DOE Offers Up $467.6 M for Geothermal and Solar

Ucilia Wang | May 27, 2009 at 3:39 PM 0 Comments DOE Offers Up $467.6M for Geothermal and Solar

Geothermal power companies that have felt a bit neglected by federal government can rejoice. President Obama just announced $350 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act for developing and demonstrating geothermal technologies.

The funding, to be doled out by the U.S. Department of Energy, would go to companies in four categories. The largest chunk, $140 million, would be given to companies that can demonstrate ways to harvest energy from below the earth's surface. Another $100 million would go to companies developing drilling and other exploration activities.

The DOE plans to give $80 million to research in what's called "enhanced geothermal systems," which involve drilling deep into hot rocks and injecting water to create a steam reservoir. The EGS technology promises to create geothermal fields in areas with limited natural steam resources.

Lastly, $30 million will go to developers of geothermal resource databases. The databases would provide researchers and companies with information on where the best geothermal resources are and how to classify different types of resources. The U.S. Geological Survey did an assessment of high-temperature resources last year, and it'll work on creating the databases, the DOE said.

The federal government hasn't always embraced geothermal power research and development. Companies developing drilling technologies, in particular, have complained about inadequate federal funding to support their work. Drilling a well just to see if there are any geothermal resources to be harvested could take a few millions. Then there is the drilling of the production wells and building the power generation facilities that cost more money.

On Thursday, Obama also announced a pot of $117.6 million for solar energy development. The money would go to national labs, universities and the private sector to commercialize solar technologies, the DOE said.

The DOE plans to give $51.5 million to technology developers, especially those who could deliver solar power more cheaply. Another $40.5 million would go to efforts that don't involve developing solar technologies, such as training installers. Finally, $25.6 million would go to national labs to conduct research on concentrating solar power research. 

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