U.S. Department of Defense facilities to explore geothermal technologies

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds (source: Gary’ / flickr, Creative Commons)

The deployment of geothermal technologies to provide reliable energy supply will be explored in four facilities under the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Agreements with three companies were signed for these projects by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

The geothermal companies and the facilities they will be working on are as follows:

• Eavor Technologies Inc. will assess the viability of deploying their deep closed-loop geothermal solution at the Air Force’s Joint Base San Antonio in Texas;
• Teverra LLC will be providing their integrated project development services that include exploration, resource delineation, and production optimization to the Army’s Fort Wainwright in Alaska; and
• Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals LLC will provide their AI-enabled discovery platform for identifying and derisking geothermal resources to two installations: the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and the Army’s Fort Irwin in California.

Through the deployment of geothermal technologies, the DoD aims to provide local and carbon-free energy supply to these facilities that will not be compromised by external disruptions. “We need to ruggedize our installations with redundant energy systems and make use of clean energy sources that reduce our fuel demands. Geothermal sources strengthen our energy grids and give us the ability to isolate threats before they impact our operations,” said Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment.

“The Army must develop a diversified energy portfolio to mitigate and adapt to the challenges associated with climate change. Geothermal energy is often overlooked as a viable energy resource, especially within federal agencies like the Department of Defense,” added Michael Jones, U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives.

The initiative is also in line with 10 USC 2920 and Executive Order 14057 that requires all critical missions at D0D installations to achieve 99.9% energy resilience by 2030 and Federal agencies to achieve 50% 24/7 carbon-free energy.

“This is a first-of-its-kind effort within the DoD, and we are pleased to support deployment of advanced commercial technologies for installation and community energy resilience leveraging carbon-free energy sources,” said Michael Callahan, DIU Senior Energy Advisor and Program Manager.

Back in 2021, the U.S. Air Force awarded Sage Geosystems a contract for a feasibility study for a cost-effective geothermal system at the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Based in Houston, Texas.

Source: Defense Innovation Unit