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DOE OSTI2022

Nontechnical Barriers to Geothermal Development

Geothermal energy presents a significant opportunity for the United States (US). The US has the largest known geothermal resource in the world, with over 31 GW of conventional geothermal (i.e., hydrothermal) potential. Despite this, the development of geothermal power plants has lagged other renewable resources. Though some of the gaps stem from technical barriers numerous non-technical barriers are preventing geothermal energy from reaching its full potential. The gaps include a need to reduce the cost impacts of seismic risk, environmental risk, exploration, drilling and permitting cost risk, and reduced summer capacity on plant profitability. This report identifies pathways to overcome these barriers. We find that geothermal energy could increase its market presence by acting as a complement to lower cost renewables, providing flexible or baseload power in low carbon scenarios. We also outline several contractual and operational strategies (including the use of hybrid systems) that plant operators can pursue to improve the value of their resource, such as multi part remuneration mechanisms that guarantee revenue (e.g., availability payments or a Contract for Differences approach) or resource risk hedging approaches (e.g., shaped market products and portfolio resource approaches).

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Thermal Characterization and Exhumation of Northwest San Juan Basin Area, NM

The San Juan Basin (SJB), located in southwestern Colorado northwestern New Mexico, containing Paleozoic through middle Cenozoic strata, formed as a partitioned basin approximately 80 Ma in response to the Laramide orogeny. The SJB is a commercially mature, petroleum-producing basin, and currently being explored for CCUS and geothermal resources. Modern heat flow within the SJB is spatially variable with higher geothermal gradients in its northern and eastern portions. The temporal history of the basin thermal history is essential for understanding capacity for carbon storage and geothermal exploration. We present thermochronometric analyses of two surface and two subsurface samples to constrain spatial-temporal thermal evolution of the northwestern San Juan Basin. Apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometric analyses were conducted on Cliff House and Kirtland Formation outcrops and subsurface samples of the Ojo Alamo and Pictured Cliffs Formations from a DOE funded, CCUS project pilot-well. In addition, vitrinite reflectance data and 1D basin modelling constrain possible time-temperature pathways of the samples in an area where no previous studies have constrained the uplift/exhumation of the Hogback Monocline using thermochronometry. Modeling suggests that elevated subsurface temperatures developed simultaneously with regional late Oligiocene volcanism in the San Juan Volcanic field and timing of maximum burial in the SJB. Late Miocene to Pliocene cooling/exhumation through the apatite (U-Th)/He partial retention zone support stratigraphic evidence of the Colorado Plateau uplift, possibly regional epeirogenic uplift driven by mantle processes.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2024

GRIDCERF - Geospatial Raster Input Data for Capacity Expansion Regional Feasibility

The Geospatial Raster Input Data for Capacity Expansion Regional Feasibility (GRIDCERF) data package is a high-resolution product to evaluate siting suitability for renewable and non-renewable power plants in the conterminous United States. GRIDCERF offers hundreds of individual suitability layers for use with both renewable and non-renewable power plant technology configurations in a harmonized format that can be easily ingested by geospatially-enabled modeling software. It also provides pre-compiled technology-specific suitability layers and allows for user customization to robustly address science objectives when evaluating varying future conditions. GRIDCERF data can be directly used with the CERF (Capacity Expansion Regional Feasibility) model to site power plants at a 1km resolution. GRIDCERF includes composite technology siting suitability raster layers for the following utility scale technology configurations. Note that, in addition to technology sub-types shown below, various cooling types are also included (recirculating, pond, once-through, recirculating-seawater, dry-hybrid, or dry) for various technologies. Biomass Conventional (with or without CCS) IGCC (with or without CCS) Coal Conventional (with or without CCS) IGCC (with or without CCS) Natural Gas Combined-cycle (CC) (with or without CCS) Turbine Geothermal Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) - Class 1 through Class 5 resource potential Nuclear Gen 2 Light Water Reactor (LWR) Gen 3 Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Gen 3 AP1000 Refined Liquids Combined-cycle (CC) (with or without CCS) Turbine Solar Photovoltaic (PV) - for capacity factors in the range of 6-18% Utility-scale Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) - for capacity factors in the range of 24-46% Tower Wind (Onshore) - for capacity factors in the range of 5-50% 80m hub height 100m hub height 120m hub height 140m hub height Wind (Offshore) - for capacity factors in the range of 25-60% 100m hub height 140m hub height 160m hub height

