Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office Issues Request for Information to Advance Private Investment in Innovative American Energy Technologies

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO), in collaboration with the Office of Technology Commercialization, today announced a Request for Information (RFI) seeking stakeholder input on opportunities to better connect private capital and public-private partnership programs with coal, oil and gas, and geothermal energy technologies.

The RFI supports President Trump's American Energy Dominance agenda by strengthening connections among American energy innovators, industry and private capital to accelerate commercialization, lower energy costs, strengthen reliability and energy security, and power American prosperity. This effort builds on the recently announced Small Business Investment Company-Energy (SBIC-E) Initiative, announced by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler to mobilize private capital for American energy technologies and businesses.

"President Trump has made American energy innovation and dominance a priority, and connecting promising technologies with the right technical expertise, industry partners and sources of capital is critical to delivering on that vision," said DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office Curt Coccodrilli. "Through this Request for Information, we would like to hear directly from investors, innovators and industry about the opportunities and challenges they see in commercializing coal, oil and gas, and geothermal energy technologies."

"Too often, promising American technologies face barriers between development and commercial deployment," said Anthony Pugliese, DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. "We want to better understand where those barriers exist and how DOE can work with the private sector to create stronger pathways to market, helping more American energy technologies scale, compete, and succeed."

DOE is soliciting feedback from investors, industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies and other stakeholders to better understand investor interest, barriers and opportunities related to the development and commercialization of subsurface energy technologies.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Coal

• Modernization, reliability, and life extension of coal-fired power plants
• Critical minerals and materials recovery from coal and coal combustion residuals
• Advanced mining and extraction technologies
• Non-fuel coal-to-materials and product conversion
• Advanced electric generation designs with improved fuel and operational flexibility
• Improved emissions control systems
• Advanced sensors and controls for power plant optimization and efficiency
• Integrated energy storage, energy-water campuses and data center integration opportunities

Oil and Gas

• Modular liquefied natural gas component and process technologies
• Midstream sensors, materials and inspection technologies
• Produced water treatment, analytics, reuse and critical mineral recovery
• Wellbore integrity and intervention technologies
• Pipeline and compression reliability
• Enhanced recovery diagnostics and field optimization
• Remote operations, field electrification, sensors, controls and AI-enabled technologies

Geothermal

• Advanced exploration and reservoir characterization
• Next-generation power plant and surface-facility performance
• High-temperature drilling and well construction
• Reservoir stimulation and sustainability
• Commercial deployment and grid integration innovations

This RFI is a request for information only and is not a Notice of Funding Opportunity or a solicitation for proposals or applications. DOE is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives through this RFI, and no project will be supported as a result of the RFI. Information received will be used for government planning and strategy development.

Responses to the RFI must be submitted electronically to [email protected] by 5:00 p.m. ET on October 5, 2026. Additional information, including submission instructions and the full RFI, is available here.

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