IB 

Union Calendar No. 122 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2304 

[Report No. 110–203] 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to conduct a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application for geothermal energy, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2007 

Mr. MCNERNEY (for himself, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, and Mr. LAMPSON) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Science and Technology 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Additional sponsors: Mr. HONDA, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. HALL of New York, Ms. 

MATSUI, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. SCHIFF, 

and Mr. WALDEN of Oregon 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 14, 2007] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to conduct a program 

of research, development, demonstration, and commercial 


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application for geothermal energy, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advanced Geothermal 

5 Energy Research and Development Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States has a critical national in9 terest in developing clean, domestic, renewable sources 

10 of energy in order to mitigate the causes of climate 

11 change, reduce other environmental impacts of energy 

12 production, increase national security, improve public 

13 health, and bolster economic stability. 

14 (2) Geothermal energy is a renewable energy re15 source. 

16 (3) Geothermal energy is unusual among renew17 able energy sources because of its ability to provide an 

18 uninterrupted supply of baseload electricity. 

19 (4) Recently published assessments by reputable 

20 experts, including the Massachusetts Institute of Tech21 nology, the Western Governors Association, and the 

22 National Renewable Energy Laboratory, indicate that 

23 the Nation’s geothermal resources are widely distrib24 uted, vast in size, and barely tapped. 


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1 (5) Sustained and expanded research, develop2 ment, demonstration, and commercial application 

3 programs are needed to locate and characterize geo4 thermal resources, and to develop the technologies that 

5 will enable their widespread commercial development. 

6 (6) Federal support is critical to reduce the fi7 nancial risk associated with developing new geo8 thermal technologies, thereby encouraging the private 

9 sector investment necessary to make geothermal re10 sources commercially viable as a source of electric 

11 power and for other applications. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 For purposes of this Act: 

14 (1) ENGINEERED.—When referring to enhanced 

15 geothermal systems, the term ‘‘engineered’’ means sub16 jected to intervention, including intervention to ad17 dress one or more of the following issues: 

18 (A) Lack of effective permeability or poros19 ity or open fracture connectivity within the res20 ervoir. 

21 (B) Insufficient contained geofluid in the 

22 reservoir. 

23 (C) A low average geothermal gradient, 

24 which necessitates deeper drilling. 


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1 (2) ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS.—The 

2 term ‘‘enhanced geothermal systems’’ means geo3 thermal reservoir systems that are engineered, as op4 posed to occurring naturally. 

5 (3) GEOFLUID.—The term ‘‘geofluid’’ means any 

6 fluid used to extract thermal energy from the Earth 

7 which is transported to the surface for direct use or 

8 electric power generation, except that such term shall 

9 not include oil or natural gas. 

10 (4) GEOPRESSURED RESOURCES.—The term 

11 ‘‘geopressured resources’’ mean geothermal deposits 

12 found in sedimentary rocks under higher than normal 

13 pressure and saturated with gas or methane. 

14 (5) GEOTHERMAL.—The term ‘‘geothermal’’ re15 fers to heat energy stored in the Earth’s crust that 

16 can be accessed for direct use or electric power genera17 tion. 

18 (6) HYDROTHERMAL.—The term ‘‘hydrothermal’’ 

19 refers to naturally occurring subsurface reservoirs of 

20 hot water or steam. 

21 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Energy. 

23 (8) SYSTEMS APPROACH.—The term ‘‘systems 

24 approach’’ means an approach to solving problems or 

25 designing systems that attempts to optimize the perVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:55 Jun 21, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2304.RH H2304

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1 formance of the overall system, rather than a par2 ticular component of the system. 

3 SEC. 4. HYDROTHERMAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall support pro5 grams of research, development, demonstration, and com6 mercial application to expand the use of geothermal energy 

7 production from hydrothermal systems, including the pro8 grams described in subsection (b). 

