The DOE’s July 11, 2022 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) announcement offered funding in a key field: geothermal energy. And, on Aug. 8, the DOE issued a FOA; although that mid-2022 FOA has expired, new ones will be issued over time, and those are key opportunities for small businesses and startups seeking to roll out geothermal energy projects. We’re grant writers, and we’ve worked on geothermal energy projects for startups and divisions of much larger companies, and I think we’re seeing a lot of ferment in the field because fracking techniques and technologies are being applied to geothermal energy—for example, one article in Science says that difficulty drilling through granite in the Utah desert caused the operators to “switch to tougher drills tipped with synthetic diamonds—a first for geothermal drilling in granite.” The article doesn’t specify whether diamond-tipped drill heads are originally a fracking innovation, but they might be. And it also says that “The FORGE well is lined with a steel casing that’s standard in oil fracking. Such linings make it easier to use specially designed gaskets to seal off sections of pipe in which operators detonate small explosives, shattering the pipe and exposing the surrounding rock.” I wonder what kind of specific steel is being used for zonal isolation and whether any plastic polymers are still being used as sealants.
(Despite the above, at least one person has written that: “Oil and gas fracturing techniques all failed in enhanced geothermal applications. After trial and error, the industry discovered fractures stay open when operators pump water colder than the surrounding rock.”)
Those kinds of technical issues are likely to arise among businesses seeking SBIR grants, and many applicants for DOE grants are likely technical, subject-matter-area experts. The grant application process itself is where we come into play as grant writers. We tell stories. A lot of scientists and engineers are experts in their fields: we’re experts at writing and preparing grant applications; call us at 800.540.8906 ext. 1, or email us at seliger@seliger.com, to learn more. We make the grant-seeking process faster and easier for applicants, whether they’re experienced or not—and most SBIR/STTR applicants are inexperienced in the wiles of DOE grant writing. We’ll bring those wiles to the DOE’s geothermal competition, which specifically notes funder interests in 1. “Novel approaches to characterize subsurface physical and chemical changes in porous rock-fluid systems,” and 2. “Development of new methodologies to understand porosity and permeability trends related to well stimulation” as well as 3. “Innovative wellbore designs that focus on utilizing heat contained in sedimentary rock stratigraphy.” These project areas are sufficiently broad that a wide range of
In mid-2022, the DOE wanted projects related to “sedimentary lithologies” and not those targeting “traditional geothermal crystalline systems.” The materials released as of July 2022 don’t specify any ultimate commercial wattage output or other system-size information or guidance. Presumably, that material will come later. But the overall competition is relatively open, and it seems that a wide range of possible systems are open to funding.
In most DOE funding processes, too, the DOE will offer feedback on the LOI, which effectively tells applicants whether to submit a full application, or to seek funding elsewhere. Many federal agencies will let applicants submit full applications, which can be difficult and time-consuming, before any up-or-down indication.
In addition to geothermal power, other topic areas included carbon storage and “wellbore repair and remediation.” The former appears to only deal with storage itself, and not with carbon capture in the first place. Overall, geothermal energy appears to be at an innovation inflection point due to its aforementioned adaptation of fracking and other technologies. Some oil and gas producers are looking at broadening their tech stack to geothermal technologies. We’re happy to be a part of that process.