capacity expansion↗

DOE OSTI2026

GRIDCERF - Geospatial Raster Input Data for Capacity Expansion Regional Feasibility

capacity expansion↗

DOE OSTI2020

U.S. Geothermal District Heating Systems and Funding Data

This dataset contains detailed information on geothermal district heating (GDH) systems across the United States, including technical specifications, costs, energy usage, and funding sources. Data includes system details such as state, site, location, operational years, temperature, flow rate, capacity, energy use, load factor, costs (original, updated, and operational), funding sources, employment impact, and project status. Additionally included are contributions to GDH systems, including federal, state, and local grants, as well as loans from agencies such as USDA and USDOE. This dataset serves as a resource for analyzing the economic and technical landscape of geothermal district heating in the United States.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Electricity Rate Designs for Large Loads: Evolving Practices and Opportunities

Electricity demand from large load customers such as data centers is projected to grow significantly in the near term. While data centers play an important role in advancing technology innovation and economic growth in the United States, data center energy needs present challenges and opportunities for electricity supply and infrastructure. This technical brief serves as a foundation for the discussion of issues and sharing of perspectives among utilities, regulators, large load customers, and other stakeholders. As utilities and regulators explore rate structures to address growing data center electricity demand, several issues have emerged: -Fair allocation of electricity system costs to large-load customers without unfair shifting of costs to other customers -Appropriate mitigation of the financial risks associated with stranded assets from underutilized utility system investments -Mitigation of operational and resource adequacy risks if electricity demand exceeds supply -Appropriate risk-sharing in commercializing newer electricity technologies such as advanced geothermal, small modular reactors, and long duration energy storage -Accommodating the diverse needs of large-load customers, such as having the option to match electricity consumption with output from carbon-free resources or using onsite generation to provide system capacity The technical brief also identifies key design elements that aim to address these issues and uses leading examples from pending and approved rate structures, agreements, and special contracts to ground the elements in practice.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2024

EverGREEN 2045: An Energy mix to Decarbonize Washington State

The Clean Energy Transformation Act transitions Washington State to 100% clean energy by 2045. As the future resource mix will likely include intermittent renewables, hydropower, and new, carbon-free, flexible technologies including advanced nuclear reactors and enhanced geothermal systems, we assess the cost and feasibility of the future resource mix with proprietary cost data from our industry partners for new technologies. For plausible future resource mix scenarios, we find that revenues are sufficient to cover variable operations and maintenance costs for most technologies, but capacity payments or power purchase agreements will be necessary for new, flexible resources to participate in the future resource mix.

clean energy, energy policy, energy transition, re↗

DOE OSTI2021

Geothermal District Heating in the United States: 2021 Update

As of 2021, there are 23 geothermal district heating (GDH) systems in the United States. Most are over 30 years old. This paper presents an overview of GDH development in the United States and the performance of GDH systems over time. Calculations of the estimated levelized cost of heat (LCOH) for existing U.S. GDH systems were made using NREL's GEOPHIRES tool. Estimated LCOH for existing U.S. GDH systems ranges from $15 to $105/MWhth. This paper explores other factors in GDH development such as resource and system size, capacity factor, and the role of policy. U.S. GDH utilization and deployment are compared to worldwide trends. Results show that the market for GDH in the United States has been weak over the past 40 years due to the combination of inexpensive fossil fuel alternatives (mostly natural gas), lack of incentives focused on heating/cooling, and other factors. Future opportunities for increased GDH deployment in the United States related to increased demand for low-carbon heating and cooling solutions (driven by decarbonization goals in the residential, commercial and industrial heating/cooling sectors, and particularly aggressive ones on college campuses) are outlined. Lastly, this paper identifies policy mechanisms that have been implemented in other countries to incentivize GDH (such as financial incentives targeting GDH, geothermal risk reduction mechanisms, carbon prices benefiting low-carbon heat production, and others).

