U.S. Senators call for more funding for geothermal technologies
California State Capitol, Sacramento (source: flickr/ David Fulmer, creative commons)
Carlo Cariaga
10 May 2022
Nevada Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto support the request for more funding for the DOE's Geothermal Technologies Office.
In a letter addressed to the Chair and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Nevada Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto expressed support for the President’s request to include USD 202 million in funding for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO).
According to the letter, the DOE-GTO plays a critically important role in bringing together industry partners for R&D opportunities to build innovative, cost-effective tools to
explore and produce geothermal energy. An example of their efforts cited in the latter is the Geothermal Collegiate Competition, an annual competition for college students that tasks them with overcoming challenges in a specific geothermal application. This year’s edition focuses on how to communicate the benefits of geothermal technologies and to overcome the non-technical barriers to development.
GTO is continuing to identify key research areas, including exploration and characterization, subsurface accessibility, subsurface enhancement and sustainability, resource maximization, data, modeling, and analysis, and geothermal integration and awareness to ensure the continued growth of the geothermal industry.
A benefit of expanding the funding allocation of GTO is that they can expand their geothermal operations to Western states with untapped geothermal potential. Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Neva, and Utah are just some of the states mentioned in the latter. With the funding, the GTO can construct over 28 million geothermal heat pumps and 17,500 geothermal district heating installations by 2050.
Source: Jacky Rosen U.S. Senator for Nevada
