Opportunities to Improve Geothermal Technology Cost and Performance Modeling Request for Information (RFI) | DE FOA 0002524

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002524

The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), through its Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), issued this Request for Information (RFI) to gather practical feedback on how geothermal technology cost and performance are represented in energy system models and grid planning tools. The opportunity is not a traditional grant solicitation with funding available; instead, it is a structured request for stakeholder input intended to improve the assumptions, datasets, and methods that modelers and planners use when evaluating geothermal power on the grid. The RFI is titled "Opportunities to Improve Geothermal Technology Cost and Performance Modeling Request for Information (RFI)" and is identified as Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002524.

The central goal is to make sure geothermal is modeled accurately as the U.S. power system changes. As wind and solar costs continue to fall and energy storage becomes more widely deployed and more cost-competitive, grid operators and resource adequacy planners increasingly rely on sophisticated modeling to decide which resources to build and how to operate them. In that environment, geothermal's unique value can be undercounted if models rely on outdated or overly simplified assumptions about cost, performance, operational flexibility, capacity contribution, and risk. GTO is essentially asking: where are the current modeling approaches getting geothermal wrong or leaving important details out, and what would help fix those gaps so planning outcomes better reflect geothermal's real-world capabilities and limitations.

The RFI specifically seeks input from a broad set of stakeholders, including energy system modelers, geothermal developers and plant operators, utilities, public utility commissions, universities, national labs, other researchers, government agencies, and anyone else involved in geothermal deployment or analysis. By inviting such a wide group, DOE is trying to capture both technical modeling concerns (how geothermal is parameterized in capacity expansion models, production cost models, and resource adequacy studies) and on-the-ground project realities (actual cost drivers, performance ranges, operational constraints, and how these differ across geothermal resource types and locations).

The motivation behind the RFI is tied to long-term grid reliability and decarbonization. Geothermal can provide firm, dispatchable, low-carbon electricity, which may support reliability as the grid adds more variable renewable generation. However, geothermal will only show up in modeled portfolios and planning decisions at an "appropriate" level if its energy value and capacity value are represented accurately. DOE is signaling that it wants grid planning exercises to capture geothermal's contribution to a reliable, resilient, and decarbonized grid, rather than inadvertently discounting it because of incomplete cost and performance representations.

In terms of administrative details, this opportunity was posted by the Department of Energy's Golden Field Office under CFDA number 81.087 in the broad funding activity category of Energy. The opportunity category and instrument type are both listed as "Other," reflecting that it is an RFI rather than a standard grant or cooperative agreement. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning any entity type could submit input, subject to any clarifications in the official announcement. The notice was created on April 29, 2021, and the original closing date for responses was May 28, 2021. The listing shows an award ceiling of 2 and expected awards of 0, which aligns with the purpose of an RFI: collecting information rather than issuing financial awards.

Overall, the RFI is DOE GTO's attempt to improve the quality and credibility of geothermal representation in the modeling ecosystem that drives major investment and policy decisions. By identifying where existing geothermal cost and performance models may be incomplete, inconsistent, or out of date, DOE can better target future work such as data collection, methodology development, improved techno-economic assumptions, or guidance to analysts and planners. The intended outcome is that geothermal technologies are evaluated on a more accurate, apples-to-apples basis with other generation and storage options, supporting planning decisions that maintain reliability while moving toward a lower-carbon power system.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Opportunities to Improve Geothermal Technology Cost and Performance Modeling Request for Information (RFI)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 29, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 28, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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