As part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Energy Department has announced five projects selected for a total of $2 million for the first part of the multiphase Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) effort. One of the most promising is right here in East Idaho.
The proposed FORGE site on the Snake River Plain in Idaho is located on Idaho National Laboratory’s lands, and has already been designated as a 100 km2 Geothermal Resource Research Area. The field site is located along the Yellowstone Hotspot—an area with potentially favorable subsurface temperature and mechanical rock characteristics. The Snake River Geothermal Consortium will begin planning, modeling, and public engagement to adapt existing technologies to geothermal systems, helping to advance geothermal energy as a widespread source of renewable baseload power.
This field laboratory, dedicated to cutting-edge research on enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), could unlock access to a domestic, geographically diverse, and carbon-free source of clean energy with the potential to supply power to up to 100 million homes in the United States. The first two phases of FORGE will provide a total of up to $31 million over two years for selected teams.
“Through these kinds of critical investments in renewable energy, the Department is helping develop cost-effective technologies for engineering geothermal systems that supply affordable, zero-carbon energy to millions of American homes and businesses,” said Under Secretary for Science and Energy Lynn Orr. “Enhanced geothermal systems could represent the next frontier of renewable energy and hold the potential to diversify the nation’s energy portfolio while reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.”
EGS are engineered geothermal reservoirs, created beneath the surface of the earth, where there is hot rock but limited pathways through which fluid can flow. During EGS development, underground fluid pathways are safely created and their size and connectivity increased. These enhanced pathways allow fluid to circulate throughout the hot rock and carry heat to the surface to generate electricity. EGS development could lead to more than 100 gigawatts of economically viable electric generating capacity in the continental United States, representing a two-orders-of-magnitude increase over present geothermal capacity.