This competitive cooperative agreement for a research and development project entitled, "autonomous and tunable smart screens to control thermal evolution in EGS wells" is awarded pennsylvania state…

The Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Pennsylvania State University a Cooperative Agreement totaling $1,584,158 on November 13, 2025, under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program (CFDA 81.135, FOA DE-FOA-0003387) to develop and validate thermally activated cellular screens (TACS) for autonomous flow control in enhanced geothermal systems.

The recipient will design and manufacture kirigami-inspired TACS structures that exhibit high permeability above 200 degrees Celsius and low permeability below 110 degrees Celsius, integrate these into robust sand-screen assemblies suitable for downhole deployment, and demonstrate reversible approximately 99 percent permeability changes under temperature and pressure conditions up to 1,500 PSI. The objective is to mitigate thermal short-circuiting in EGS wells by selectively allowing hot fluid flow while restricting cold fluid ingress at the production wellbore. Work is performed at University Park, State College, Pennsylvania. The period of performance extends through November 12, 2028.

This competitive cooperative agreement for a research and development project entitled, "autonomous and tunable smart screens to control thermal evolution in EGS wells" is awarded pennsylvania state university under arpa-e FOA number DE-FOA-0003387(vision open 2024) and control 3387-1538. The purpose of this award is to develop and validate thermally activated cellular screens (tacs) for autonomous flow control in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). The primary objective is to mitigate thermal short-circuiting, a significant challenge in EGS, by selectively allowing hot fluid flow while restricting cold fluid ingress at the production wellbore. Specifically, we aim to design and manufacture kirigami-inspired tacs structures that exhibit high permeability above 200°c and low permeability below 110°c, integrate these into robust sand-screen assemblies suitable for downhole deployment, and demonstrate reversible ~99% permeability changes under relevant temperature and pressure conditions up to 1500 PSI.