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NREL work to help find geothermal resources on federal land in U.S.

NREL work to help find geothermal resources on federal land in U.S. RAPID presentation by Katherine Young at GEA Intl. Geothermal Showcase (source: photo from presentation, ThinkGeoEnergy)
Alexander Richter 17 May 2016

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is supporting the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to decide appropriate use of federal land, e.g. for geothermal development.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the U.S. is working closely with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, to make it easier to evaluate where geothermal development opportunities lie on federal land in the U.S.

The work is aimed at make it easier to find resources, as – so a recent blog post on the NREL website – “untapped geothermal energy stands ready to fill a need as states and the federal government push to generate more electricity from renewable sources. But adding geothermal-generated electricity to the grid can take years.

The BLM is tasked with the responsibility of deciding appropriate uses for 245 million acres of public lands, such as whether to allow the operation of geothermal plants. All states possess geothermal energy, but a dozen have been identified as the best potential sources for traditional hydrothermal power.

But where, under all that real estate, are the best places to drill?

“With solar and wind resources, it’s easier to see if it’s available,” said Katherine Young, a geothermal energy engineer who works at NREL in the Technology Systems and Sustainability Analysis Group in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center. “It’s easy to measure when the sun’s shining and when the wind’s blowing. With geothermal you have to spend a lot of money to confirm that resource is there.”

As part of these activities, NREL has developed an online resource called the Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID), that Katherine Young presented at a GEA event in March of this year.

Check out the RAPID website at: http://en.openei.org/wiki/RAPID/Roadmap/Geo

To read more about the activities of NREL on the blog post, via the link below.

Source: NREL