Geothermal Technologies Office RFI: Enhancing Geothermal Technology Cost and Performance Modeling

The Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), welcomes input from energy system modelers, geothermal developers and operators, utilities and public utility commissions, as well as from academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other geothermal stakeholders on opportunities to improve geothermal technology cost and performance modeling. As variable renewable energy resources continue declining in cost, and grid operators transition to greater use of what is increasingly cost-competitive energy storage, the energy and capacity value of geothermal generation needs to be accurately represented and captured by resource adequacy planners. GTO is soliciting this Request For Information (RFI) from the broader stakeholder community in order to ensure that geothermal technology costs and performance assumptions are most accurately represented in all grid modeling and planning efforts. This will ensure that geothermal technologies achieve appropriate market share that can support a reliable, resilient, and decarbonized grid. With the help of stakeholder feedback from this RFI, GTO aims to improve its understanding of where there may be gaps in existing geothermal technology performance and cost models, and thus where to best focus future potential efforts for eliminating such gaps.