The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) partners with industry, academia, and research facilities to further the development of geothermal energy technologies through funding and support of geothermal projects. Competitive solicitations issued as Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are the principal mechanism used to contract for cost-shared research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects. Other types of funding announcements include Notices of Technical Assistance, Notices of Intent, Prizes and Competitions, and Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs.

Current geothermal-related funding opportunities are listed below. Although GTO maintains current information on these solicitations, the official source for funding information is the EERE Funding Opportunity Exchange, also called the EERE Exchange.

All potential applicants and reviewers need to have a login.gov account to access EERE Exchange and apply to open opportunities. For more information, please read the Multi-Factor Authentication Quick Guide.

To receive notice of new GTO funding opportunities, sign up for GTO office updates and subscribe to our monthly newsletter, The Drill Down, which also includes information on other DOE funding opportunities.

 

 

SBIR and STTR Programs

U.S. Department of Energy | Office of SBIT/STTR Programs | SBIR STTR America's Seed Fund

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs help small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). SBIR/STTR released the Phase II Release 2 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on February 26, 2024. The opportunity includes funding for qualified small businesses to carry out geothermal-related projects, including in long-term geothermal reservoir monitoring. An informational webinar is scheduled for March 1, 2024, letters of intent are due March 27, 2024, and full applications are due April 30, 2024.

What Does GTO Do? flyer showing the funding opportunities stage in phase 4 for projects and how the American public has opportunities to receive money for geothermal projects.

SBIR/STTR released the Phase I Release 2 FOA on January 18, 2024. The opportunity includes funding for qualified small businesses to carry out projects in advanced data collection for geothermal applications. Letters of intent were due February 2, 2024, and full applications are due March 12, 2024.   

The SBIR/STTR Programs provide competitively selected grants for projects that have the potential for commercialization and meet specific DOE mission-specific R&D needs. Specific research topics are selected through the DOE SBIR/STTR Programs Office working collaboratively with DOE's program offices. 

DOE SBIR/STTR offers more than 60 technical topics and 250 subtopics, spanning multiple research areas. To learn more, visit the Office of Science's SBIR Funding Opportunities page and open the Topic Areas or FOA documents listed on the tables’ “Document” rows. 

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Open Opportunities

 

A diagram of overlapping wellbore casing and cementing materials against a depiction of subsurface layers of soil and rock, with the following text - Wellbore Construction Considerations: high temperature, high pressure/compressive, corrosive chemistries, crystalline rock, surrounding rock often fractured
Wellbore Construction Considerations with a Diagram of Wellbore Casing
Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) Diagram. Baserock at bottom; above this is Sedimentary Formation (SF). Hot Well and Cold Well tap into SF, passing through Caprock from surface. Charging Cycle flows from Cold Well via Heat Exchanger to Hot Well. Heat from non-geothermal Sources (solar, nuclear, conventional, biomass, etc.) also flow through Heat Exchanger, cycling from hot to cold. In Discharging Cycle, Hot Brine via Hot Well goes through Power Block, becoming Cold Brine returned to SF via Cold Well.
Diagram of Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) Processes

Combined Wellbore Construction High Temperature Tools and Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES)

On January 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $31 million in total funding for a combined Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support two topic areas: Topic Area 1, which addresses downhole cement and casing evaluation tools for use in high-temperature and hostile geothermal wellbores, and Topic Area 2, which addresses low-temperature (<130◦ C) reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) technology with applications to industrial processes. Letters of intent are due March 1, 2024, and full applications are due April 1, 2024. Learn more and read the full FOA.  

 

EnergyTech UP | U.S. Department of Energy | Office of Technology Transitions

EnergyTech UP 

The EnergyTech University Prize (EnergyTech UP) awards a total of $550,000 to winning competitors for developing a business plan that incorporates an up-and-coming energy technology. The competition is supported by the Office of Technology Transitions in partnership with GTO and other DOE offices, and GTO encourages geothermal-focused applicants to apply and further advance geothermal energy. 

New this year: The 2024 competition includes a collegiate faculty track for educators to create an implementation plan for integrating or expanding energy technology commercialization or entrepreneurship activities at their home institutions.   

Read the 2024 rules and regulations and sign up to compete in EnergyTech UP 2024 by February 1, 2024! For more information, stream the recording of the first informational webinar and check out the prize’s timeline for additional live webinars. 

