RFP – Geothermal technologies for U.S. DoD facilities
The U.S. Department of Defense is seeking proposals for a prototype geothermal power facility that can be deployed to DoD facilities across the United States.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is soliciting for proposals, ideas, or solutions for a prototype geothermal power generation system that can supply carbon-free and reliable power to DoD installations across the United States. Responses should be submitted by 20 January 2023 via the application page.
The primary prototype locations may include, but are not limited to, DoD installations at Mountain Home Air Force Base (Idaho), Joint Base San Antonio (Texas), Fort Wainwright (Alaska), and Fort Irwin (California).
Successful prototypes may be considered for full buildout of a utility-scale, geothermal facility at a DoD installation. Construction of the facility and purchase of the electricity would occur under a sole-source, follow-on contract or production agreement. The government may also consider scaling a successful prototype to other DoD installations.
Currently the DoD is reliant on off-site electricity providers to obtain energy in support of its critical mission to ensure our nation’s security. DoD is also dependent on off-site electricity to conduct its globe-spanning missions in air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. This energy dependence creates mission risks due to disruptions from extreme weather and cybersecurity attacks.
While current renewable energy solutions, such as wind and solar energy are carbon-free, they are intermittent, and require battery storage or other solutions to mitigate the intermittency.
Therefore, the DoD is seeking a novel approach using the power of the earth through geothermal energy which is carbon-free and can provide continuous/reliable power regardless of weather conditions to 1) maintain military mission continuity and 2) comply with Congressional mandate under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to provide its critical missions with 99.9 percent reliable energy by 2030.
In early 2022, the US DoD thru the Defense Logistics Agency Energy (DLA Energy) issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the feasibility of developing geothermal energy solutions for DoD installations.
Source: Defense Innovation Unit