geothermal district heating↗

DOE OSTI2026

Project Phase 1 Report: Reducing Data Center Peak Cooling Demand and Energy Costs With Cold Underground Thermal Energy Storage (Cold UTES)

Cold Underground Thermal Energy Storage (Cold UTES) is an ultra-long duration grid energy storage technology. With Cold-UTES, low-cost grid power is converted to cold thermal energy and stored in the native subsurface rock at the point of use. Cold UTES is one approach within the general category of engineered geothermal systems. Cold UTES for peak-hour cooling of data centers (DCs) was studied for deployment in Maricopa County, Arizona and Loudoun County, Virgina using thermal storage capacities from 4 GWh-th to over 1,000 GWh-th (>1 Terawatt-hour). The two sites have different power and transmission systems, available grid energy resources, daily and seasonal load profiles, weather conditions, and grid regulatory requirements. The study results indicate high value for both locations and because of this, likely indicates value across most of the US and the world. The basis of the study was a 1,000 MW-e hourly electric use of DC computing and auxiliary loads, which was modeled as 1 GW-th of thermal load to a dry cooled heat rejection system - i.e. a cooling system that does not consume water. The electric power required for cooling the DC varies as the air temperature changes. In cold weather only the dry-coolers are used, with an electrical load for cooling load as low as 10 MW-e. In hot summer hours, chillers and dry- coolers are required, which raises the electrical load for cooling load to as much as 300 MW-e. The continuous and peak cooling electrical loads result in a grid interconnection requirement of no less than 1,300 MW-e. From both a grid and thermal design modeling perspective the 1.3 GW-e could either be a single facility or result from the total load at multiple sites.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Assessing geothermal/solar hybridization – Integrating a solar thermal topping cycle into a geothermal bottoming cycle with energy storage

Geothermal and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies typically use heat at different temperatures in their commercial deployments. This enables a technically viable hybridization of a solar topping cycle and a geothermal bottoming cycle at locations where both resources are available. In this article, an underperforming geothermal power system based at Burley, Idaho is used as a baseline to investigate the technical and economic potential of such a hybrid cycle. A direct thermal energy storage (TES) system is also integrated to overcome the intermittency of the solar resource. Design and off-design behavior of key components are modelled to simulate the annual performance of the hybrid system on an hourly basis. The sizing of the solar field and thermal storage is investigated and is seen to significantly impact the annual electricity generation and efficiency. Various cost scenarios for the solar field and thermal energy storage are investigated. An economic metric - levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) - is used to optimize the solar field sizing and TES capacity. The hybrid plant converts the additional solar heat input into additional work with an efficiency of 32.9%. Retrofitting a geothermal plant with solar and eight hours of energy storage can achieve an LCOE of 0.136 $/kWhe in current cost scenarios and 0.081 $/kWhe in a future cost reduction scenario. Although the hybrid system cannot directly compete with current PV systems without batteries, it has an LCOE 32% lower than that of a PV-battery system. This paper provides insights into the research and development of the future grid with a high renewable energy penetration and encourages further study of energy hybridization for improved efficiencies and economics.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Environmental Impact Assessment of Lithium Recovery from Geothermal Brines in the SS-KGRA: An Overview

There is increasing interest in securing a reliable, domestic source of lithium in the United States to support an electrified grid and energy secure future. The Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area (SS-KGRA) has garnered attention for this purpose due to the abundance of lithium in brines brought to the surface for geothermal energy production in this region. Geothermal production from this field is already expected to grow from the current 400 MWe to 920 MWe in the next 3-4 years with a potential total geothermal capacity in the region estimated at nearly 2,950 MWe. With this growth, there is potential for construction and operation of new direct lithium recovery and processing facilities to meet domestic demands for lithium. In this work, we estimate the potential impact of geothermal expansion and lithium extraction in the SS-KGRA on water use, direct air emissions from facilities, and solid waste production and management.

