An R&D Project Management and Selection System for the Utilization Technology Branch, Division of Geothermal Energy, Volume III - Project Selection Procedure and Benefit/Cost Analysis

This report in three volumes describes an R and D project management and selection system developed for the Utilization Technology Branch of the Division of Geothermal Energy, Department of Energy. The proposed project management system (PMS) consists of a project data system (PDS) and a project selection procedure (PSP). The project data system consists of a series of project data forms and project status logs, and descriptions of information pathways. The PDS emphasizes timely monitoring of the technical and financial progress of projects, maintenance of the history of the project and rapid access to project information to facilitate responsive reporting to DGE and DOE Upper Management. The project selection procedure emphasizes a R and D product-oriented approach to benefit/cost analysis of individual projects. The report includes: (a) a description of the system, and recommendations for its implementation, (b) the PDS forms and explanation of their use, (c) a glossary of terms for use on the forms, (d) a description of the benefit/cost approach, (e) a data base for estimating R and D benefits, and (f) examples of test applications of the system to nine current DGE projects. This volume describes a proposed procedure for R and D project selection. The benefit/cost analysis part of the procedure estimates financial savings expected to result from the commercial use of hardware or process products of R and D. Savings are estimated with respect to the geothermal power plants expected to come on line between 1978 and 2000