U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited the University of Utah as part of a post-State of the Union tour to highlight President Joe Biden's energy and climate initiatives, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Granholm and Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson attended a briefing on the DOE-funded Utah FORGE project, which is developing enhanced geothermal system technology at an experimental site near Milford, Utah. Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mitzi Montoya and Interim Vice President for Research Erin Rothwell welcomed Granholm to the U.
"We're very excited to be watching the success of [Utah] FORGE," Montoya said. "We are very committed to continuing to support and invest in this project because we know its importance as we continue to develop sources of renewable energy for the country."
Joseph Moore, principal investigator of Utah FORGE, explained how the project aims to develop technology that can tap into the vast resource of geothermal energy without needing a hot spring. The enhanced geothermal systems under development at FORGE can make geothermal energy viable in many more places, greatly expanding its capacity and impact.
Officials from the Utah Office of Energy Development, the University of Utah, and the Energy & Geoscience Institute, which manages the Utah FORGE research, as well as several students working on the project, also attended the briefing.
Granholm, Henderson and Moore then toured the geothermal pump room at Carolyn and Kem Gardner Commons with John Palo, district facility manager. The building is entirely heated and cooled by some 150 geothermal wells located under a nearby soccer field. The system saves the University over $60,000 annually in energy costs.
