CenterPoint Energy took a step toward its first networked geothermal pilot in Minnesota this month by selecting Resource Innovations and Salas O’Brien to support site selection and a feasibility study, the Texas-based electric and natural gas utility said.
A networked geothermal system is a type of thermal energy network that can heat and cool multiple buildings in a campus, neighborhood or mixed-use district. Using the relatively constant temperature of the earth as a heat source and sink, they transfer heat through underground water pipes and a network of heat pumps, CenterPoint said.
When powered by renewable or low-carbon electricity, networked geothermal systems can effectively decarbonize building climate control.
Municipalities and institutions have used thermal energy networks — also known as district energy systems — for decades in North America, Europe and other parts of the world. But U.S. utilities have been relatively slow to adopt the technology. Eversource Energy commissioned the United States’ first utility-owned networked geothermal system last year in Framingham, Massachusetts.
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