 

 U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Geophone Prize amplification graphic, one of the American Made Geothermal Prizes

Geothermal Geophone Prize

The Geothermal Geophone Prize provides $3.65 million in total incentives and engages with the nation’s innovators and entrepreneurs to rapidly discover, develop, and deliver new high temperature seismic sensor solutions. This prize was launched on April 18, 2022 and is currently in Phase 2. Visit the Geothermal Geophone Prize to learn more and apply.

 

Closed Opportunities

Name

Open Date

Close Date

Funding Number

Geothermal Collegiate Competition 2023

Aug. 1, 2023

Oct. 4, 2023

N/A

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Pilot Demonstrations (Round 1)

Feb. 8, 2023

Jun. 16, 2023

DE-FOA-0002826

FY22 AMMTO-GTO Joint FOA: Lithium Extraction and Conversion From Geothermal Brines

Nov. 9, 2022

Jan. 31, 2023

DE‐FOA‐0002823

FORGE Solicitation for EGS

Aug. 15, 2022

Jan. 10, 2023

N/A

Geothermal energy from Oil and Gas Demonstrated Engineering (GEODE)

July 28, 2022

Oct. 28, 2022

DE-FOA-0002776

EnergyTech University Prize 2023

May 10, 2022 Jan. 26, 2023 N/A

Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling Design and Deployment Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)

May 3, 2022

Oct. 11, 2022

DE-FOA-0002632

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)-2022 Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Pilot Demonstrations Request for Information

April 19, 2022

May 13, 2022

DE-FOA-0002749

Geothermal Drilling Technology Demonstration Campaign Funding Opportunity Announcement

Feb. 4, 2022

June 3,2022

DE-FOA-0002656

FY 2022 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Funding Opportunities

Dec. 13, 2021

Feb. 22, 2022

DE-FOA-0002555

Direct Air Capture Combined with Dedicated Long-Term Carbon Storage, Coupled to Existing Low-Carbon Energy

Oct. 26, 2021

Dec. 22, 2021

DE-FOA-0002560

Geothermal Collegiate Competition – Class of 2022 (Winners were announced in May 2022)

June 16, 2021

Nov. 18, 2021

N/A

Wells of Opportunity (WOO): Amplify II and Reamplify

June 10, 2021

Aug. 16, 2021

DE-FOA-0002525

Innovative Methods to Control Hydraulic Properties of Enhanced Geothermal Systems

April 30, 2021

June 15, 2021

DE-FOA-0002498

Opportunities to Improve Geothermal Technology Cost and Performance Modeling

April 28, 2021

May 28, 2021

DE-FOA-0002524

Wells of Opportunity (WOO): Pilot and Amplify

Feb. 4, 2020

April 24, 2020

DE-FOA-0002227

Hydrothermal and Low Temperature Geothermal Research

Feb. 4, 2020

May 4, 2020

DE-FOA-0002219

American-Made Challenge: Geothermal Manufacturing Prize

Jan. 29, 2020

Aug. 29, 2022

N/A

Subsurface Stress and Loss Circulation in Geothermal Drilling

March 28, 2019

June 7, 2019

DE-FOA-0002083

Call for Proposals to Advance Geothermal Research and Development

Jan. 3, 2019

Jan. 31, 2020

N/A

Machine Learning for Geothermal Energy

July 19, 2018

Nov. 13, 2018

DE-FOA-0001956

Zonal Isolation for Manmade Geothermal Reservoirs

June 25, 2018

July 25, 2018

DE-FOA-0001945

Efficient Drilling for Geothermal Energy (EDGE)

April 23, 2018

July 16, 2018

DE-FOA-0001880

Deep Direct-Use Feasibility Studies

Nov. 15, 2016

Feb. 22, 2017

DE-FOA-0001601

Mineral Recovery Phase II: Geothermal Concepts and Approaches to Validate Extraction Technologies

Dec. 1, 2015

Feb. 29, 2016

DE-FOA-0001376

Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE)

July 17, 2014

Nov. 12, 2014

DE-FOA-0000890

Integrated Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Research and Development

Feb. 21, 2014

April 30, 2014

DE-FOA-0000842

Low Temperature Geothermal Mineral Recovery Program

Feb. 4, 2014

May 2, 2014

DE-FOA-0001016

Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis

Jan. 24, 2014

April 11, 2014

DE-FOA-0000841