U.S. DOE Launches Spring Geothermal Collegiate Competition

College and university teams will identify sites that could leverage local geothermal energy potential to heat and cool buildings, campuses, districts, or entire communities via direct use technologies.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office has announced the launch of the Spring 2021 Geothermal Collegiate Competition™. The competition for Spring features a new theme: Community Direct Use.

College and university teams will identify sites that could leverage local geothermal energy potential to heat and cool buildings, campuses, districts, or entire communities via direct use technologies. The Competition is heating things up in more ways than one — students will gain real-world renewable energy industry experience by designing a real-life use case, performing a resource assessment, and evaluating usage and loads.

geothermal direct use
The Masson Radium Springs Farms geothermal greenhouse is heated by geothermal energy from three wells. (Image: U.S. Department of Energy)

“Student competitions like the Geothermal Collegiate Competition provide information that supports DOE’s long-term vision to increase U.S. geothermal electricity generation,” said Dr. Susan Hamm, Director of the DOE Geothermal Technologies Office. “This competition leverages the tremendous and varied talents within our nation’s academic institutions to boost public education and outreach about geothermal energy.”

On January 14, winners of the Fall 2020 Geothermal Design Challenge were announced. That competition challenged participants to use infographics and data visualization to foster understanding of geothermal energy, broadly communicate the benefits of geothermal technologies, and ultimately help overcome key non-technical barriers to geothermal development.

Spring 2021 Competition: Geothermal Direct Use

Geothermal direct use leverages heat in the water to heat or cool buildings and power industrial processes and applications such as greenhouses, aquaculture, and microbreweries, fruit and vegetable drying, pulp and paper processing, and lumber drying. Fluids with temperatures adequate for direct use are available throughout much of the United States. DOE states that direct use of geothermal energy in homes and commercial operations is much less expensive than using traditional fuels — savings can be as much as 80% and offer attractive and innovative opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs. Current U.S. installed capacity of direct use systems totals 482 MW, or enough energy to heat close to 70,000 average-sized homes — and the DOE’s 2019 GeoVision shows that it is economically feasible for direct use to supply as many as 45 million homes by 2050.

For this Geothermal Collegiate Competition, students will work with real-world parameters including actual energy load, utility rates, and subsurface data while developing a distributed energy concept. Input from community stakeholders will serve as real-world project constraints and considerations. The concepts the teams develop will provide insights that could inform community stakeholders for future development of direct use geothermal energy resources.

A first, second, and third prize will be awarded in addition to special recognition categories for technical approach and stakeholder engagement strategies. Participating students will build project development, design, and communications skills while increasing public understanding of geothermal power as a renewable source of energy. Prizes for 1st ($1,000), 2nd ($750), and 3rd ($500) place are available.

On February 10, there will be an informational webinar, and interested students can register for that event here.

Below are important dates, and find out more on the Department of Energy website.

The Geothermal Collegiate Competition is led by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office and is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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