Busse, MM↗

DOE OSTI2020

Deep Direct-Use Geothermal Feasibility Study for Hawthorne NV

The Hawthorne Nevada, deep direct-use geothermal study is a two-year effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to determine the techno-economic feasibility of implementing a large-scale, direct-use facility for the Hawthorne Army Depot (HAD) and the public facilities of the city of Hawthorne and Mineral County. The approach links a production side analysis (PSA) and a demand side analysis (DSA) into a whole-system analysis (WSA) to provide an integrated assessment of the resource and the probability of delivering economically viable direct-use energy to Hawthorne. Hawthorne, Nevada is in the western part of the Basin and Range province and has been the focus of geothermal investigations for over 40 years. Over the last 15 years, several studies completed by the U.S. Navy Geothermal Program Office (GPO) in conjunction with industry professionals quantified the existence of several low temperature geothermal prospects, the most promising of which is called Prospect A. The promise of Prospect A is based on drilling and flow testing that produced ~100 °C water at flow rates of up to 31 l/s (500 gallons per minute). Measured productivity indexes range from 40-85 l/s/MPa, suggesting a warm and productive heat source. Despite the promise of the resource, uncertainties in its spatial extent and long-term sustainability mean that techno-economic analyses must include probabilities of the sustainability of the resource under different operating scenarios. Here, the PSA is conducted by integrating a wide range of disparate data to estimate lognormal P90, P50, and P10 resource capacities. These capacities are used as input to a thermal-hydrologic (T-H) model to estimate thermal drawdown for each capacity estimate for several different DSA scenarios. Using a systems-based approach, the WSA links the dynamic T-H simulations of the PSA/DSA combinations with the techno-economic model GEOPHIRES to account for both the temporal dynamics and uncertainties in the system to produce probabilistic distributions of several performance metrics including the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) and the return on investment (ROI). This report is the final delivery for the project and documents the study's activities and results.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Value of Geothermal Energy Storage for Supply-Side and Demand-Side Applications

This report presents the results of a study examining the value potential for geothermal energy storage (GES), a long-duration energy storage resource that stores thermal and/or geomechanical energy in the subsurface. GES could benefit the overall U.S. power system by temporally shifting electricity generation (supply-side) or meeting building heating and cooling load (demand-side). This report analyzes supply-side and demand-side opportunities independently because of differences in applications and models. Currently there is significant uncertainty about the development costs for GES, with only a limited number of demonstration plants for electric energy storage and building heating and cooling storage developments. In this report, we estimate the value of supply-side and demand-side GES to the bulk power system in the contiguous United States. Because of the significant uncertainty about GES development costs, this analysis does not consider GES deployment costs but instead focuses on the value of GES to the U.S. electricity system. The estimated values of GES provide reference points for economically competitive commercial cost targets. Supply-side GES is modeled as part of an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) generation plant in NREL's Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) capacity expansion model (Ho et al. 2021). In contrast to conventional geothermal plants, which generate constant power, EGS plants have unique features that may allow for in-reservoir energy storage for flexible generation. Demand-side GES for heating and cooling, including seasonal hot and cold storage and short-duration heat pump storage, is incorporated into a price-taker model using Cambium electricity marginal cost projections. To establish an upper bound for the value of GES, analysis focused on favorable scenarios for storage with high generation from zero marginal cost, variable renewable energy resources. High penetrations of variable renewable energy generation can increase hourly electricity price variability, which increases the value of temporal energy arbitrage for storage technologies like GES.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1965

