Two geothermal wells are being drilled in front of Rochester City Hall in Minnesota, USA. The wells will form the basis of a planned geothermal heating and cooling system that will serve at least 1 million square feet of downtown space, including City Hall, the Mayo Civic Center and the public library.

"When it's done, we'll have the second city hall in Minnesota that uses geothermal heating and cooling, which is very exciting." Kevin Bright, who served as director of housing and sustainability and was involved in promoting the geothermal program, said.

Geothermal development is part of the city's strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1001 TP3T over the next thirty years. The long-term plan is to create a network of underground pipes to efficiently supply heating and cooling to new residential and commercial buildings in the city center.

The initial phase of the project is expected to be completed by 2025, officials said.

Joe Damel, managing director of advocacy group FreshEnergy, describes how such a system becomes more efficient when more buildings are connected together. "You use the heat stored in the ground to heat the building, so you're extracting heat from the ground and delivering it to the building. In cooling mode, you extract heat from the building and put it back into the ground for storage."

Federal Financing Paves Way for Geothermal Rochester's geothermal program has been made financially viable by new federal financing options that incentivize projects that can reduce large-scale carbon emissions. As Dahlmeier said, the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress about a year ago, removed the usual cost barriers to geothermal.

The projected cost of the Rochester geothermal system is about $34 million. About half of that cost will be covered by Inflation Reduction Act incentives as well as smaller public funding sources.

"State and federal policies are shifting toward a different approach to heating. We think that in Minnesota, networked geothermal is a very promising technology to accomplish this." Dahlmeier commented further.

Benefits of indigenous technology

Technology was also one of the key drivers in realizing the project. The system required the drilling of only two wells, thanks to design innovations developed at the University of Minnesota and commercialized by DarcySolutions.

"What we're doing is exchanging energy with the groundwater in the aquifer, not just with the ground, soil and rock." Andrew Steiner, chief operating officer of DarcySolutions, said.

By utilizing naturally occurring aquifers, geothermal heat pumps require less work for heating and cooling. This means that geothermal systems can have a smaller footprint and require fewer wells to be drilled, resulting in lower capital and operating costs.

Source: MPRNews

Twogeothermal wells are being drilled right in front of the City Hall of Rochester in Minnesota, U.S. These wells will be the foundation of a planned geothermal heating and cooling system that will serve at least 1 million square feet of downtown space including the City Hall, the Mayo Civic Center, and the City Hall. These wells will be the foundation of a planned geothermal heating and cooling system that will serve at least 1 million square feet of downtown space including the City Hall, the Mayo Civic Center, and the public library.

"Afterit's completed and the project's done, we'll have the second city hall in Minnesota that is electrically heated and cooled with geothermal, which is pretty exciting," said Kevin Bright, former director of housing and housing finance. electrically heated and cooled with geothermal, which is pretty exciting," said Kevin Bright, former director of housing and sustainability and one of the people who helped launch the geothermal project. sustainability and one of the people who helped launch the geothermal project.

Thedevelopment of geothermal is part of the city's strategy to reduce greenhouse gases by 100% over the next three decades. The long- term plan would be to create an underground network of pipes that will efficiently supply heating and cooling to the new residential and commercial buildings. term plan would be to create an underground network of pipes that will efficiently supply heating and cooling to the new residential and commercial buildings downtown. The long-term plan would be to create an underground network of pipes that will efficiently supply heating and cooling to the new residential and commercial buildings downtown.

Theinitial phases of this project is expected to be completed by 2025, officials say.

Joe Dammel, Managing Director of the advocacy group Fresh Energy, described how such a system becomes more efficient when more buildings are linked together. JoeDammel Managing Director of the advocacy group Fresh Energy, described how such a system becomes more efficient when more buildings are linked together. "You use the heat that's stored there as a way to heat a building so you're pulling heat from the ground and putting it into buildings. In cooling mode, you're pulling heat from buildings and putting it back to the ground for storage. "

Federalfinancing paved the way for geothermalThe geothermal project in Rochester has become financially feasible because of new federal financing options incentivizing project that result in large-scale carbon emissions. The geothermal project in Rochester has become financially feasible because of new federal financing options incentivizing project that result in large-scale carbon emissions. As Dammel said, the Inflation Reduction Actthat Congress passed about a year ago has removed the usual cost barriers of geothermal.

Theprojected cost of Rochester's geothermal system is about USD 34 million. About half of that cost will be covered by incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as smaller public funding sources. About half of that cost will be covered by incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as smaller public funding sources.

"The state and federal policy is really shifting toward a different way of heating. And we think in Minnesota that network geothermal is a And we think in Minnesota that network geothermal is a really promising technology to accomplish that," Dammel further commented.

Thebenefit of homegrown technology

Technologyhas also been one of the key drivers for the realization of this project. The system only requires the drilling of two wells thanks to the design innovations developed in the University of Minnesota and commercialized by DarcySolutions.

"What we do is instead of exchanging energy with just the ground and soil and rock, we exchange energy with groundwater in the aquifers below us," said Andrew Steiner, chief operating officer for Darcy Solutions. What we do is instead of exchanging energy with just the ground and soil and rock, we exchange energy with groundwater in the aquifers below us," said Andrew Steiner, chief operating officer for Darcy Solutions.

Bytapping into naturally occurring aquifers, the geothermal heat pumps do not need to do a lot of work for heating and cooling. This means that geothermal systems can have smaller footprints and require the drilling of fewer wells, thus also reducing capital and operating costs. This means that geothermal systems can have smaller footprints and require the drilling of fewer wells, thus also reducing capital and operating costs.

Source:MPRNews