The California Energy Commission's Geothermal Program was created by Assembly Bill 1905 (Bosco) and has been in operation since 1981. During the first decade, it promoted California geothermal energy development by extending financial and technical assistance to public entities to support direct uses, planning, and mitigation projects. In 1992, the program was expanded to include financial assistance to private entities for research, development and commercialization projects. The funding source is revenue paid to the United States government by geothermal developers from production on federal leases in California. Typically, there are funds available each fiscal year in the Program's Geothermal Resources Development Account for awards to qualifying applicants, and are provided as grants or loans.

The mission of the Program is to promote the research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of California's enormous earth heat energy sources. A major program goal is to continue to develop a portfolio of near to long-term R&D projects in California.

The Program has cost-shared in research, development and demonstration (RD&D) partnerships with over 160 public and private entities. It supports the development of new geothermal resources and technologies for low temperature uses and electricity generation while protecting the environment and promoting energy independence.

Fact sheets (in Acrobat PDF) are available for some of the projects.

Geothermal Funding Opportunities

The Geothermal Program promotes funding for the following:

• RD&D projects that reduce the life-cycle cost of geothermal electricity generation.
• RD&D projects that reduce the uncertainty and cost of enhancing geothermal reservoir systems.
• Projects that mitigate the adverse impacts of geothermal development.
• Projects that provide significant environmental enhancement.

Funding notices are available on our main Funding and Opportunities page and are posted on this page.

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Geothermal Program Contacts

If you would like additional information about this program, please contact the following:

Yearly Geothermal Solicitation Information (including Program Opportunity Notice, Application Manual, and Terms & Conditions)	916-654-4410 916-653-6010 fax
Solicitation Administration:	Jesse Rosales
Power Generation:	Pablo Gutierrez
Geology:	Gail Wiggett
Geothermal Program Manager:	Elaine Sison-Lebrilla

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CONTACTS

For more information on geothermal energy, contact:

California Energy Commission
Geothermal Program
1516 Ninth Street, MS-43
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-653-0363

U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20585
Phone: 202-586-6054

Geothermal Education Office
Marilyn Nemzer, Executive Director
664 Hilary Drive
Tiburon, CA 94920
Phone: 415-435-4574
E-mail: geo@marin.org

Geothermal Resources Council
P.O. Box 1350
Davis, CA 95617
Phone: 530-758-2360

Oregon Institute of Technology
Geo-Heat Center
3201 Campus Drive
Klamath Falls, OR 97601
Phone: 541-885-1750