University of Utah and Utah FORGE Complete Contract Negotiations with 9 of 13 Awardees of Solicitation 2022-2
SALT LAKE CITY, UT., Thursday, May 2, 2024 – The Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) at the University of Utah is pleased to announce it has completed contract negotiations with 9 of the 13 project selectees for the FORGE Solicitation 2022-2. A combined total of up to $44M over the next three years is available for research projects. With their contracts signed, these awardees will begin their research immediately.
The topic areas and the contracted awardees include:
| TOPICS | AWARDEES |
| Adaptive Induced Seismicity Monitoring Protocols | Global Technology Connection, Inc. University of Utah |
| Alternative Stimulation Schemes | University of Oklahoma |
| Field Scale Experiments to Measure Heat-Sweep Efficiency | California State University, Long Beach |
| High Temperature Proppants | Oklahoma State University Stevens Institute of Technology University of Oklahoma |
| Multiset Straddle Packers for Open Hole Operations | PetroQuip Welltec |
“We are excited to have these awardees begin their new R&D projects. This research will be invaluable in testing, evaluating, and de-risking the tools and techniques needed to advance EGS,” said Dr Joseph Moore, Ph.D. and Managing Principal Investigator of the Utah FORGE project. “We also look forward to the remaining four selectees completing contract negotiations and beginning their respective research shortly.”
Utah FORGE is a dedicated underground field laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office. It is working on advancing the technologies and de-risking the tools needed to establish Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) reservoirs. Solicitation 2022-2 was the second formal call for research proposals on EGS technologies from the Utah FORGE program. More information about Solicitation 2022-2 is HERE.
About Utah FORGE: The FORGE site is located near the town of Milford in Beaver County, Utah, on the western flank of the Mineral Mountains. Near term goals are aimed at perfecting drilling, stimulation, injection-production, and subsurface imaging technologies required to establish and sustain continuous fluid flow and energy transfer from an EGS reservoir. For more information, please visit our website.
Media Contact: Christopher Katis ckatis@egi.utah.edu
For a PDf version of the press release click HERE
The heat beneath our feet flows through the earth in a complex pattern. Utah FORGE is situated in a heat reservoir that has been studied since the 1970s. In this webinar, Dr. Stuart Simmons delves into the unique geologic and geothermal resources found at Utah FORGE and the surrounding area.
What exactly are the rock types that make up the underground laboratory of Utah FORGE? In this webinar, Dr. Clay Jones describes the geology of the site and surrounding area and the findings from core and cutting analyses of deep wells!
Dr. Kristine Pankow of the University of Utah has been named the Geological Society of America’s 2025–2026 Distinguished Lecturer. Her lecture, “Utah FORGE: A Field-Scale Geothermal Laboratory,” will spotlight groundbreaking research at the world’s only dedicated site for advancing Enhanced Geothermal Systems.
