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DOE artist concept of enhanced geothermal system. Source: EERE/DOE.

The Department of Energy just announced that it has $70 million to spend on proposals for technology advancements that can accelerate geothermal energy development. The new monies come will be available through a new competitive funding initiative that falls under its Geothermal Technologies Program. The new funding would be spread out over three years.

In a news release, DOE says it hopes the effort will “reduce the upfront cost of geothermal energy systems, expand their use and enable the United States to tap the huge potential of this renewable energy resource.”

Although no specific cost-reduction targets are mentioned, DOE does say that its ultimate goal is to have geothermal systems make “economically competitive” contributions to the U.S. energy supply. The agency highlights a U.S. Geological Survey report that new geothermal resources could add up to 30 gigawatts of renewable energy to the U.S. and adds that “enhanced geothermal systems — through the development of engineered reservoirs and other methods — have the potential for an even greater impact.” Elsewhere, DOE mentions that “enhanced” geothermal systems may up that number to 100 gigawatts

In the release, DOE Secretary Steven Chu says, ”The United States remains a global leader in geothermal energy development, and we can leverage our experience to develop more energy here at home while increasing our competitiveness in the global clean energy economy.”

DOE specifically mentions that it wants research proposals in six technical areas:

• Advanced Exploratory Drilling: To reduce the cost of exploratory drilling through advanced drilling bits, innovative and temperature hardened rock reduction technologies and casing-while-drilling systems.
• Advanced Well Completion: To reduce cost of completing geothermal wells through novel hole openers, effective measurement and/or logging while drilling, leaner casing designs and pressure and corrosion-resistant casing.
• Tools to Isolate Fracture Zones within a Well: To control the injection and production of water in geothermal systems by developing packers, tubular materials, valves, and/or non-mechanical diverters, etc. that are drillable, retrievable, or degradable and capable of operating with under specific pressures, wellbore diameters and temperatures.
• Observation Tools and Data Collection System for Reservoir Stimulation: To monitor and optimize reservoir creation through new observation tools, including individual components for high precision seismic monitoring, fluid flow, downhole pressure measurement and other monitoring devices to support reservoir stimulation activities; and innovative data collection systems and/or techniques combined with advanced technology to provide superior monitoring capabilities for low-amplitude events associated with geothermal exploration, development and operational activities.
• Geophysical Exploration Technologies: To develop remote sensing and to improve data processing and advanced seismic surveying technologies to better locate hidden resources.
• Geochemistry and Rock-Fluid Interactions: To enhance characterization of geothermal resources and predicting reservoir temperatures via improved geothermometers and geochemical tools to assist in discovering blind systems, fluid-rock interaction research to improve reservoir creation and reservoir sustainability, improved nderstanding of permeability using chemical signatures and improved rocessing of different geochemical signatures.

In particular, the agency says it is looking for partnerships among industry, national laboratories and academia.

Details about the technical areas, eligibility requirements and application instructions can be found here.

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Credit: DOE

The next few days should be fun for materials scientists and engineers. Tomorrow (May 25) begins the start of a three-day meeting where participants in the DOE’s 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers will begin the initial reporting-out (at least to the public) about what kind progress they have been able to make. There is a PDF brochure about all of the projects here.

These shouldn’t be expected to be anything close to final reports; most of the EFRCs are five-year projects begun in 2009, so they are only about one-third of the way through their work. It’s probably better to think about what will be reported as a combination of status report and dog-and-pony-show. I don’t intend this latter description to be taken as a negative. Political realities being what they are, the DOE and the Obama administration (not to mention the research teams, themselves) need to show how the monies for these projects are being spent, and what some of the eventual payoffs might be.

Unlike ARPA-E, the EFRCs are less applications- and deployment-oriented, and more aimed at basic science and discovery. The idea was to form “dream teams” of researchers who focus on fundamental breakthroughs needed for a new generation of “production, conversion, storage, transmission and waste mitigation.”

Put another way, without advances in basic science, applied technology and engineering would soon be tapped out. At the beginning, five major challenges were described:

• How do we control material processes at the level of electrons?
• How do we design and perfect atom- and energy-efficient synthesis of revolutionary new forms of matter with tailored properties?
• How can we master energy and information on the nanoscale to create new technologies with capabilities rivaling those of living things?
• How do remarkable properties of matter emerge from complex correlations of the atomic or electronic constituents, and how do we control these properties?
• How do we characterize and control matter away – especially very far away – from equilibrium?

