The Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy, headquartered in the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno, has received its third year of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct peer-reviewed research and to produce a web-based, stakeholder geothermal information system for Nevada geothermal data. Initial funding to the Center was obtained in March 2002 with assistance of Senator Harry Reid, year 2 funding was received in May 2003, and year 3 funding was received in October of 2004. The Center recently awarded $682,875 in new research funding in the third year of its peer-reviewed research program. These research projects were externally reviewed and competitively selected from proposals submitted to the Center in February of 2005, and eight new research projects were initiated during this third funding cycle. Funded projects include a wide range of earth-science-related topics designed to explore for new geothermal systems and assess known systems and currently producing geothermal systems. The objectives of both the research and outreach components of the Center are to increase the amount of energy produced with geothermal resources in the Great Basin by evaluating existing, new and developing scientific methods to improve exploration and assessment of these resources.

Department of Energy - Golden Field Office ($1,312,133): Expanding Geothermal Resource Utilization in Nevada through Directed Research and Public Outreach (Lisa Shevenell) 03/20/02-12/31/08. These projects were selected in response to this RFP.