The federal agency responsible for cutting costs and risks in geothermal development is offering $3 million in prize money for a competition. The goal? To find innovative ideas that can help grow the workforce for geothermal heat pumps (GHPs). Several winners will be rewarded for their contributions.

The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) announced the Geothermal Heat Pumps Partnerships to Accelerate Training and Hiring (GHP PATHs) Prize, which the GTO says is designed to foster regional partnerships focused on building a stronger GHPs workforce.

The GHP PATHs Prize is open to U.S.-based individuals, teams, and organizations, GTO says. Furthermore, participants can be entrepreneurs, companies, nonprofits, certification bodies, training providers, researchers, students, vocational schools, community colleges, universities, or any innovators with a transformative idea for building the GHP workforce, according to GTO.

The GHP PATHs Prize encourages the rapid development of partnerships and programs to support the hiring and training of GHP workers in all communities by helping competitors transform their ideas into reality within months, rather than years, through a three-phase competition in which the phases are labeled “Connect”, “Engage”, and “Execute”.

Under those phases, competitors can win part of $3 million to help them advance in the competition and accelerate the development of their solutions, GTO says. The details of each phase along with corresponding deadlines and dates are: 

            Phase 1: Connect. In this phase, competitors submit a narrative describing their vision for building a sustainable pathway to training and hiring in their defined region. Up to 20 winning teams will receive $40,000, and will be eligible to compete in Phase 2 Submissions for this phase opened on Dec. 10, 2024; and the date for submissions to close is 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 12, 2025; with March 11, 2025 as the anticipated date for winners to be announced. 

            Phase 2: Engage. In this phase, competitors formalize commitments between engaged partners, under which the gaps and needs of the GHP workforce in their defined region will be analyzed, resulting in proposals for workforce development programs that include training plans and hiring strategies. At the end of Phase 2, up to 8 winning teams will receive $150,000 each and be eligible to compete in Phase 3. The anticipated date for Phase 2 submissions to open is March 11, 2025; and the date for submissions to close is 5 p.m. EST on June 18, 2025; with July 16, 2025 as the anticipated date for winners to be announced. 

            Phase 3: Execute. In this phase, competitors execute their proposed workforce development program and submit results including the number of workers trained, new hires, and their plans for sustainable long-term industry commitments. Winning teams will receive from $100,000 to $400,000. The anticipated date for Phase 3 submissions to open is July 16, 2025; and the date for submissions to close is 5 p.m. EST on Nov. 13, 2025; with Dec. 17, 2025 as the anticipated date for winners to be announced.

The GTO says the goal of the GHP PATHs Prize is to build regional pipelines from people seeking jobs and training in the GHPs sector to companies and organizations offering GHP jobs and training, and to organizations building regional demand for GHP services. GTO expects the train-to-hire pipeline to contain the following: 

            Workers seeking jobs in GHPs (apprentices, temp agencies, trade unions, etc.). 

            Certification and training providers. 

            Training facilities. 

            Employers offering GHP jobs. 

            Non-profits and municipalities accelerate energy efficiency programs. 

Click here to read the GHP PATHs Official Rules.