One thing EFRCs have in common with ARPA-E projects is that there is considerable risk involved, at least in the sense that not every project is going to hit the jackpot. The EFRCs involve some highly theoretical and esoteric fields of study, so some educated guesswork had to be employed by DOE after it received over $1 billion in proposals (but only had the funding for about one-third). In this case, it’s better to think of the DOE as a venture capitalist who put together a large portfolio of promising investments knowing that there will be an enormous payoff even if only a few elements of the portfolio pan out.

I am sure we will be hearing much more in the next few days, but the DOE is teasing us with developments in four intriguing (and, coincidentally, materials-intensive) areas:

Microscopic Battery Charging — Lead institution: University of Maryland

“This research team has built the world’s smallest lithium battery inside an advanced microscope, and for the first time has been able to watch how its structure changes while it’s being charged. Understanding these changes may enable new design and production of batteries that perform better and last longer.”

Safer Materials for Nuclear Reactors — Lead institution: Los Alamos National Laboratory

“Using a combination of modeling tools, the research team is looking at improving the safety of our nuclear reactors and has discovered possible ’self-healing’ mechanisms for nuclear reactor materials.”

Controlling How Light Interacts with Materials — Lead institution: California Institute of Technology

“Using computer simulation, the research team found that small glass spheres could affect the absorption of sunlight by solar cells by helping to collect and retain light. The small glass spheres could enable efficient coupling of sunlight to ultrathin semiconductor layers, significantly increasing solar cell efficiency and cost-effectiveness.”

Improved LED’s for Homes and Businesses — Lead institution: University of California, Santa Barbara

“A new understanding of the mysterious drop-off in efficiency when LEDs are subjected to strong electric current could eventually help remove barriers to widespread use of low-energy solid-state lighting for homes and industry, greatly reducing power usage.”

In a 2009 interview I did with John Hemminger, who chairs the DOE’s Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, he spoke optimistically about the prospect for EFRC success. ”We’ve developed capabilities to do certain materials engineering at an atomistic, nanometer-scale level combined with revolutionary computational abilities to predict materials properties in advanced of making them. We are at the dawn of a new age called control science, where we can say, ‘these are the properties we need,’ we can predict what the materials need to be like, and we have a way to make them,” he said. “Fundamental understanding of complex materials is essential to crating new energy strategies,” he said.

I also think the EFRCs have a far less discussed benefit: They also represent, to a large extent, investments in promising early-career scientists, and I give credit to DOE Secretary Steven Chu for noting in a news release that, ”In just two years, these research centers have inspired a new generation of talented young Americans to dedicate their careers to meeting our nation’s energy challenges.”

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Sent out a few minutes ago from the DOE, this is from Secretary Steven Chu’s testimony this morning before the United States House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development (part of the House Committee on Appropriations):

“[T]he Department of Energy has sent two experts to Japan to provide advice and technical assistance. One is an emergency response representative deployed as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development Disaster Assistance Response Team, and the other is a nuclear engineer with Japanese language skills.

“We are positioning Consequence Management Response Teams at U.S. Consulates and military installations in Japan. These teams have the skills, expertise and equipment to help assess, survey, monitor and sample areas. They include smaller groups that could be sent out to gather technical information in the area.

“We have sent our Aerial Measuring System capability, including detectors and analytical equipment used to provide assessments of contamination on the ground.

“In total, the DOE team includes 34 people with more than 17,000 pounds of equipment.

“The Department is also monitoring activities through the DOE Nuclear Incident Team and is employing assets at its National Laboratories to provide ongoing predictive atmospheric modeling capabilities based on a variety of scenarios.

“The American people should have full confidence that the United States has rigorous safety regulations in place to ensure that our nuclear power is generated safely and responsibly. Information is still coming in about the events unfolding in Japan, but the administration is committed to learning from Japan’s experience as we work to continue to strengthen America’s nuclear industry.

“Safety remains at the forefront of our effort to responsibly develop America’s energy resources, and we will continue to incorporate best practices and lessons learned into that process.

“To meet our energy needs, the administration believes we must rely on a diverse set of energy sources including renewables like wind and solar, natural gas, clean coal and nuclear power. We look forward to a continued dialogue with Congress on moving that agenda forward.”

