DOE's Geothermal Technologies Program announced on August 20 a $15 million funding opportunity to research and develop innovative methods of extracting heat from geothermal resources. DOE is promoting the advancement and commercialization of technologies for heat recovery with environmental, technical, and financial risks that are potentially lower than currently available methods are. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) seeks applicants to expand geothermal power generation into
geologically diverse environments, such as permeable sedimentary formations that minimize the risk of rapid drawdown of a reservoir's heat. The FOA also calls for the reduction of the levelized cost of electricity for new methods of geothermal energy production from $0.10 kWh to $0.06 kWh.