9 (b) PROGRAMS.— 

10 (1) ADVANCED HYDROTHERMAL RESOURCE

11 TOOLS.—The Secretary, in consultation with other 

12 appropriate agencies, shall support a program to de13 velop advanced geophysical, geochemical, and geologic 

14 tools to assist in locating hidden hydrothermal re15 sources, and to increase the reliability of site charac16 terization before, during, and after initial drilling. 

17 The program shall develop new prospecting techniques 

18 to assist in prioritization of targets for characteriza19 tion. The program shall include a field component. 

20 (2) INDUSTRY COUPLED EXPLORATORY DRILL21 ING.—The Secretary shall support a program of cost22 shared field demonstration programs, to be pursued, 

23 simultaneously and independently, in collaboration 

24 with industry partners, for the demonstration of tech25 nologies and techniques of siting and exploratory 


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1 drilling for undiscovered resources in a variety of geo2 logic settings. The program shall include incentives to 

3 encourage the use of advanced technologies and tech4 niques. 

5 SEC. 5. GENERAL GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND 

6 DEVELOPMENT. 

7 (a) SUBSURFACE COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS.—The 

8 Secretary shall support a program of research, development, 

9 demonstration, and commercial application of components 

10 and systems capable of withstanding extreme geothermal 

11 environments and necessary to cost-effectively develop, 

12 produce, and monitor geothermal reservoirs and produce 

13 geothermal energy. These components and systems shall in14 clude advanced casing systems (expandable tubular casing, 

15 low-clearance casing designs, and others), high-temperature 

16 cements, high-temperature submersible pumps, and high17 temperature packers, as well as technologies for under-ream18 ing, multilateral completions, high-temperature logging, 

19 and logging while drilling. 

20 (b) RESERVOIR PERFORMANCE MODELING.—The Sec21 retary shall support a program of research, development, 

22 demonstration, and commercial application of models of 

23 geothermal reservoir performance, with an emphasis on ac24 curately modeling performance over time. Models shall be 

25 developed to assist both in the development of geothermal 


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1 reservoirs and to more accurately account for stress-related 

2 effects in stimulated hydrothermal and enhanced geothermal 

3 systems production environments. 

4 (c) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.—The Secretary shall— 

5 (1) support a program of research, development, 

6 demonstration, and commercial application of tech7 nologies and practices designed to mitigate or pre8 clude potential adverse environmental impacts of geo9 thermal energy development, production or use, and 

10 seek to ensure that geothermal energy development is 

11 consistent with the highest practicable standards of 

12 environmental stewardship; and 

13 (2) in conjunction with the Assistant Adminis14 trator for Research and Development at the Environ15 mental Protection Agency, support a research pro16 gram to identify potential environmental impacts of 

17 geothermal energy development, production, and use, 

18 and ensure that the program described in paragraph 

19 (1) addresses such impacts, including effects on 

20 groundwater and local hydrology. 

21 Any potential environmental impacts identified as part of 

22 the development, production, and use of geothermal energy 

23 shall be measured and examined against the potential emis24 sions offsets of greenhouses gases gained by geothermal en25 ergy development, production, and use. 


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1 SEC. 6. ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND 

2 DEVELOPMENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall support a pro4 gram of research, development, demonstration, and commer5 cial application for enhanced geothermal systems, including 

6 the programs described in subsection (b). 

7 (b) PROGRAMS.— 

8 (1) ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS TECH9 NOLOGIES.—The Secretary shall support a program 

10 of research, development, demonstration, and commer11 cial application of the technologies and knowledge 

12 necessary for enhanced geothermal systems to advance 

13 to a state of commercial readiness, including advances 

14 in— 

15 (A) reservoir stimulation; 

16 (B) reservoir characterization, monitoring, 

17 and modeling; 

18 (C) stress mapping; 

19 (D) tracer development; 

20 (E) three-dimensional tomography; 

21 (F) understanding seismic effects of res22 ervoir engineering and stimulation; and 

23 (G) laser-based drilling technology. 

