Sen. Heller urges selection of Nevada facility for new DOE geothermal energy research headquarters

Prior to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selecting a site to establish its new headquarters for geothermal energy research, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) recent urged DOE Secretary Rick Perry to consider Nevada’s Fallon Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) for the department’s facility selection.

In 2016, the DOE announced that the Nevada site was one of two facilities in consideration for the new headquarters, with the other located in Utah. According to a release from Heller, the department is expected to make a final decision in early 2018.

The facility is currently comprised of researchers from Sandia National Laboratories, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Nevada-Reno, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Melo Park Science Center, the U.S. Navy’s Geothermal Program Office, Ormat Nevada, and the Itasca Consulting Group.

“Nevada is home to a world class university and community college programs dedicated to training geologic specialists,” Heller said. “Nevada is the second-most heavily geothermal installed state in the nation and has the greatest untapped geothermal potential of any state. Furthermore, we have development underway that will expand our geothermal generation portfolio nearly fivefold.”

In a separate letter from Nevada delegation members, the group stated that the technology represented a revolution for the industry and presented an enormous opportunity to expand the market share of clean, domestically-produced, baseload power in the U.S. electricity mix.

“As the scientists and researchers at FORGE produce technology breakthroughs, the existing education and economic infrastructure for geothermal in Northern Nevada will provide the strongest possible conditions for these innovations to proliferate into the commercial market,” the group said.