Lunar geothermal power - Some problems and potentials

Power from geothermal deposits on earth is an established fact, with plant capacities ranging from a few kilowatts to several hundred megawatts. The increasing evidence for contemporary volcanic and fumarolic activity on the moon lends strong support to the validity of the concepts of utilizing geothermal fluids as a source of lunar power. Geothermal energy, whatever the size of installation desired, will probably not be an energy source during early exploratory operations, because of the inherent uncertainty in developing natural resources. On the other hand, the attractiveness of geothermal concepts with their abundant potential for byproduct fuel and life-support production, plus the potential for large continuous power outputs, suggests chat the location and testing of areas of geothermal potential should be an early goa] for lunar exploration efforts. This paper briefly describes the chemical and structural properties of geothermal deposits and outlines the differences expected between lunar and terrestrial deposits and their surface expressions. The problems of finding geothermal deposits, and of then deciding upon the probable subsurface exploitive testing for initial production are suggested and the problems inherent in large-scale geothermal development and utilization are indicated.

ENERGY SOURCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

A Novel Zwitterionic Chromatography Approach to Separate Lithium from Unconventional Resources

Lithium (Li) is a key element for clean energy technologies, and, accordingly, the global lithium demand has been increasing rapidly. Therefore, to meet the Li demand and maintain supply chain stability, it is critical to develop efficient lithium extraction technologies that allow exploitation of unconventional lithium resources, such as geothermal brines and inland brine streams. However, the recovery of Li from these resources is challenging due to low Li concentration, low ratios of Li/Na, Li/Mg, or Li/Ca, and complex feed compositions. To address this, we introduced a new Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process using Zwitterionic Chromatography (ZIC) to separate Li from other salts. Since salts are partitioned on ZIC under water elution, no reagent chemicals are needed, and the Li separation is not limited by the adsorption capacity. We prepared 13 different zwitterionic (ZI) resins to investigate the salt retention on various ZI groups and then screened out promising sorbents for efficient Li separation. It was found that salt retention was synergistically affected by the pore size and ZI configurations. Using carboxybetaine (QAC3CA) sorbents, multicomponent separations showed that Li can be partitioned from divalent salts or Na with selectivities of 1.8 or 1.9, respectively. Although the selectivity is relatively low, in real brine tests, Li was separated from Ca and Mg with 79.2 % yield, showing the potential for a continuous process to achieve high productivity and high yield. Simulation studies suggest the salt elution mechanism is related to the hydration reaction energy and the effective hydrated radius of cations.

critical minerals↗

DOE OSTI2022

A Geospatial Cost Comparison of CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG) Power and Geologic CO2 Storage

CO 2 Plume Geothermal (CPG) power plants can use gigatonne-levels of CO 2 sequestration to generate electricity, but it is unknown if the resources that support low-cost CPG power align with the resources that support low-cost CO 2 sequestration. Here, we estimate and compare the geospatially-distributed cost of CPG and CO 2 storage across a portion of North America. We find that the locations with lowest-cost CO 2 storage are different than the locations with lowest-cost CPG. There are also locations with low-cost CO 2 storage (<$5/tCO 2 ) that do not support CPG power generation due to insufficient reservoir transmissivity or temperature. Thus, CPG development may require electricity prices that are greater than the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) to offset the increased cost of sequestration. We introduce the “Additional Cost of Electricity (ACOE)” metric to account for this cost and add it to the LCOE to calculate breakeven electricity prices that are required for CPG development. We find that breakeven prices are lower when new CO 2 injection wells are drilled specifically for CPG (i.e., “greenfield” CPG development) compared to if only existing CO 2 sequestration injection wells are used (i.e., “brownfield” CPG development). This is because comparatively few wells are needed for sequestration-only, and the increased power capacity from having more CPG wells outweighs the increased costs from more drilling. We also find that sequestered CO 2 could be used to approximately triple the United States geothermal electricity power capacity via a single CPG “sweet spot” in South Dakota, but that breakeven electricity price for this development is on the order of $200/MW e h.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