AFP reports that when questioned, Chu said “we do plan for” the risk of tsunamis at facilities built near the ocean. It also reports that he pledged that the administration “is committed to learn from Japan’s experience” and stressed “whenever there’s an incident such as what’s happening in Japan, we have to pay very close attention to that, think very hard.”

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Map of southwestern grid transmission project, Southwest Intertie Project. Credit: DOI.

The DOE announced it is using Recovery Act monies to provide a loan guarantee for $343 million to assist a consortium building a 500 kV transmission line poised to transmit 600 MW of power throughout the Southwest.

The significance of this grid loan guarantee is that it’s the first of its kind, and most likely the first of many, as the nation’s push to integrate renewables into a national grid will call for a heavy network of transmission lines to transport the energy from its source.

The One Nevada Transmission Line project, or ON Line, is phase one of a two-phase transmission project, the Southwest Intertie Project. SWIP will link Nevada, Wyoming and Idaho to the entire southwest region and California. At the end of both phases, SWIP will consist of a 510-mile transmission system spanning Idaho to southern Nevada. The entire project is estimated to cost $1.6 billion, according to the Department of the Interior.

“As our country increases its use of alternative energy sources, new transmissions lines like the ON Line project will play a vital role in moving clean energy from one region to another,” says Steven Chu in a DOE press release.

“Traveling through several areas under consideration for wind, solar and geothermal power generation projects, this line will provide the critical transmission infrastructure to bring that potential to western communities,” said DOI Secretary Ken Salazar at the On Line groundbreaking ceremony last October.

The ON Line portion of the SWIP project is estimated to cost $510 million to build. The additional $167 million will be gathered from equity and debt from NV Energy, according to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

ON Line should be fully operational by early 2013. The full SWIP project has an operational date of 2014. Fund guarantees for the second phase of the project, known as SWIP-North, will most likely be granted in mid-2011 as Great Basin Transmission (contributing as a joint-venture energy company alongside NV Energy) anticipates having all permit requirements complete at that time.

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Lots of stuff the last few days:

Salazar, Chu announce major offshore wind initiatives; Strategic plan, $50 million in R&D funding, identified

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced major steps forward in support of offshore wind energy in the United States, including new funding opportunities for up to $50.5 million for projects that support offshore wind energy deployment and several high priority Wind Energy Areas in the mid-Atlantic that will spur rapid, responsible development of this abundant renewable resource.

DOE pursues SunShot initiative to achieve cost competitive solar energy by 2020; Announces $27 Million in projects to advance solar development and manufacturing

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced additional details of the Department of Energy’s “SunShot” initiative to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent so that they are cost competitive at large scale with other forms of energy without subsidies before the end of the decade. By reducing the cost for utility scale installations by about 75 percent to roughly $1 a watt - which would correspond to roughly 6 cents per kilowatt-hour - solar energy systems could be broadly deployed across the country.

DOE facilitates market-driven solutions to develop and deploy new high-efficiency commercial air conditioners; Jointly-developed performance criteria to help businesses save money, improve economic competitiveness

Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the Department of Energy is joining with the private sector to support market-based efforts to develop and deploy next-generation high-efficiency air conditioners for commercial buildings. As part of a voluntary program, the Department worked with members of the DOE Commercial Building Energy Alliances, including Target and Wal-Mart, to develop new performance criteria for 10-ton capacity commercial air conditioners, also known as rooftop units (RTUs). When built according to the requirements of the new specifications, these high-efficiency rooftop units are expected to reduce energy use by as much as 50-60 percent over the current equipment. Commercial buildings account for 18 percent of U.S. energy use and include significant opportunities for energy and financial savings that can help American companies be more competitive on a global scale.

DOE Energy Innovation Portal connects innovative energy technologies to the marketplace

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Innovation Portal now has more than 300 business-friendly marketing summaries available to help investors and companies identify and license leading-edge energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. The Portal is an online tool that links available DOE innovations to the entrepreneurs who can successfully license and commercialize them. By helping to move these innovations from the laboratory to the market, the Portal facilitates an integral step in supporting growing America’s clean energy industries and meeting the Administration’s clean energy goals.

You know, the DOE still has $22 billion in checks to write, too.

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