Robert Edwards, a former Energy Department official, has joined T5 Smackover Partners, a Texas-based company developing geothermal energy and critical minerals at a reclaimed coal mining site in the sprawling Smackover formation in Texas.
Edwards was tapped to serve on the company’s strategic advisory board, according to a news release. Cole Fisher, who served as the global director of GE Vernova’s decarbonization business development, has been named president.
T5 Smackover Partners is developing a project in Franklin, Titus and Hopkins counties in Texas that combines geothermal power with direct lithium extraction and bromine recovery. Lithium is a key ingredient in EV batteries.
The project is located in the Smackover formation, which spans from northeastern Texas into southwestern Arkansas. The formation has large deposits of ancient salt water — or brine — that contain high concentrations of lithium.
