Energy (EDGE) |
April 23, 2018 |
July 16, 2018 |
|
|
Deep Direct-Use Feasibility Studies |
Nov. 15, 2016 |
Feb. 22, 2017 |
|
|
Mineral Recovery Phase II: Geothermal Concepts and Approaches to Validate Extraction Technologies |
Dec. 1, 2015 |
Feb. 29, 2016 |
|
|
Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) |
July 17, 2014 |
Nov. 12, 2014 |
|
|
Integrated Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Research and Development |
Feb. 21, 2014 |
April 30, 2014 |
|
|
Low Temperature Geothermal Mineral Recovery Program |
Feb. 4, 2014 |
May 2, 2014 |
|
|
Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis |
Jan. 24, 2014 |
April 11, 2014 |
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