Indiana Geothermal Projects Receive Federal Funding

Press Releases

October 30, 2009

FORT WAYNE, IND. – Indiana Tech has been awarded a grant of $1.34 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund an innovative geothermal research project on the university’s Fort Wayne campus. Indiana Tech will partner with Fort Wayne-based WaterFurnace International, a world renowned manufacturer of ground source heat pumps and geothermal systems, to research an innovative 130-ton geothermal project using technology not yet available commercially and never implemented at this scale in the United States.

“This is such an important project, not only for our university, but for the United States and the world,” said Indiana Tech President Arthur E. Snyder. “WaterFurnace is pioneering technology that will make strides in alternative and renewable energy sources. To have our faculty and students working alongside them in this research is very exciting.”

Indiana Tech offers a bachelor’s degree in energy engineering, and professors and students in the program will work with WaterFurnace’s research and development scientists to monitor and test equipment and analyze the findings. The research results will help WaterFurnace further its development of geothermal products and processes, and data will be shared publicly to advance knowledge of the benefits of ground source heat pumps worldwide.

“We are developing innovative and cost effective compressor and control technologies, as well as a system that uses carbon dioxide as a refrigerant,” said WaterFurnace President and CEO Tom Huntington. “Coolant sources that have traditionally been used, like Freon, can be harmful to the environment, so this is an important step forward. Indiana Tech is the perfect university for us to work with to conduct research that can offer significant advances in the energy industry.”

The unique five-year project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The geothermal field will be connected to the university’s administration center, converting it from a gas-fired boiler system. The new energy source is integral to a larger renovation project for that building. Originally constructed in the 1850s, the building is being modernized with green technology to achieve silver certification from LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Other buildings on campus also will be connected to the new geothermal system.

“The geothermal field and the green renovation of the administration building will offer our engineering students a living laboratory to investigate cutting edge developments in alternative and renewable energy design with leaders in that field,” said Dave Aschliman, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences at the university.

The project will be implemented immediately. Installation of the geothermal equipment is expected to begin in spring 2010.

Also involved in the geothermal system and building projects are the architectural firm, Viridian Architectural Design, and Primary Engineering, the mechanical and electrical engineers. Michael Kinder and Sons is the construction manager.

The total cost of the geothermal project is $2.68 million. In keeping with governmental requirements, the university will contribute half of the total cost. The conversion to geothermal energy will result in increased energy efficiency on campus and ultimate cost savings.

Source: Indiana Tech

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October 29, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC – The state of Indiana today received funding to accelerate domestic geothermal energy when U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies. These grants will support 123 projects in 39 states, with recipients including private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and DOE’s National Laboratories. The grants will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds.

“The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy,” said Secretary Chu. “These investments in America's technological innovation will allow us to capture more of this clean, carbon free energy at a lower cost than ever before. We will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help to jumpstart the geothermal industry across the United States.”

These grants are directed towards identifying and developing new geothermal fields and reducing the upfront risk associated with geothermal development through innovative exploration and drilling projects and data development and collection. In addition, the grants will support the deployment and creative financing approaches for ground source heat pump demonstration projects across the country.

Collectively, these projects will represent a dramatic expansion of the U.S. geothermal industry and will create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration, construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source heat pump equipment.

The projects selected for negotiation of awards fall in six categories:

· Innovative Exploration and Drilling Projects (up to $98.1 million): Twenty-four projects have been selected focusing on the development of new geothermal fields using innovative sensing, exploration, and well-drilling technologies.

· Coproduced, Geopressured, and Low Temperature Projects (up to $20.7 million): Eleven projects have been selected for the development of new low-temperature geothermal fields, a vast but currently untapped set of geothermal resources. This includes geothermal heat found in the hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells around the U.S., where up to ten barrels of hot water are produced for every barrel of oil.

· Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstrations (up to $51.4 million): Three projects have been selected for the exploration, drilling and development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to validate power production from deep hot rock resources using innovative technologies and approaches.

· Enhanced Geothermal Systems Components Research and Development / Analysis (up to $81.5 million): Forty-five projects have been selected to focus on research and development of new technologies to find and drill into deep hot rock formations, stimulate enhanced geothermal reservoirs, and convert the heat to power.

· Geothermal Data Development, Collection and Maintenance (up to $24.6 million): Three projects have been selected for the population of a comprehensive nationwide geothermal resource database to help identify and assess new fields.

· Ground Source Heat Pump Demonstrations (up to $61.9 million): Thirty-seven projects have been selected to demonstrate the deployment of ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling of a variety of buildings for a variety of customer types, including academic institutions, local governments and commercial buildings.

View the project selections announced today.

DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program works in partnership with U.S. industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply. Learn more information about these awards on the Geothermal Technologies Program website at http://geothermal.energy.gov.

This announcement covers projects selected for financial award. The final details and funding level of each project are subject to modification based on contract negotiations between the selected entity and the Department of Energy.

Source: The White House