The Department of the Air Force has issued a solicitation for commercial technologies to generate electricity and hydrogen for U.S. installations using geothermal energy.
The Air Force prefers geothermal energy because it can supply continuous, resilient and carbon-free electricity in all weather conditions, enabling the service to maintain mission continuity, according to the Monday notice posted on Tradewinds.
The solution will also allow the department to comply with congressional requirements to support energy resilience for important missions at USAF bases.
Through the solicitation, the government is looking to work with potential partners in developing prototypes to test if the desired electricity-generating technologies could be used at Air Force installations in the United States.
During the prototyping work at Travis Air Force Base in California, the selected vendors would collect data through geoscientific exploration and design a utility-scale facility to produce electricity and green hydrogen, the notice said.
The vendors are also expected to propose a deal structure to sell the generated electricity to the Air Force and other customers.
If the service determines that the proposed electricity production capability is technically and economically viable, the prototype would be considered in building a future facility to generate electricity and hydrogen.
Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals no later than Nov. 15.
