President Obama announced USD 467 million from the Recovery Act as aimed towards financing development, deployment and use of geothermal and solar energy throughout the US. This is a substantial injection of capital that will help geothermal and solar overcome obstacles that have slowed down development, but also provide financing for demonstration new technologies. Development in geothermal and solar power will also bring employment, as well as increase American competitiveness, while moving towards a cleaner economy.

Energy Secretary Chu announced the governement wants to put millions of people to work by investing in clean energy technology like geothermal and solar, a formidable goal to say the least.

US geothermal resources map. (Image credit: EERE)

Geothermal technology development will receive about USD 350 million in new investments, which is a gigantic increase compared to government commitments in this area so far. The money will be used to support geothermal projects in these four crucial areas – geothermal demo projects, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) research, innovative exploration techniques and a National Geothermal Data System, Resource Assessment and Classification System.

Solar energy will receive about USED 117.6 million mostly for scaling up production and distribution so solar can become more competitive with other sources of energy. Activities towards commercializing solar energy across the US will leverage partnerships including DOE's national laboratories, universities, local government and the private sector.

For a more detailed breakdown of what the money will be used for in geothermal and solar energy development, see this page.