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Geothermal Prospector

Start exploring U.S. geothermal resources with an easy-to-use map by selecting dataset layers that are NGDS compatible.

Geothermal Data

This dataset is a qualitative assessment of geothermal potential for the U.S. using Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and based on the levelized cost of electricity with CLASS 1 being most favorable and CLASS 5 being least favorable. This dataset does not include shallow EGS resources located near hydrothermal sites or the U.S. Geological Survey assessment of undiscovered hydrothermal resources. The source data for deep EGS includes temperature at depth from 3 to 10 kilometer (km) were provided by the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory (Blackwell & Richards, 2009) and the analyses for regions with temperatures ≥150°C were performed by NREL (2009). CLASS 999 regions have temperatures less than 150°C at a 10-km depth and were not assessed for deep EGS potential. Temperature at depth data for deep EGS in Alaska and Hawaii are not currently available.

Geographic Coordinate System Name: GCS_North_American_1983

Texas Geopressured Geothermal Resource Estimate

Geopressured geothermal reservoirs are characterized by high temperatures and high pressures with correspondingly large quantities of dissolved methane. Due to these characteristics, the reservoirs provide two sources of energy: chemical energy from the recovered methane, and thermal energy from the recovered fluid at temperatures high enough to operate a binary power plant for electricity production. Formations with the greatest potential for recoverable energy are located in the gulf coastal region of Texas and Louisiana where significantly overpressured and hot formations are abundant. These data files were generated to develop the thermal and methane resource estimate for five formations in Texas: the upper and lower Claiborne, the lower Wilcox, the lower Frio, and the Vicksburg-Jackson area.

The first set of files called Geopressured Formation Properties include the calculated shale thickness, sand thickness, and the depth to midpoint for the five formations. The second set of files called Geopressured Formation Temperature include the temperature at the midpoint depth for the five formations. The following presentation from the AAPG Annual Conference & Exhibition in 2012 provides some more information on the resource estimate Recoverable Resource Estimate of Identified Onshore Geopressured Geothermal Energy in Texas and Louisiana.

Geographic Coordinate System Name: NAD_1983_Albers

Geographic Coordinate System Name: USA_Contiguous_Albers_Equal_Area_Conic

Note - These datasets are designed to be used in GIS software applications.

U.S. Department of Energy Software and Data

Here you can find software programs that model geothermal systems and economics, as well as data related to geothermal technology and energy to assist with calculation and model construction.

For more geothermal information, access National Geothermal Data System (NGDS) or Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory.

For more information on geothermal resources, access the Geothermal Data and Resources site, or the Renewable Resource Data Center (RReDC) and the Geothermal Resource Data.

If you have difficulty accessing this data because of a disability, please contact the Geospatial Data Science Team.

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