Audit Report: OAS-RA-11-05

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), the Department of
Energy's Geothermal Technologies Program received $400 million to promote the exploration
and development of new geothermal fields and innovative research into advanced geothermal
technologies. This funding represents an almost ten-fold increase over the $44 million originally
appropriated to the Geothermal Technologies Program for 2009. As of January 2011, the
Department had awarded $368 million in financial assistance agreements for 135 geothermal
technologies projects, with about $68 million having been expended.
Recovery Act funding supports geothermal projects undertaken by private industry, academic
institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and the Department's National Laboratories. The
projects, covering activities in 39 states, represent a significant expansion of the U.S. geothermal
industry and are intended to create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration,
construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source
heat pump equipment.
We initiated this audit to determine whether the Department had effectively managed the
geothermal awards funded under the Recovery Act.