HGEO Strategic Plan: Advancing American Energy Dominance, Security, and Global Leadership

Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office Strategic Plan

Overview

The Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO) is advancing a new chapter for the Nation’s hydrocarbon and geothermal energy portfolio—one grounded in innovation, partnership, and coordinated action.

The HGEO Strategic Plan establishes the goals and objectives that will guide HGEO’s activities and investments. It also establishes new Centers of Excellence at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) that will enhance collaboration on key functional areas with industry, other National Laboratories, and partners across the Federal government and academia.

HGEO Mission and Vision

Mission: Unleash the full potential of America’s hydrocarbon and geothermal resources to provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy.

Vision: An America that leads the world with affordable, reliable, and secure energy; powering prosperity, freedom, and human flourishing.

Strategic Goals

Click the dropdown links below to learn more about the objectives of each Strategic Goal.

Objectives:
Modernize and extend the life of existing coal mines and coal-based power fleet.
Optimize efficiencies across the extraction, capture, processing, and power generation value chain.
Support the growth of coal-based power generation and product manufacturing.
Identify and support development opportunities for additional U.S. coal export capacity.
Objectives:
Increase the recovery factor in unconventional reservoirs.
Lower the break-even cost of primary recovery operations.
Transform produced water into an economic resource.
Increase efficiencies and reliability of midstream infrastructure.
Develop advanced energy systems that provide low-cost baseload power and products.
Objectives:
Expand and improve resource characterization and advance the most economic opportunities for development.
Drive innovations that accelerate new geothermal development and optimization.
Modernize and extend the life of existing geothermal production.
Pursue methods to use and maximize the value of geothermal for storage and enhancing grid reliability.
Objectives:
Strengthen national resilience by proactively managing critical hydrocarbon resources, mitigating vulnerabilities in global supply chains, and advancing policies that promote reliable, affordable, and secure energy domestically and abroad. 
Develop and execute strategies that balance domestic energy needs, global demand, and long-term economic and national security.
Implement policies and solutions for securing supply for the United States and our allies. 
Objectives:
Stand ready to release oil within 13 days of Presidential direction.
Establish and execute an integrated strategy to fill the SPR to capacity.
Efficiently maintain SPR infrastructure for reliability, safety, and flexibility.
Codify recommended drawdown and fill triggers for the SPR.
Objectives:
Unleash the transformative power of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, to revolutionize processes and capabilities, resulting in innovative, cost-effective operations.
Cultivate opportunities to foster a high-performing HGEO workforce and grow the nation’s energy workforce. 
Bolster strategic alliances, stakeholder engagement, collaboration, and communication with key partners, and develop solutions to complex challenges.
Strategically align, safeguard, and optimize resources in support of HGEO’s mission.
Objectives:
Advance mission-aligned applied research and technology solutions while serving as a resource to DOE as the only government-owned, government-operated National Laboratory.
Establish Centers of Excellence at each NETL campus aligned with key industry interests.
Revolutionize mission delivery and business excellence leveraging advances in artificial intelligence and data science.
Attract, develop, and retain a world-class HGEO and NETL workforce.
Enhance operational best practices to protect the health and safety of all laboratory personnel and the environment.

NETL Coal Center of Excellence Kickoff Meeting in Morgantown, WV

Centers of Excellence

The Centers of Excellence—one at each NETL location—serve as dedicated hubs for collaboration, connecting stakeholders with laboratory capabilities, facilities, and multidisciplinary teams best aligned to support their goals.

These Centers are anchored at NETL’s facilities in Morgantown, West Virginia (coal), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (oil and natural gas), and Albany, Oregon (critical minerals), along with a geothermal energy location which will be announced soon.