U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Geothermal Technologies Program – GeoPowering the West

Goals and Benefits

Photo of worker and hydroponically grown tomato.

Promoting sustainability and cost-effective heat and electricity sources.

The GeoPowering the West program has the following goals and benefits.

Goals

  • Reduce the transactional costs of geothermal power and show economic value in the marketplace by removing, reducing, or mitigating the institutional, regulatory and market barriers of development, and

  • Characterize geothermal energy as a clean, safe, reliable and economic renewable energy source so it is appropriately valued in the marketplace.

Purpose

  • To identify barriers to geothermal development.
  • To pursue strategies for overcoming barriers at the regional, state, and local levels.

Benefits

  • $50 billion in capital investment in the western states over 20 years
  • $500 million in new income for western landowners over 20 years
  • $5 billion in annual capital investment in 2020
  • 20 million tons of atmospheric carbon displaced in 2020