Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs, Nevada.
The Geothermal Technologies Program (the Program) works in partnership with industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply. Geothermal energy production, a $1.5 billion a year industry, generates electricity or provides heat for direct applications including aquaculture, crop drying, and district heating, or for use in heat pumps to heat and cool buildings. The technologies developed by the Program will provide the Nation with new sources of electricity that are highly reliable and cost competitive and do not add to America's air pollution or the emission of greenhouse gases. Geothermal electricity generation is not subject to fuel price volatility and supply disruptions from changes in global energy markets. Geothermal energy systems use a domestic and renewable source of energy.
The Geothermal Technologies Program develops innovative technologies to find, access, and use the Nation's geothermal resources. These efforts include emphasis on Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) with continued R&D on geophysical and geochemical exploration technologies, improved drilling systems, and more efficient heat exchangers and condensers.
The Geothermal Technologies Program's R&D efforts build on the technical research base that has been developed over the last two decades. This technical base will provide information and understanding necessary to create new and more efficient and reliable technologies and to enable the U.S. geothermal industry to compete for baseload electricity generation.
The Program is organized around two areas: