United States of America

Source: IRENA Statistics

*More information on specific geothermal power plants can be found HERE.

Direct use

(Lund, et al., 2020)

US Geological Survey (USGS) - USGS is the water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency in the US that provides analysis about natural resource, including geothermal resources conditions. Its Energy Resources Program conducts research on geological energy resources and the environmental and economic impact of their development.

Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) - GTO focuses on reducing costs and risks associated with geothermal development by supporting advanced technologies that address key exploration and operational challenges.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - NREL is the national laboratory of the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), that among other things, conducts research and develops technologies to advance the use of geothermal energy in the US.

Geothermal Rising (Formerly Geothermal Resources Council) - A leading professional and educational association that intends to improve the understanding and practical use of geothermal energy through collaboration and communication of robust research, knowledge, and guidance.

The Geothermal Exchange Organization (GEO) - GEO is a non-profit association that represents the Geothermal Heat Pump Industry in the US. It aims to promote growth of the geothermal heat pump industry through advocacy, partnerships, public education, and promotion of quality standards.

*2021 U.S. Geothermal Power Production and District Heating Market Report
Jody C. Robins, Amanda Kolker, Francisco Flores-Espino, Will Pettitt, Brian Schmidt, Koenraad Beckers, Hannah Pauling, and Ben Anderson.

Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab - An active research facility, the SMU Geothermal Lab provides access to a variety of resources, including the Geothermal Map of North America.

Stanford Geothermal Program - The Stanford Geothermal Program’s website provides access to geothermal research as well as information and publications related to Stanford’s Geothermal Workshop.

University of Illinois - This web page provides links to documents related to the University of Illinois’ geothermal projects, including the in-development Campus Instructional Facility (CIF).

University of Nevada, Reno - Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy (GBCGE): GBCGE is a research facility focused on collecting and synthesizing geodata to map the geothermal potential of the Great Basin.

University of Utah Energy and Geoscience Institute (EGI) - The Applied Geothermal Research page of the EGI website provides basic and applied geoscientific research for the geothermal, petroleum, and mining industries, government agencies, and international organizations.

*2021 U.S. Geothermal Power Production and District Heating Market Report
Jody C. Robins, Amanda Kolker, Francisco Flores-Espino, Will Pettitt, Brian Schmidt, Koenraad Beckers, Hannah Pauling, and Ben Anderson.

Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) – A programme in the U.S. Department of Energy, that aims to support the development and testing of enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technologies. The FORGE initiative seeks to to establish the technical and operational settings and parameters under which EGS can be optimized and commercially successful.

Geothermal Resources Investigations Project – A project by the USGS that aims to characterise and assess geothermal energy resources in the US and to work with the Department of Energy and other partners to develop the technologies applied to discover, characterise, and utilise those resources.

Funding opportunities – The U.S. DOE Geothermal Technologies Office issues Funding Opportunities Announcements (FOAs) to develop cost-shared research, development, and demonstration projects with industry, academia, and research facilities.

Geothermica – Geothermica's objective is to combine the financial resources and know-how of geothermal energy research and innovation programme owners and managers from 16 countries and their regions. GEOTHERMICA launches joint projects that demonstrate and validate novel concepts of geothermal energy deployment within the energy system, and that identify paths to commercial large-scale implementation.

International Energy Association (IEA) Geothermal Technical Collaboration Programme (TCP) – The IEA Geothermal TCP is a framework for international collaboration and networking among nations, industries and industry organizations on all aspects of geothermal resources and geothermal energy. The Work Program undertaken in IEA Geothermal consists of cooperative research, analysis and information sharing concerning the sustainable development and utilization of geothermal energy.

International Partnership for Geothermal Technology (IPGT) – IPGT is a forum for governments and companies from Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States to collaborate by share experiences and information on geothermal projects.

Geothermal Biz.com – Geothermal-biz.com is part of the US Department of Energy-led GeoPowering the West (GPW) effort. It helps geothermal entrepreneurs-companies, small businesses, Native American tribes, homeowners, and individuals develop geothermal direct-use and small power generation projects. Grogram works with the U.S. geothermal industry, electricity companies, power consumers, and local government to provide technical and financial support to state-level activities.

In the US, geothermal resources are mostly regulated by the federal government. The federal agency charged with managing federal minerals is the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM, which manages the rights to develop privately and utilise geothermal resources.

At the federal level, the Geothermal Steam Act rules the development of geothermal resources.

At the state level, renewable portfolio standards(RPS) has also been playing an essential role in geothermal development, as it requires utility companies to have a growing percentage of renewable power generation.

Besides, the US government provides tax incentives for renewable energy projects, including geothermal energy.

Geothermal Rising Online Library - Geothermal Rising's library database (formerly the GRC Geothermal Library) contains over 42,000 records on all aspects of geothermal energy, including article-level citations to: all GRC Transactions (1977 to present), all GRC Special Reports, numerous feature articles and news briefs from the GRC Bulletin (1973 to present), corporate and academic technical reports, journals, and books.

U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) - The GDR is the submission point for all data collected from researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO). The GDR is powered by OpenEI, an energy information portal sponsored by the U.S. DOE and developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in support of the Open Government Initiative to make energy data transparent, participatory, and collaborative.

National Geothermal Data System (NGDS) - The NGDS is a catalog of documents and datasets that provide information about geothermal resources located primarily within the United States. This complete and current catalog of available data, which is funded by the U.S. DOE GTO, is designed to accelerate the development of U.S. geothermal resources.

Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) - The U.S. DOE’s OSTI database contains over 70 years of energy-related research results and citations collected by OSTI, consisting of nearly 3 million citations.

Stanford/IGA Conference Database - This database contains papers and proceedings from a variety of geothermal-focused conferences, including the World Geothermal Congress, the Stanford Geothermal Workshop, and the New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, among others.

GEOVISION report - An analysis initiated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s GTO, to assess geothermal deployment potential. The report states that geothermal electricity generation capacity in the US has the potential to increase to more than 60 GW by 2050 (8.5% of all U.S. electricity generation).

Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit - A toolkit to help users access to permit documents, processes, best practices, manuals and related information in the geothermal industry.

Geothermal Prospector - A tool that provides information about geothermal energy in the US, known geothermal resource areas and exploration regions, including state geothermal maps, potential for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), low-temperature geothermal resources, and identified hydrothermal sites.

Tribal Energy Atlas - A tool that explores techno-economic renewable energy potential on tribal lands, including wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, woody biomass, and biomethane.

Geo-heat digital library - The library provides a large range of documents about geothermal energy. This collection is a partnership between the Oregon Institute Technology Libraries and the Geo-Heat Center of Oregon Renewable Energy Center.