DOE Awards $8.4 Million for Accessing Geothermal Potential from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells

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Energy dot gov Office of Energy Efficiency and renewable energy

Geothermal Technologies Office

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January 12, 2022

DOE Awards $8.4 Million for Accessing Geothermal Potential from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today selected four new projects to receive up to $8.4 million to establish new geothermal energy and heat production from abandoned oil and gas wells. With this funding, DOE is partnering with existing well owners and operators to use their idle or unproductive wells to access otherwise untapped geothermal potential. Transforming oil wells into geothermal wells could expand U.S. geothermal energy capabilities energy, supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a carbon-free grid by 2035. This work also supports the creation of new clean energy jobs, helping transition some of the oil and gas workforce to the production of renewable energy. 

“With this initiative approach, we can transform existing fossil fuel wells into productive sources of sustainable, clean geothermal energy,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Kelly Speakes-Backman. “These efforts will demonstrate how to leverage our existing oil and gas workforce and infrastructure, bringing more geothermal energy online and transitioning our energy workforce into the growing clean energy economy.”

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