[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 241 (Monday, December 18, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 60006]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27188]



[[Page 60006]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy


Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on Identifying 
Opportunities To Address Barriers for Lowering the Cost and Risk of 
Geothermal Drilling

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on 
its Request for Information (RFI) on Identifying Opportunities to 
Address Barriers for Lowering the Cost and Risk of Geothermal Drilling. 
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is specifically 
interested in information on defining major challenges in geothermal 
drilling and identifying opportunities in research and development and 
process improvement, including opportunities to collaborate on best 
practices with other drilling industries.

DATES: Responses to the RFI must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. 
(ET) on January 22, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit comments electronically to 
[email protected]. Responses must be provided as 
attachments to an email. Include ``Geothermal Drilling RFI'' as the 
subject of the email. It is recommended that attachments with file 
sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message 
delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) 
attachment to the email, and no more than 3 pages in length, 12 point 
font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted. The 
complete RFI document is located at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId8eee00d1-af46-47ff-806e-a1c46df9b9d8.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Question may be addressed to 
[email protected]. Further instruction can be found in the 
RFI document posted on EERE Exchange.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Geothermal energy has the potential to 
provide a significant amount of renewable electric power for the United 
States. Because drilling costs can account for 50% or more of the total 
capital cost for a geothermal power project, reducing those costs 
becomes one of the most important factors to realizing this potential. 
The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, 
research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on 
issues related to lowering the costs and risks associated with drilling 
wells for geothermal development for electricity production. The Office 
of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is seeking input in three 
areas: defining the major challenges, research and development 
opportunities, and process improvement opportunities. The RFI is 
available at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId8eee00d1-af46-47ff-806e-a1c46df9b9d8.

Confidential Business Information

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person submitting information that 
he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by law from public 
disclosure should submit via email two well marked copies: One copy of 
the document marked ``confidential'' including all the information 
believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-
confidential'' with the information believed to be confidential 
deleted. DOE will make its own determination about the confidential 
status of the information and treat it according to its determination.
    Factors of interest to DOE when evaluating requests to treat 
submitted information as confidential include: (1) A description of the 
items; (2) whether and why such items are customarily treated as 
confidential within the industry; (3) whether the information is 
generally known by or available from other sources; (4) whether the 
information has previously been made available to others without 
obligation concerning its confidentiality; (5) an explanation of the 
competitive injury to the submitting person that would result from 
public disclosure; (6) when such information might lose its 
confidential character due to the passage of time; and (7) why 
disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on December 12, 2017.
 Susan G. Hamm,
Director, Geothermal Technologies Office.
[FR Doc. 2017-27188 Filed 12-15-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P