Thursday, 20 May

US Government funds National Geothermal Institute in Reno

This is fast becoming a weekly blog. Too busy.

The Department of Energy announced on Monday of $1.2m awarded to the University of Nevada, Reno, to develop and operate the National Geothermal Institute. The institute will be a consortium of geothermal schools, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell, Stanford, the Oregon Institute of Technology and the University of Utah.

Officials say the new venture will effectively be the first university training program of its kind in the country. The National Geothermal Institute's goal is to educate and train the next generation of scientists, engineers, plant operators and policy makers. The plan is to start offering classes as early as February 2011.The geothermal program is expected to offer a series of eight one-week courses with additional field trips and a project. Courses could include: Introduction to Geothermal Energy Utilization; Geothermal Business Principles; Public Policy, Permitting, and Environmental Issues; Exploration; Reservoir Engineering and Management; Power Plant Design and Construction and Direct Use.

It looks like this is going to be a coursework Master program. It will be interesting to see how this is going to develop in terms of the student interest. The $1.2m award should be enough to start a program but unless sufficient enrollments are realised the consortium would find it difficult to sustain such a program.

It has been suggested in the past that Australian universities should get together to offer a similar program. The experience of the US Institute may be useful in that context.

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