EERE (NREL) Geothermal Technologies Program Survey

Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585

October 4, 2010

Ms. Christine Kymn

Department of Energy Desk Officer

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Washington, DC 20503

SUBJECT: DOE-887(89), “USE OF GENERIC CLEARANCE FOR THE GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM HYDROTHERMAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS SURVEY”

Dear Ms. Kymn:

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) plans to use the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved generic clearance, DOE-887, (DOE Customer Surveys’ OMB No. 1901-0302, expiring December 31, 2010) to conduct a short survey of the geothermal stakeholders to better understand the industry’s perspective of barriers to geothermal development. As agreed to under the DOE-887 “DOE Customer Surveys” clearance, we will anticipate your approval within two weeks. Without the proper authority, we will not conduct this survey. We will provide OMB with the results of this data collection when we submit the annual report of surveys conducted under the generic clearance.

NREL developed the attached industry survey as proposed in the FY10 NREL Annual Operating Plan Agreement with the Geothermal Technologies Program to survey a cross section of the geothermal industry for institutional barriers to geothermal development.

The responses will be used to:

• Quantify industry perception of hurdles to geothermal development by industry category (developers, financiers, government, policymakers, utilities, researchers, etc.)

• Suggest potential analysis and RD&D to help to overcome industry barriers

Information gathered from the survey will provide a baseline of data for targeting solutions to industry-identified barriers to geothermal development. The results, which will represent a fraction of the geothermal industry and their opinions, will be used as a guide and will not be used as a definitive snapshot of the opinions of all geothermal industry personnel.

The respondents of the survey will consist of geothermal professionals at the Geothermal Resources Council annual 2010 conference in Sacramento, CA (October 24-27, 2010) in conjunction with the Geothermal Energy Association’s coordinating industry trade show.. A response rate of 5-10 percent is anticipated for the approximately 2,500 attendees at the combined event. Surveys will be conducted in person by NREL staff at the conference and tradeshow.

All participation in this survey is voluntary. No self-identifying information will be collected. All results will be presented in aggregate form. All analysis of the survey results will lack any identifying characteristics of the survey respondents.

The attached survey will take approximately 10 minutes to answer and contains a short series of multiple choice and short answer questions. The total burden for this survey is estimated at 16.7 hours (100 respondents x 10 minutes).

Questions should be directed to Katherine Young, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, at 303-384-7402. Arlene Anderson at the Geothermal Technologies Program is the U.S. Department of Energy point of contact and may be contacted at 202-586-7562. For questions regarding the forms clearance process, please contact Alethea Jennings at 202-586-5879.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Brown

Director

Statistics and Methods Group

Energy Information Administration