Nevada is 1 of 2 finalists for site of federal geothermal energy research lab
Nevada is one of two finalists to host a federal laboratory to develop the next generation of geothermal energy technology.
The Department of Energy announced Wednesday that its choice to host the new Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal, or FORGE, is down to a pair of candidate sites: one within the U.S. Naval Air Station in Fallon and the other near Milford, Utah.
Those two sites won out over three other locations in California, Idaho and Oregon selected for study — and $400,000 each in federal funding — in April 2015.
The Nevada team is led by Sandia National Laboratories and includes the U.S. Navy; the U.S. Geological Survey; the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the University of Nevada, Reno; Reno-based Ormat Technologies; California-based consulting firm GeothermEx; and the Minnesota-based Itasca Consulting Group.
The University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute is leading the push for the Milford site with partners such as the USGS, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Temple University and others.
The two teams will now share $29 million in seed money over several years to fully equip, test and certify their underground labs for the competitive third phase of the FORGE effort, after which one of the sites will be chosen as the headquarters for the research effort.
Sen. Harry Reid, who pushed hard for the Fallon site, heralded its selection as one of FORGE’s final two.
“The nation’s lab for advancing geothermal energy belongs in Nevada and will further establish Nevada as a leader in renewable energy,” Reid said in a written statement announcing the two finalists. “Enhanced geothermal systems are the next frontier in clean energy, and they are an enormous opportunity for the Silver State’s economic growth.”
The project is being advanced as part of the Obama administration’s commitment to the president’s Climate Action Plan, which seeks to dramatically cut carbon pollution and expand renewable energy production.
Franklin Orr, Under Secretary for Science and Energy, said geothermal represents “a vast energy resource with the potential to generate enough clean energy to power millions of homes.”
The ultimate goal of the FORGE project is to develop enhanced geothermal systems capable of producing more than 100 gigawatts of renewable electric generating capacity by harnessing natural heat from the Earth.
The nation’s present geothermal capacity stands at 3.5 gigawatts, according to the Energy Department.
In data collected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Nevada ranks second in the nation for geothermal energy production behind California.
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.
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