The consortium aims to accelerate development of geothermal by removing barriers to growth, supporting targeted, high impact R&D, and deploying ‘first of a kind’ projects

Project InnerSpace, a non-profit organization focused on removing barriers to exponential geothermal growth by 2030, announced that the US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a $165M Geothermal Energy from Oil and gas Demonstrated Engineering (GEODE) grant to a consortium formed by Project InnerSpace, the Society of Petroleum Engineering International (SPE), and Geothermal Rising (GR).

The grant will provide $10M in the first year, which will fund the consortium members, in collaboration with more than 100 partner entities, to develop a roadmap to accelerate the growth and development of geothermal, leveraging expertise, technologies, and methods from the oil and gas industry. From the second year onwards, the DOE will provide up to $155M in additional funds to finance execution of the plan.

The cross-industry collaboration formed by Project InnerSpace, the SPE, and GR will engage with both oil and gas experts, geothermal startups, and other stakeholders to build consensus around strategies and opportunities for geothermal innovation. The consortium will leverage the oil and gas industry's 100+ years of experience and technological development in drilling and subsurface engineering to address and overcome challenges currently constraining geothermal development.

“We look forward to advancing our collective vision for the role geothermal will play in the future of energy through this powerful partnership,” said Jamie Beard, Founder & Executive Director, Project InnerSpace. “This is the geothermal decade. By 2030, with focused concerted action, we can catalyze geothermal into exponential growth. The key to achieving this is building consensus and forging forward looking collaborations between the oil and gas and geothermal industries, and we will get that work done through this partnership. All hands on deck.”

Over the next five years, the consortium will address four key facets to accelerate geothermal development and production: technology transfer, demonstration and deployment, barriers to expansion, and workforce adoption. Within those facets, the consortium will focus on a variety of pain points constraining geothermal growth, including research and development gaps and roadmapping, stakeholder engagement, funding for keystone projects, and consensus building amongst ecosystem stakeholders.

“It is exciting for Geothermal Rising, and its expansive membership, to play a role in convening communities who, working together, hold the solution to our climate crisis through heat and electricity decarbonization,” said Bryant Jones, Executive Director of GR. “We really can use the earth to save the earth if we work together to make it happen.”

Accomplishing these goals will significantly contribute to achieving the cost targets outlined in the DOE's recently announced geothermal EarthShot, bringing down the costs of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) by 90%. The consortium's ultimate objective is to place geothermal into its proper and central role as the 'go-to' secure, reliable, safe, and clean energy source of the future.

“Geothermal provides oil and gas professionals an opportunity to leverage our collective expertise and resources to drive sustainable growth in the energy sector," said John Boden of SPE. "We believe that geothermal energy has the potential to become a key part of the global energy mix, and the oil and gas industry has significant contributions it can make towards achieving that goal. We are excited to be part of this groundbreaking collaboration."

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