The Department of Energy awarded  $338 million to geothermal energy projects Thursday.

In making the awards, Secretary Chu stated “The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy.”

Russell Gold of the WSJ noted that the “usual geothermal suspects” fared well under the new DOE awards.  Ormat Technologies and AltaRock Energy (which we wrote about here ) are two high profile geothermal beneficiaries.

Other big names companies sharing in the DOE grant money include: GE, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Baker Hughes, and Schlumberger.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14279744@N03/2202347246/

KJC