Geo POWER Act

This Act may be cited as the “Geothermal Power Opportunity With Expanded Regions Act” or the “Geo POWER Act”.

The purpose of this Act is to advance next-generation geothermal demonstration projects—

(1) to accelerate the commercialization of next-generation geothermal technologies in diverse geologies and regions across the United States;

(2) to overcome high upfront capital costs for geothermal exploration and drilling;

(3) to generate public data to de-risk future geothermal projects in new geologies and regions; and

(4) to catalyze geothermal demonstration projects and innovation through milestone-based financing to de-risk future geothermal projects.

Section 615 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17194) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a), by inserting “the milestone-based geothermal demonstration program for projects in low permeability and impermeable reservoirs described in subsection (e) and” after “including”;

(2) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (3); and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(e) Milestone-Based geothermal demonstration program.—

(1) Definitions.— In this subsection:

(A) Innovative financing.— The term innovative financing means financial instruments used to support geothermal energy project development, including transactions that the Secretary may enter into under section 646 of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7256).

(B) Program.— The term Program means the Milestone-Based Geothermal Demonstration Program established under paragraph (2).

(2) Establishment.— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall establish a program, to be known as the “Milestone-Based Geothermal Demonstration Program”, to award innovative financing to geothermal projects in low-permeability and impermeable reservoirs through a competitive process based on the achievement of technical and financial milestones, prioritizing—

(A) geothermal projects in regions and geologies that have limited or no geothermal electricity generation as of the date of enactment of this paragraph, including on or near Indian land (as defined in section 2601 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501));

(B) geothermal projects that support the collection and dissemination of data to characterize new geothermal resources and technologies to catalyze future private investment;

(C) new geothermal electricity production facilities with aggregate electricity generation capacity potential of not less than 30 megawatts or geothermal projects that advance innovative drilling or other innovations that enable the viability of commercial-scale geothermal electricity generation of not less than 30 megawatts; and

(D) projects with the potential for attracting significant private sector investment.

(3) Requirements.—

(A) Proposals.— In carrying out the Program, the Secretary shall request proposals for projects from project sponsors that meet the criteria described in paragraph (2).

(B) Differentiation.— The Secretary shall award innovative financing under paragraph (2)—

(i) to not less than 3 different proposals in at least 3 different States; and

(ii) to not less than 3 different project sponsors.

(C) Staffing.— The Secretary shall maintain staffing levels sufficient to administer innovative financing under paragraph (2).

(4) Authority.— The Secretary shall carry out a project under this subsection as a milestone-based demonstration project under section 9005 of the Energy Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 7256c).

(f) Authorization of appropriations.— There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums as are necessary to carry out subsections (d) and (e).”.