A Demonstration System for Geological Thermal Energy Storage of Concentrating Solar Thermal

Energy storage is increasingly necessary as variable energy technologies are deployed. Seasonal energy storage can shift energy generation from the summer to the winter, but these technologies must have extremely large energy capacities and low costs. Geological Thermal Energy Storage (GeoTES) is proposed as a solution for long-term energy storage [1]. Excess thermal energy can be stored in permeable reservoirs such as aquifers and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs for several months. The energy capacity cost of GeoTES is very low which makes it suitable for both daily- and seasonal storage of Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) energy, thus enabling CST to provide value to electricity markets and thermal energy off-takers. A CST-GeoTES demonstration system has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Solar Energy Technology Office. In this article, we will describe this demonstration system and progress that has been made in its development. The demonstration system will comprise a 2 MWth parabolic trough with an 8m aperture developed by Gossamer Space Frames, seven wells, and a 100 kWe power cycle. The demonstration system will be deployed in Kern County, California by Premier Resource Management. A techno-economic model for CST-GeoTES systems has also been developed [3] and is applied to the demonstration system and its planned future expansion. The model integrates the output of specialist models of each subsystem, which enables the performance and cost of both the subsurface and surface systems to be captured. Off-design models enable the performance to be evaluated at each hour of the year, before being aggregated to evaluate the economic potential of CST-GeoTES. Initial analysis indicates that CST-GeoTES can provide long duration energy storage capabilities with low marginal costs of energy capacity - leading to a low value of Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS) compared to alternative technologies, see Figure 2. In this article, we investigate the cost and performance of the specific demonstration site being developed by PRM and explore a range of operational profiles that can deliver different value streams, such as daily and seasonal storage, capacity, and resiliancy.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Techno-Economic Analysis for a Potential Geothermal District Heating System in Tuttle, Oklahoma: Preprint

Geothermal deep direct use (DDU) has potential across a wide swath of the United States but is underutilized due to challenging project economics associated with developing a deep geothermal resource for a large-scale and variable heat demand. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and University of Oklahoma evaluated the feasibility of a geothermal district heating (GDH) and cooling system in two schools and 250 houses by utilizing existing oil and gas (O&G) wells in Tuttle, Oklahoma. Heating and cooling demand in the two schools and a typical single-family house were modeled using EnergyPlus building energy simulation software. The modeling results indicated that annual heating demand in two schools and 250 houses is approximately 2.61 GWhth, and cooling demand in the two schools is approximately 2.65 GWhth. In this scope, the techno-economic analysis (TEA) was conducted using the GEOPHIRES tool combined with the TOUGH2 reservoir simulator. The reservoir performance, including geothermal heat production capacity, was modeled by the reservoir simulator TOUGH2. Then, levelized cost of heat (LCOH) was calculated using GEOPHIRES version 3.0, which includes new features such as hourly heat load optimization and peak performance evaluation. Geothermal reservoir temperature was estimated as 90.5 degrees C at a total depth of 3.3 km by the regional average temperature gradient of 22.8 degrees C/km and validated by cation geothermometer calculations. Four production scenarios with two different well configurations and two different heat load profiles have been developed for well flow rates ranging between 3.1 kg/s and 9.3 kg/s. The LCOH of the district heating and cooling system was calculated between $95 and $210/MWh ($28/MMBtu to $62/MMBtu) for four different production scenarios. Typical natural gas prices for residential customers in Oklahoma have ranged from 9 to 19 $/MMBtu over the past decade, which indicates a challenge for deployment of such a GDH system.

deep direct-use↗