Rosen Applauds $15.3 Million in Grant Funding Awarded to Support Geothermal Energy Projects in Nevada

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement applauding news that the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and Ormat Nevada, Inc. have each received grant funding totaling $15,361,423 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in support of their geothermal energy efforts.

“Nevada’s work to support geothermal energy plays a critical part in the development of viable, renewable sources of energy to power our state while protecting our environment,” said Senator Rosen. “This grant funding, which will be used to support investment in geothermal research and development, will help to create a cleaner future for the Silver State. I will continue working in Congress to secure support for Nevada’s clean energy initiatives.”

BACKGROUND: DOE has awarded UNR $10,000,000 as they work to accelerate discoveries of new, commercially-viable hidden geothermal systems in the Great Basin region (GBR) by combining play fairway analysis, machine learning, advanced geostatistics, and other analytical techniques into a comprehensive exploration toolkit.

Ormat Nevada, Inc. has been awarded $5,361,423 in order to conduct a comparative analysis of similar stimulations in different geologic environments and increase production.

Earlier this year, Senator Rosen helped introduce the Solar and Geothermal Tax Credit Expansion Act (S. 3229), legislation introduced by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) that would extend clean energy tax incentives and create tax parity for geothermal energy technologies.

Rosen is also a co-sponsor of the Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2019 (S. 2666), bipartisan legislation that would promote the development of renewable energy, including geothermal, on public lands.

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