Combined Wellbore Construction High Temperature Tools and Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) | DE FOA 0003296

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003296

The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), through the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), is soliciting proposals under Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0003296, titled "Combined Wellbore Construction High Temperature Tools and Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES)." The overall purpose is to fund research, development, and demonstration work that helps validate geothermal technologies, improves performance, and lowers costs. A central theme running through the FOA is that geothermal project economics depend heavily on better subsurface understanding and on practical enabling technologies that can operate reliably in difficult downhole environments. Awards are expected to be made as cooperative agreements, meaning DOE anticipates substantial involvement during project execution rather than a hands-off grant model.

This FOA is organized into two distinct topic areas, each with its own technical focus and outcomes. Topic Area 1 concentrates on the tools needed to evaluate well integrity in high-temperature geothermal conditions, especially for cement and casing evaluation. Topic Area 2 focuses on demonstrating reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) at relatively low temperatures (below 130 degrees C) to help decarbonize industrial heat needs. While the topics are different, they share a common motivation: pushing geothermal-related technology beyond what is readily available from conventional oil and gas applications and proving performance in real-world conditions.

Topic Area 1, "High-Temperature Tools for Well Integrity Evaluation," targets a specific gap in geothermal drilling and completion operations. Many existing cement and casing evaluation tools are derived from oil and gas service offerings and generally work up to the upper end of oil and gas temperature requirements. However, the FOA notes that these off-the-shelf solutions are typically not sufficient for hotter geothermal environments, including enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), where temperatures and downhole conditions can be significantly more extreme. As the geothermal industry adopts improved casing and cementing methods, early confirmation that those methods worked as intended becomes critical. In geothermal wells, collecting reliable inspection data can be both technically challenging and expensive because tools must survive high temperatures and other hostile conditions while still producing high-quality measurements. Projects under Topic Area 1 are therefore expected to develop, adapt, or demonstrate downhole evaluation tools and technologies that can verify cement and casing integrity in high-temperature geothermal wellbores, helping operators detect issues early and reduce long-term risk and cost.

Topic Area 2, "Utilization of Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) Technology for Decarbonization of Industrial Processes," aims to demonstrate a different kind of geothermal-adjacent capability: using the subsurface as a large thermal battery. The FOA calls for demonstrations of low-temperature RTES (below 130 degrees C) that can provide useful heat for industrial processes. The examples provided include processes such as melting plastic, removing moisture (drying), treating chemicals, and other industrial heat applications that can potentially switch from fossil-fueled heat sources to stored thermal energy. RTES is framed as a way to use deep geologic formations to store heat over time, benefiting from large storage volumes, geothermal gradients, and the natural insulation properties of the subsurface. The stored heat can then be extracted later for use on timescales that may vary by application, enabling a more flexible and potentially lower-carbon approach to meeting industrial thermal demand.

Strategically, the FOA is positioned as part of broader federal decarbonization and geothermal cost-reduction efforts. It explicitly ties the anticipated work to the Biden-Harris Administration goals of achieving carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. It also aligns with DOE's Enhanced Geothermal Shot and related roadmap, as well as GTO planning documents such as the GeoVision Roadmap and the GTO Multi-Year Program Plan. In practice, that means DOE is looking for projects that do not just advance science in isolation, but that help move geothermal and thermal storage technologies toward scalable deployment, with clear pathways to improved reliability, performance, and cost.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed as a discretionary funding program in the energy category (CFDA 81.087) and is open to unrestricted eligible applicants, suggesting broad eligibility rather than a narrow set of institution types. The contracting office is identified as DOE's Golden Field Office. The FOA originally listed a closing date of April 1, 2024. DOE anticipated making around 11 awards, with an award ceiling of $10,000,000 per award, indicating the agency was prepared to support substantial projects, including demonstrations that typically require higher budgets than early-stage research.

In summary, FOA DE-FOA-0003296 funds two complementary thrusts designed to make geothermal and geothermal-adjacent solutions more deployable: first, improving the ability to inspect and validate well construction integrity in very high-temperature geothermal wells by advancing cement and casing evaluation tools; and second, proving low-temperature reservoir thermal energy storage as a practical heat decarbonization option for industrial processes. Together, these topic areas reflect DOE's emphasis on real-world performance, harsh-environment operability, and demonstrations that can reduce technical and financial risk for future geothermal and thermal storage deployments.

• The Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Combined Wellbore Construction High Temperature Tools and Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES)" 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 2024-01-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-01. (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 $10,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 11 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for DE FOA 0003296

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