EERE's Geothermal Technologies Program works in partnership with U.S. industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply. For more information on the Geothermal Technologies Program's key activities, see the Program Fact Sheet (PDF 298 KB) Download Adobe Reader.

	DOE Officials on the Ground at The Geysers Geothermal Field in California This long-producing hydrothermal field has valuable lessons for expanding geothermal power to play a significant role in meeting U.S. energy needs. View the ABC News video coverage of DOE's visit and read the news article.

• Geothermal basics & educational resources
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How a Geothermal Power Plant Works

Take a geothermal energy field trip—from the depths of the Earth through the turbine of a modern geothermal electric generation power plant—on your computer. You can access this virtual tour from the Geothermal Resources Council Web site.

	United States, Australia, and Iceland Partner to Promote Geothermal Energy The three countries sign a charter to form the International Partnership for Geothermal Technology to foster geothermal technologies and address the challenges of energy security and climate change. More.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems

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Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) offer great potential for dramatically expanding the use of geothermal energy. Present geothermal power generation comes from existing hydrothermal reservoirs, which are limited in location to areas in the western U.S. EGS offers the chance to extend use of geothermal resources to new geographic areas of the entire U.S.

More than 100,000 MWe of economically viable capacity may be available in the continental United States, representing a 40-fold increase over present geothermal power generating capacity. This potential is about 10% of the overall U.S. electric capacity today, and represents a domestic energy source that is clean, reliable, and proven. View our animation to learn how enhanced geothermal systems can vastly increase geothermal resources used for power production.