The grant will provide $10M in the first year that will fund the consortium's activities to create a plan to accelerate the development of geothermal energy initiatives, leveraging the expertise and technology from the oil and gas industry. From the second year onwards, the DOE will provide additional funds to finance the plan, up to $155M.
“It is exciting for Geothermal Rising, and its expansive membership, to play a role in convening communities who, working together, hold the solution to our climate crisis through heat and electricity decarbonization,” said Bryant Jones, Executive Director of GR. “We really can use the earth to save the earth if we work together to make it happen.”
The cross-industry collaboration formed by GR, Project InnerSpace, and SPE will engage with both oil and gas experts, geothermal startups and developers, as well as other stakeholders to build consensus around strategies and opportunities for geothermal innovation. The consortium will leverage the deep knowledge and experience of members from the geothermal industry in partnership with the oil and gas industry to address and overcome challenges currently constraining geothermal development.
"The announcement is a huge game changer for Geothermal Rising and will push the geothermal industry and community in such an exciting way!," said GR President of the Board Kelly Blake. "Our partners, Innerspace and SPE, will make wonderful collaborators and we cannot wait to get started. This is an amazing opportunity to work to curb the climate crisis and pull oil and gas lessons learned into the ever changing geothermal industry."
Over the next five years, the consortium will address four key facets to accelerate geothermal development and production: technology transfer, demonstration and deployment, barriers to expansion, and workforce adoption. Within those facets, the consortium will focus on a variety of pain points constraining geothermal growth, including research and development gaps and roadmapping, stakeholder engagement, funding for keystone projects, and consensus building amongst ecosystem stakeholders. Members of the geothermal community will be integral to identifying these pain points and proposing solutions to be solved with competitive grants awarded with GEODE funding.
Accomplishing these goals will significantly contribute to achieving the cost targets outlined in the DOE's recently announced geothermal EarthShot, bringing down the costs of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) by 90%. The consortium's ultimate objective is to place geothermal into its proper and central role as the 'go-to' secure, reliable, safe, and clean energy source of the future.
Read the full press release here.