The Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) uses the Geothermal Electricity Technology Evaluation Model (GETEM) to understand the performance and cost of energy technologies GTO seeks to improve. The model helps GTO determine which proposed research, development, and deployment (RD&D) programs and projects might offer the most efficient improvement when based on taxpayer funding.

GETEM is an Excel-based tool for estimating the levelized cost of energy for definable geothermal scenarios. It is a detailed model of the estimated performance and costs of currently available U.S. geothermal power systems. It can be used to analyze and evaluate the state of existing technologies, and estimate the cost of certain technologies 5–20 years in the future, given the direction of potential RD&D projects.

Electrical power generation is the sole geothermal use considered by GETEM. The model does not provide assessment capabilities for geothermal heating and cooling technologies. It can evaluate a hydrothermal or an enhanced geothermal system resource type, and then either a flash-steam or air-cooled binary power plant based on specific resource parameters.

To use the latest version of the GETEM tool, please refer to the 2016 GETEM user manual. Note that the GETEM model requires that the Solver add-in is installed in Excel.  

The 2016 version is an update of the 2012 Beta Version of the GETEM tool, which focuses on the use of an enhanced geothermal resource with an air-cooled binary generation plant. The 2012 version has not been subjected to any rigorous check or validation. Do not use the 2012 Beta Version without accessing the GETEM manuals and revision notes. A new version of GETEM, integrated into the free techno-economic System Advisor Model (SAM), is planned for release in the near future. Keep an eye out for more information about this update.  

This model and its documentation were prepared as required work under a subcontract from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory, to Princeton Energy Resources International, Rockville, Maryland. The estimates and correlations for the performance and costs of geothermal electric power systems are intended for use in analysis of government policies, and should not be construed or represented as "official DOE estimates of performance and/or cost of any real geothermal power system or any of its components."

Further, neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its usefulness would not infringe privately owned rights.