24 (2) ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS RES25 ERVOIR STIMULATION.— 


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1 (A) PROGRAM.—In collaboration with in2 dustry partners, the Secretary shall support a 

3 program of research, development, and dem4 onstration of enhanced geothermal systems res5 ervoir stimulation technologies and techniques. A 

6 minimum of 5 sites shall be selected in locations 

7 that show particular promise for enhanced geo8 thermal systems development. Each site shall— 

9 (i) represent a different class of sub10 surface geologic environments; and 

11 (ii) take advantage of an existing site 

12 where subsurface characterization has been 

13 conducted or existing drill holes can be uti14 lized, if possible. 

15 (B) CONSIDERATION OF EXISTING SITES.— 

16 The following 2 sites, where Department of En17 ergy and industry cooperative enhanced geo18 thermal systems projects are already underway, 

19 may be considered for inclusion among the sites 

20 selected under subparagraph (A): 

21 (i) Desert Peak, Nevada. 

22 (ii) Coso, California. 


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1 SEC. 7. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PRODUCTION FROM OIL AND 

2 GAS FIELDS AND RECOVERY AND PRODUC3 TION OF GEOPRESSURED GAS RESOURCES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a pro5 gram of research, development, demonstration, and commer6 cial application to support development of geothermal en7 ergy production from oil and gas fields and production and 

8 recovery of energy from geopressured resources. In addition, 

9 the Secretary shall conduct such supporting activities in10 cluding research, resource characterization, and technology 

11 development as necessary. 

12 (b) GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PRODUCTION FROM OIL

13 AND GAS FIELDS.—The Secretary shall implement a grant 

14 program in support of geothermal energy production from 

15 oil and gas fields. The program shall include grants for a 

16 total of not less than three demonstration projects of the 

17 use of geothermal techniques such as organic rankine cycle 

18 systems at marginal, unproductive, and productive oil and 

19 gas wells. The Secretary shall, to the extent practicable and 

20 in the public interest, make awards that— 

21 (1) include not less than five oil or gas well sites 

22 per project award; 

23 (2) use a range of oil or gas well hot water 

24 source temperatures from 150 degrees Fahrenheit to 

25 300 degrees Fahrenheit; 

26 (3) cover a range of sizes up to one megawatt; 


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1 (4) are located at a range of sites; 

2 (5) can be replicated at a wide range of sites; 

3 (6) facilitate identification of optimum tech4 niques among competing alternatives; 

5 (7) include business commercialization plans 

6 that have the potential for production of equipment at 

7 high volumes and operation and support at a large 

8 number of sites; and 

9 (8) satisfy other criteria that the Secretary deter10 mines are necessary to carry out the program and 

11 collect necessary data and information. 

12 The Secretary shall give preference to assessments that ad13 dress multiple elements contained in paragraphs (1) 

14 through (8). 

15 (c) GRANT AWARDS.—Each grant award for dem16 onstration of geothermal technology such as organic rankine 

17 cycle systems at oil and gas wells made by the Secretary 

18 under subsection (b) shall include— 

19 (1) necessary and appropriate site engineering 

20 study; 

21 (2) detailed economic assessment of site specific 

22 conditions; 

23 (3) appropriate feasibility studies to determine 

24 whether the demonstration can be replicated; 


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1 (4) design or adaptation of existing technology 

2 for site specific circumstances or conditions; 

3 (5) installation of equipment, service, and sup4 port; 

5 (6) operation for a minimum of one year and 

6 monitoring for the duration of the demonstration; and 

7 (7) validation of technical and economic assump8 tions and documentation of lessons learned. 

9 (d) GEOPRESSURED GAS RESOURCE RECOVERY AND

10 PRODUCTION.—(1) The Secretary shall implement a pro11 gram to support the research, development, demonstration, 

12 and commercial application of cost-effective techniques to 

13 produce energy from geopressured resources situated in and 

14 near the Gulf of Mexico. 

15 (2) The Secretary shall solicit preliminary engineering 

16 designs for geopressured resources production and recovery 

17 facilities. 

