SBIR/STTR Award
The U.S. Department of Energy announced that New England Research (NER) and EarthBridge Energy will receive funding as part of 259 Department of Energy grants totaling $53 million to 210 small businesses in 38 states. The awards include projects relating to decarbonization efforts, renewables, and energy storage technologies.
“Supporting small businesses will ensure we are tapping into all of America’s talent to develop clean energy technologies that will help us tackle the climate crisis,” said Stephen Binkley, Acting Director of the DOE’s Office of Science. “DOE’s investments will enable these economic engines to optimize and commercialize their breakthroughs, while developing the next generation of science leaders and ensuring U.S. scientific and economic competitiveness that will benefit all Americans.”
Through the SBIR/STTR program across the federal government, small business powers the U.S. economy and generates thousands of jobs, both directly and indirectly. DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards aim at transforming DOE-supported science and technology breakthroughs into viable products and services. The awards also support the development of specialized technologies and instruments that aid in scientific discovery.
EarthBridge Energy and NER will use the Award entitled “Integrated Characterization and Modeling of Subsurface Properties Critical to Geothermal Energy Storage in Sedimentary Reservoirs” to establish an integrated characterization and modeling workflow focused on near wellbore flow and mechanical integrity in geothermal energy storage systems. Dr. Ahmad Ghassemi from The University of Oklahoma will work with NER and EarthBridge Energy on simulation modeling to define the parameter fields needed for optimizing the design and sustainability of geothermal energy storage wells.
CEO of New England Research (NER) Randy Martin commented that all of us at NER congratulate Uno Mutlu and Gregory Boitnott on the award of SBIR funding to characterize and model the utilization of sedimentary reservoirs for geothermal energy storage. Innovative approaches such as this re-enforce NER’s commitment supporting a diverse range of energy suppliers working on creative solutions to develop clean energy technologies..
“We are proud to have received support from the DOE for this critical work to ensure long-term sustainability of our GeoBattery energy storage system. This represents a key step in the continued commercial development of this renewable energy technology and underpins our near-term follow-on field demonstration.” said EarthBridge Energy’s Founder and CEO, Derek Adams.
ABOUT EARTHBRIDGE ENERGY
EarthBridge Energy, a Texas-based geothermal company, is enabling a smooth transition to renewable energy by developing a grid-scale energy storage technology. The GeoBattery™ uses a subsurface reservoir to safely store waste electricity from wind, solar, or the grid for when power is needed most. Development of this long duration storage technology furthers EarthBridge Energy’s mission of achieving a 100% renewable energy future. To explore more, please visit earthbridgeenergy.com.
ABOUT New England Research Inc (NER)
NER specializes in the behavior of rocks at in situ conditions from the pore to the meter scale. Our approach is to perform accurate laboratory-scale measurements of rock properties to support and evaluate physically based petrophysical and geomechanical models and to develop data driven workflows to address specific challenges of the energy industry. The association with EarthBridge Energy provides a unique opportunity to apply our models to significant problems facing the expansion of geothermal energy worldwide and participate directly in the development of renewable energy technologies.
For more information about the SBIR/STTR program powered by the US Small Business Administration see: https://www.sbir.gov/
