The U.S. Department of Energy will provide funding of more than $15 million for projects in Colorado and California that will demonstrate drilling innovations and help reduce renewable geothermal energy costs.
The reduction in renewable geothermal energy costs will be accomplished through “generating at least a 25% improvement in geothermal drilling rates,” a Dec. 14 news release said.
“There is incredible, untapped potential to use the heat beneath our feet to meet our energy demands with a renewable resource that can be found throughout the U.S.,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in the release. “By lowering the cost of drilling, we can make it easier to expand geothermal energy and help the country transition to a clean energy future while also creating good-paying jobs nationwide.”
Geothermal energy is heat that’s continuously produced within the earth, the release said. The heat can be drawn to the surface by wells that are drilled. It can generate electricity, heat and cool buildings.
The Department of Energy’s goal is to power “at least 40 million American homes with renewable geothermal power by 2050,” the release said.
The selected projects are Geothermal Limitless Approach to Drilling Efficiencies in Denver-Julesburg Basin, Colo., of approximately $9 million for plans “to drill to deeper and hotter depths than most existing geothermal, and at a faster rate,” the release reported.
Evaluation of Physics-Based Drilling and Alternative Bit Design at The Geysers Geothermal Field, Calif., will receive approximately $6.2 million for deploying “drilling technology and methodologies to increase drilling rates by at least 25%,” according to the release.
The projects will expand on the nearly $11.4 million to advance geothermal energy development announced in 2018, an October 2018 release said.