18 (3) Based upon a review of the preliminary designs, 

19 the Secretary shall award grants, which may be cost-shared, 

20 to support the detailed development and completion of engi21 neering, architectural and technical plans needed to support 

22 construction of new designs. 

23 (4) Based upon a review of the final design plans 

24 above, the Secretary shall award cost-shared development 

25 and construction grants for demonstration geopressured 


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1 production facilities that show potential for economic recov2 ery of the heat, kinetic energy and gas resources from 

3 geopressured resources. 

4 (e) COMPETITIVE GRANT SELECTION.—Not less than 

5 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary shall conduct a national solicitation for applications 

7 for grants under the programs outlined in subsections (b) 

8 and (d). Grant recipients shall be selected on a competitive 

9 basis based on criteria in the respective subsection. 

10 (f) WELL DRILLING.—No funds may be used under 

11 this section for the purpose of drilling new wells. 

12 SEC. 8. COST SHARING AND PROPOSAL EVALUATION. 

13 (a) FEDERAL SHARE.—(1) The Federal share of costs 

14 of projects funded under this Act shall be in accordance with 

15 section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 

16 (2) The Secretary may waive the Federal cost share 

17 requirement for grants awarded to universities, national 

18 laboratories, or similar noncommercial entities awarded 

19 grants under this Act. 

20 (3) The Secretary shall allow for a competitive bidding 

21 process to play a role in determining the final cost-share 

22 ratio. 

23 (b) ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF PRO24 GRAMS.—Programs under this Act shall incorporate the fol25 lowing organizational and administrative elements: 


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1 (1) Non-Federal participants shall be chosen 

2 through a competitive selection process. 

3 (2) The request for proposals for each program 

4 shall stipulate, at a minimum, the following: 

5 (A) The non-Federal funding requirements 

6 for projects. 

7 (B) The funding mechanism to be used (i.e. 

8 grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements). 

9 (C) Milestones and a schedule for comple10 tion. 

11 (D) Criteria for evaluating proposals. 

12 (3) In evaluating proposals, the Secretary shall 

13 give priority to proposals that draw on relevant ex14 pertise from industry, academia, and the national 

15 laboratories, as appropriate. 

16 (4) The Secretary shall coordinate with, and 

17 where appropriate may provide funds in furtherance 

18 of the purposes of this Act to, other Department of 

19 Energy research and development programs focused 

20 on drilling, subsurface characterization, and other re21 lated technologies. 

22 (5) In evaluating proposals, the Secretary shall 

23 consult with relevant experts from industry, aca24 demia, and the national laboratories, as appropriate. 


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1 (6) In evaluating proposals, the Secretary shall 

2 give priority to proposals that demonstrate clear evi3 dence of employing a systems approach. 

4 (7) In evaluating proposals for projects with a 

5 field component, the Secretary shall, where appro6 priate, give priority consideration to proposals that 

7 contain provisions to study local environmental im8 pacts of the technologies developed or the operations 

9 undertaken. 

10 (8) Data collected by the Secretary as a result of 

11 any project supported with funds provided under this 

12 Act shall be made available to the public, except to the 

13 extent that they contain information that is protected 

14 from disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United 

15 States Code. 

16 SEC. 9. CENTERS FOR GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGY TRANS17 FER. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award grants 

19 to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to 

20 establish 2 Centers for Geothermal Technology Transfer. 

21 (b) CENTERS.— 

22 (1) HYDROTHERMAL CENTER.—The purpose of 

23 one Technology Transfer Center shall be to serve as an 

24 information clearinghouse for the geothermal indus25 try, collecting and disseminating information on best 


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1 practices in all areas related to developing and man2 aging hydrothermal resources, including data avail3 able for disclosure as provided under section 8(b)(8). 

