Drop-In Biofuels Get up to $36 Million in DOE Support
DOE announced on June 10 it will offer up to $36 million to fund six small-scale projects that will advance the technology and process integration needed to produce "drop-in" advanced biofuels and other bio-based chemicals.
The projects, in California, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, aim to improve the economics and efficiency of biological and chemical processes that convert non-food biomass feedstocks into replacements for petroleum-based feedstocks.
Selections include a project by HCL CleanTech, in Oxford, North Carolina, that will develop and demonstrate process improvements for pretreatment, conversion to sugars, and subsequent conversion of those sugars to fuels. An undertaking by the Texas Engineering Experiment Station in College Station, Texas, will focus on developing a novel pretreatment for cellulosic biomass feedstocks using a combination of chemical and mechanical processing.
DOE's Biomass Program works with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies. See the DOE press release and the Biomass Program website.
DOE Announces up to $70 Million to Advance Geothermal Energy
DOE announced on June 8 the availability of up to $70 million over three years for technology advancements in geothermal energy. The goal is to reduce upfront costs and lower the price of geothermal energy.
DOE is targeting innovations in exploration technologies to locate geothermal resources, as well as improvements in resource characterization, drilling, and reservoir engineering techniques.
This funding opportunity will support DOE's partnerships with industry, national laboratories, and academia to advance key technology research areas including advanced exploratory drilling to reduce costs; advanced well completion; tools to isolate fracture zones within a well by working to control injection and production of water in geothermal systems; observation tools and data collection systems for reservoir stimulation; geophysical exploration technologies such as remote sensing and advanced seismic surveying to locate hidden resources; and geochemistry and rock-fluid interactions. See the DOE press release, the funding description, and Geothermal Technologies Program website.
And on June 14, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a report outlining ways to achieve at least a tenfold increase in global production of heat and electricity from geothermal energy between now and 2050. The IEA said that with a combination of policy actions that encourage the development of untapped geothermal resources and new technologies, geothermal energy can account for around 3.5% of annual global electricity production and 3.9% of energy for heat by 2050, an increase from current levels of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. See the IEA press release.
DOE Offers Conditional Loan Guarantee for Nevada Geothermal Project
DOE announced on June 9 the offer of a conditional commitment to provide a partial guarantee for a $350 million loan for a geothermal project. The project, sponsored by Ormat Nevada, Inc., is expected to produce 121 MW of base-load power from three geothermal facilities. And, it will increase geothermal production in Nevada by nearly 25%. The company estimates the project will create approximately 330 construction jobs and nearly 65 permanent jobs.
The geothermal facilities feature Ormat Energy Converter modules, which draw hot water from wells deep below the Earth's surface. The water's thermal energy is used to heat a secondary fluid that is vaporized and then forced through a turbine to generate electricity.
