Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

An Analysis of High Opportunity Geothermal Leasing Areas on BLM and USFS Lands

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2432496· OSTI ID:2432496

This analysis, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), models potential geothermal deployment on BLM and USFS land for the years 2025, 2030, 2035, and 2050 under various scenarios using the Renewable Energy Potential (reV) model and the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model. This report identifies potential future high opportunity geothermal leasing areas (i.e., Best, Middle, and Least identified opportunities) based on available data for geothermal resource potential, natural resource conflicts, and transmission access. In addition, this analysis considers the impacts of the Energy Policy Act of 2005's (EPAct 2005's) default competitive leasing provisions, specifically the impact this may have had on geothermal resource discovery outside of known geothermal resource areas.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2432496
Report Number(s):
NREL/TP--6A20-88247; MainId:89022; UUID:66131e8b-098d-4684-9aba-e3c3f2f3fecf; MainAdminId:73234
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English