4 This Center shall be based at the institution west of 

5 the Mississippi River that the Secretary considers to 

6 be best suited to the purpose. The Center shall collect 

7 and disseminate information on all subjects germane 

8 to the development and user of hydrothermal systems, 

9 including— 

10 (A) resource location; 

11 (B) reservoir characterization, monitoring, 

12 and modeling; 

13 (C) drilling techniques; 

14 (D) reservoir management techniques; and 

15 (E) technologies for electric power conver16 sion or direct use of geothermal energy. 

17 (2) ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS CEN18 TER.—The purpose of a second Technology Transfer 

19 Center shall be to serve as an information clearing20 house for the geothermal industry, collecting and dis21 seminating information on best practices in all areas 

22 related to developing and managing enhanced geo23 thermal systems resources, including data available 

24 for disclosure as provided under section 8(b)(8). This 

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1 nate efforts and share information with international 

2 partners engaged in research and development of en3 hanced geothermal systems or engaged in collection of 

4 data related to enhanced geothermal systems develop5 ment. This Center shall be based at an academic in6 stitution east of the Rocky Mountains which, in the 

7 opinion of the Secretary, is best suited to provide na8 tional leadership on enhanced geothermal systems-re9 lated issues. The Center shall collect and disseminate 

10 information on all subjects germane to the develop11 ment and use of enhanced geothermal systems. 

12 (c) AWARD DURATION.—An award made by the Sec13 retary under this section shall be for an initial period of 

14 5 years, and may be renewed for additional 5-year periods 

15 on the basis of— 

16 (1) satisfactory performance in meeting the goals 

17 of the research plan proposed by the Center; and 

18 (2) other requirements as specified by the Sec19 retary. 

20 SEC. 10. GEOPOWERING AMERICA. 

21 The Secretary shall expand the Department of Ener22 gy’s GeoPowering the West program to extend its geo23 thermal technology transfer activities throughout the entire 

24 United States. The program shall be renamed 

25 ‘‘GeoPowering America’’. The program shall continue to be 


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1 based in the Department of Energy office in Golden, Colo2 rado. 

3 SEC. 11. REPORTS. 

4 (a) REPORTS ON ADVANCED USES OF GEOTHERMAL

5 ENERGY.—Not later than 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years, after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall report 

7 to the Committee on Science and Technology of the House 

8 of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Nat9 ural Resources of the Senate on advanced concepts and tech10 nologies to maximize the geothermal resource potential of 

11 the United States. The reports shall include— 

12 (1) the use of carbon dioxide as an alternative 

13 geofluid with potential carbon sequestration benefits; 

14 (2) mineral recovery from geofluids; 

15 (3) use of geothermal energy to produce hydro16 gen; 

17 (4) use of geothermal energy to produce biofuels; 

18 (5) use of geothermal heat for oil recovery from 

19 oil shales and tar sands; and 

20 (6) other advanced geothermal technologies, in21 cluding advanced drilling technologies and advanced 

22 power conversion technologies. 

23 (b) PROGRESS REPORTS.—(1) Not later than 36 

24 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

25 shall submit to the Committee on Science and Technology 


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1 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on En2 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate an interim report 

3 describing the progress made under this Act. At the end of 

4 60 months, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

5 on the results of projects undertaken under this Act and 

6 other such information the Secretary considers appropriate. 

7 (2) As necessary, the Secretary shall report to the Con8 gress on any legal, regulatory, or other barriers encountered 

9 that hinder economic development of these resources, and 

10 provide recommendations on legislative or other actions 

11 needed to address such impediments. 

12 SEC. 12. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS. 

13 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as waiving the 

14 applicability of any requirement under any environmental 

15 or other Federal or State law. 

16 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec18 retary to carry out this Act $90,000,000 for each of the fis19 cal years 2008 through 2012, of which $10,000,000 for each 

20 fiscal year shall be for carrying out section 7. 


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Union Calendar No. 122 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2304 

[Report No. 110

–203] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Energy to conduct a proergy, and for other purposes. and commercial application for geothermal en- gram of research, development, demonstration, 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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