Energy Department Declares Up $31 Million for Geothermal Systems Field Observatory

The Energy Department on July 17 announced up to $31 million in backing to establish the initial phases of the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE), a field lab dedicated to cutting-edge research on enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).

EGS are engineered reservoirs, created beneath the surface of the Earth, where there is hot rock but limited pathways through which fluid can flow. During EGS development, underground fluid pathways are safely created and their size and connectivity increased. These enhanced pathways allow fluid to circulate throughout the hot rock and carry heat to the surface to generate electricity. In the long term, EGS may enable domestic access to a geographically diverse baseload, and carbon-free energy resource on the order of 100 gigawatts, or enough to power about 100 million homes.

The FORGE initiative is comprised of 3 phases. The 1st 2 phases focus on selecting both a location and an operations team, as well as preparing and fully characterizing the site. In Phase 1, $2 million will be accessible over one year for up to ten selected teams to perform analysis on the suitability of their suggested location and to develop projects for Phase 2. Subject to the availability of appropriations, up to $29 million in backing for up to 3 teams is planned for Phase 2, during which teams will work to fully instrument, characterize, and permit candidate sites. Subject to the availability of appropriations, Phase three will fund full implementation of FORGE at a single site, managed by a single operations team. See the Energy Department news release, the backing announcement, and the EERE Blog.

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