Office: Geothermal Technologies Office
Lab Call Number: DE-LC-0000113
Download the full lab call: GTO Website
Funding Amount: $6,600,000
Background Information
On July 31, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office, in collaboration with the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Office and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, announced selections for four DOE national laboratories to receive more than $6 million for research and development that can directly aid in advancing and developing U.S. critical material supply chains. Critical materials such as minerals and rare earth elements are important for products including computers, smartphones, household appliances, and clean energy technologies like batteries and electric vehicles. The United States currently lacks the ability to access and process many of these materials, making the country increasingly dependent on foreign sources. Geothermal brines, which are a byproduct of geothermal electricity generation, often have high concentrations of minerals like lithium and zinc.
This lab call helps support the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to build a clean and equitable energy economy, address the climate crisis, and achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035. It also helps bolster the pathway to domestic supply of critical minerals and facilitate better engineering that can maximize critical minerals from geothermal resources
Selectees
The seven selected national laboratory projects will characterize lithium and critical materials in areas beyond California’s Salton Sea region, improve understanding of how to better break down and release minerals from rocks in geothermal reservoirs, and advance drilling materials to better access geothermal resource areas where critical materials may be located. This work is crucial to help advance the U.S. critical materials supply chain and facilitate better engineering that can maximize critical minerals from geothermal resources.
Selectees include:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Idaho National Laboratory
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
A detailed list of the selected projects can be found here.
Key Dates
| Lab Call Issue Date: | 04/18/2024 |
| Submission Deadline for Full Applications: | 05/31/2024 at 11:59 PM ET |
| Expected Date for Selection Notifications: | July 2024 |
Additional Information
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Last Updated: August 19, 2024