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Title: Economic Impact of Permitting Timelines on Produced Geothermal Power

Abstract

Despite having a large geothermal power potential in the United States, only a small fraction has been developed for power generation. Various barriers, including technical, financial, and regulatory permit delays, are attributed to lower contribution of geothermal energy in the national grid. Unpredictable environmental reviews and permitting timelines are some of the non-technical barriers that can cause delays in geothermal exploration and utilization plans. This study shows that the geothermal permitting timelines can vary from six months to several years, depending on the presence or absence of biological resources, cultural resources, and sensitive environmental issues at the project site. The potential impacts of these permit barriers can range from investors abandoning geothermal development to making the product (i.e., electricity) more expensive and uncompetitive.

Authors:
ORCiD logo ; ORCiD logo
  1. Idaho National Laboratory
Publication Date:
Other Number(s):
1369
Research Org.:
DOE Geothermal Data Repository; Idaho National Laboratory
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Program (EE-4G)
Collaborations:
Idaho National Laboratory
Subject:
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; CEQA; Cove Fort geothermal; NEPA; Salt Wells geothermal; Salton Sea geothermal; Truckhaven geothermal; barriers; energy; geothermal; non-technical; permit; permitting; permitting timelines; report; timelines
OSTI Identifier:
1845285
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15121/1845285

Citation Formats

Neupane, Ghanashyam, and Adhikari, Birendra. Economic Impact of Permitting Timelines on Produced Geothermal Power. United States: N. p., 2022. Web. doi:10.15121/1845285.
Neupane, Ghanashyam, & Adhikari, Birendra. Economic Impact of Permitting Timelines on Produced Geothermal Power. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15121/1845285
Neupane, Ghanashyam, and Adhikari, Birendra. 2022. "Economic Impact of Permitting Timelines on Produced Geothermal Power". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15121/1845285. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1845285. Pub date:Tue Feb 15 04:00:00 UTC 2022
@article{osti_1845285,
title = {Economic Impact of Permitting Timelines on Produced Geothermal Power},
author = {Neupane, Ghanashyam and Adhikari, Birendra},
abstractNote = {Despite having a large geothermal power potential in the United States, only a small fraction has been developed for power generation. Various barriers, including technical, financial, and regulatory permit delays, are attributed to lower contribution of geothermal energy in the national grid. Unpredictable environmental reviews and permitting timelines are some of the non-technical barriers that can cause delays in geothermal exploration and utilization plans. This study shows that the geothermal permitting timelines can vary from six months to several years, depending on the presence or absence of biological resources, cultural resources, and sensitive environmental issues at the project site. The potential impacts of these permit barriers can range from investors abandoning geothermal development to making the product (i.e., electricity) more expensive and uncompetitive.},
doi = {10.15121/1845285},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 15 04:00:00 UTC 2022},
month = {Tue Feb 15 04:00:00 UTC 2022}
}