The Department of Energy last week launched a research and development program into the production of superhot rock geothermal energy, a resource that is unused but has major potential — 1% of its U.S. capacity could provide 4.3 TW of firm power, according to the Clean Air Task Force.
DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy is offering $30 million in funding to begin its Stimulate Utilization of Plentiful Energy in Rocks through High-temperature Original Technologies, or SUPERHOT, program to provide access to reservoirs capable of producing 10 GW to 20 GW of baseload power at a competitive cost, ARPA-E said on Jan. 16. There is about 4 GW of conventional geothermal capacity in the United States, according to DOE.
Read more in Utility Dive here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
