U.S. Department of Energy Launches Geothermal Center of Excellence in September and Plans to Allocate Up to $171.5 Million

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The U.S. Department of Energy officially launched the Geothermal Center of Excellence in Golden, Colorado. Led by the Department of Energy's Office of Hydrocarbon and Geothermal Energy, it is located at the National Laboratory of the Rockies campus and jointly established by that laboratory and the U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory. The center will integrate the scientific research and engineering capabilities of U.S. national laboratories, focusing on advancing geothermal resource discovery, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), and gigawatt-scale geothermal power generation technologies from research and development to commercial deployment.

The new center is positioned as the primary technical collaboration window for geothermal companies entering the U.S. national laboratory system. It has established an industry advisory committee with the participation of more than ten companies, whose members cover geothermal developers, oil and gas companies, oilfield service companies, and technology suppliers. Companies such as Fervo Energy and Ormat Technologies are participating. The advisory committee will propose research and development directions based on actual industry needs and promote faster entry of laboratory results into engineering demonstrations and commercial projects.

The center's subsequent research and development priorities will focus on key technical bottlenecks currently facing the commercialization of enhanced geothermal systems, including subsurface fluid loss, reservoir thermal decline, reservoir characterization, deep drilling efficiency, and the reliability of materials and equipment under high-temperature hard rock conditions. The U.S. Department of Energy also plans to promote the migration of mature horizontal well, fracturing, downhole tool, and reservoir engineering technologies from the oil and gas industry to geothermal development, in order to reduce drilling and completion costs for deep geothermal projects and increase the scale of developable resources.

In addition to subsurface engineering, the center will also study issues such as the efficiency of converting geothermal heat into electricity, pump system reliability, pressure drop in circulation systems, and grid connection and market access. The U.S. Department of Energy believes that geothermal projects not only need to solve resource development problems, but also need to simultaneously improve the efficiency of surface power generation systems and shorten the timelines for transmission access and commercial development.

The United States currently has about 4 GW of installed geothermal power generation capacity, accounting for less than 1% of the nation's power generation scale. The U.S. Department of Energy previously estimated that, with large-scale deployment of advanced geothermal and enhanced geothermal technologies, U.S. geothermal power generation potential could rise to about 300 GW in the future. To support technology commercialization, the Department of Energy also plans to provide up to $171.5 million in funding in 2026 for field-scale testing of enhanced geothermal systems, as well as confirmation and exploration evaluation of conventional hydrothermal resources.

After the establishment of this Center of Excellence, the U.S. geothermal research and development system will further shift from a single test site model to joint advancement by national laboratories, developers, oilfield service companies, and equipment suppliers. For the engineering supply chain, subsequent key demand will focus on deep well drilling rigs, directional drilling tools, high-temperature downhole instruments, fracturing equipment, high-temperature-resistant tubular goods, pump systems, heat exchange equipment, and geothermal power generation units.