REDUCING THE RISK OF GEOTHERMAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE PROVISION OF GEOTHERMAL DATA AND INFORMATION

How will the provision of geothermal and geosciences data and information through a National Geothermal Data System reduce the risk of geothermal development? Deloitte LLP stated that while there have been a series of attempts at, and plans for, organizing existing data on geothermal resources in the U.S. and specifically across the western states, the accuracy, reliability, and general availability of the information remains disjointed, haphazard, or unavailable. The provision of geothermal and geosciences field data can reduce uncertainty and increase investor confidence in geothermal development.

The National Geothermal Data System will supply data to the public through a web application that will encourage investors, developers, researchers, educators, regulators, and interested members of the public to access the information generated from U.S. DOE investments in geothermal research, development and demonstration efforts, as well as other public and private sources of geothermal information.

In it's May 2011 Strategic Plan, DOE states that "...success should be measured not when a project is completed or an experiment concluded, but when scientific and technical information is disseminated. Beyond broad availability of technical reports, e-prints and multimedia, and publication in peer-reviewed journals, open access to experimental data and analysis codes is increasingly important in policy-relevant research areas. The Department will establish guidelines for use with both grants and contracts to ensure appropriate access to, and retention of, scientific data and analysis methods. In more applied areas, knowledge of what did not work can be of equal value with positive results, for that can prevent the misapplication of significant private resources...".

In line with DOE’s strategic objectives, DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program is providing access to its geothermal project information through the Geothermal Projects Database and the DOE Geothermal Data Repository (DOE-GDR). The DOE-GDR is intended to be one of many nodes on the National Geothermal Data System currently under development. This paper describes plans for the National Geothermal Data System and the requirements for providing data to DOE’s “node” on the National Geothermal Data System.