The US Department of Energy has chosen US Geothermal’s (HTM) Raft River site in Idaho as one of 21 projects to demonstrate the viability of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and will provide up to $6 million to fund the research.  The program is designed to perform a monitored thermal stimulation of an existing injection well to improve permeability within the geologic horizon that hosts the Raft River geothermal reservoir.

“We believe this EGS project will have a significant impact on efforts to develop more geothermal energy from the Raft River site that might not otherwise be developed. The knowledge gained from this work at Raft River should also help to advance EGS technology and the growth of geothermal energy in the U.S.,” said Daniel Kunz, U.S. Geothermal President and Chief Executive Officer. “With this important DOE funding, our industry hopes to advance the state of knowledge to realize the vast potential of EGS, which may provide America with 100,000 MW of clean, baseload power according to a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study.”