Geothermal Energy Exploration to Get Boost from University Research

Building on decades of successful research to develop exploration tools for the geothermal industry, the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology is leading a Department of Energy project that aims to accelerate discoveries of new, commercially viable hidden geothermal systems in the Great Basin region of the Western United States.

The DOE has awarded the University of Nevada, Reno program $10 million to build a playbook for industry that includes combining the techniques of play fairway analysis, machine learning, advanced geostatistics and other analytical techniques into a comprehensive, holistic, integrated exploration toolkit.

“We propose developing a best practices workflow that combines boots on the ground mapping with the most advanced analytical techniques to find optimal sites for geothermal exploration and resource development,” said Bridget Ayling, director of the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy and lead scientist on the four-and -a-half-year project, titled "Innovative Geothermal Exploration through Novel Investigations Of Undiscovered Systems."

Ayling has assembled a “who’s who” of scientists who have worked in geothermal related areas for more than 20 years. It’s a strong team of more than 30 collaborators at 12 partner institutions, including public and private organizations, such as the United States Geological Survey, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Utah Geological Survey, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories and Idaho Geological Survey. The multi-institutional team comprises a strong and diverse blend of experts, with a long history of successful collaborations focused on discovering, modeling and development of geothermal resources. Many team members have previously collaborated on major and successful geothermal projects.

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Image via University of Nevada.