While the University of Oklahoma moves rapidly ahead with a geothermal project to help heat Tuttle schools, the Energy Department announced this week $15 million in funding two similar projects, one in Colorado and another in California.
A $9 million grant went to a project entitled “Geothermal Limitless Approach to Drilling Efficiencies in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of Colorado.
Occidental Petroleum and its partners from the industry, national laboratories and academia plan to drill twin high-temperature geothermal wells using existing and novel drilling technologies. The team plans to drill to deeper and hotter depths than most existing geothermal and at a faster rate.
The California project will be in the Geysers Geothermal Field and involve testing of different methods in a range of temperatures and conditions. It will be funded by a $6.2 million grant.
The geothermal projects are part of the Energy Department’s goal of powering at least 40 million American homes with renewable geothermal power by 2050. These projects build on earlier DOE investments to advance geothermal drilling technology and methods, helping to transfer research from laboratory settings into the field and, ultimately, the marketplace.
The earlier funding of more than $11 million in projects included money for the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.