Planning and Design of a Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts

The data and documents provided report the achievements of HEET and its partners during the Budget Period 1 (BP1) "Planning and Design" of the Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling (CGHC) grant awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) to HEET. The partner organizations of this project are: Eversource Energy- the Deployment Partner; the City of Framingham - the Municipal Partner, Salas O'Brien - the Design Partner, and HEET, the main recipient. HEET is a non-profit with a mission to drive systems change through an ethical and efficient thermal energy transition.

The proposed CGHC project consists of installing a network of interconnected ground-source heat pump systems, or geothermal network, in an area encompassing multiple environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods in the City of Framingham, MA. The capacity of the system is estimated at 217 tons and is designed to provide 100% of heating and cooling needs for the buildings connected to the loop. In this project, 80 boreholes are used as the main thermal resources, the distribution system (or loop) consists of 0.61 miles of an 8-inch single-pipe at ambient temperature, with the capacity to connect 44 buildings, including 13 apartment buildings from the Framingham Housing Authority, one transitional home, one school building and 29 single family homes. While Framingham already has a geothermal network loop that is currently in the commissioning stage, our proposed project is unique because it is the first utility-led expansion loop (2nd loop) project that will connect to an adjacent existing geothermal loop (1st loop) in a pre-existing neighborhood. Both the 1st and 2nd loops are being installed, owned and operated by Eversource Energy, our utility Deployment Partner.

The objectives of the project, as stated in the DOE approved Scope of Project Objectives (SOPO) for BP1 have been accomplished to their full extent. The five main tasks in the SOPO relate to (1) socio-technical and design assessment, (2) feasibility and design, (3) workforce analysis, (4) environmental and permitting plans, and (5) prepare deliverables and documentation for Budget Period 2 (BP2).

Significant learnings and research findings obtained during BP1 include a) stakeholder and design best practices, b) study on optimal method to interconnect geothermal loops, c) guidelines for monitoring and metering, d) operations and maintenance plans, e) permitting guidelines and f) 10-day driller tutorial curriculum. These learnings, shared in the Geothermal Data Repository, can begin to guide the efficient and ethical design of future geothermal networks nationwide.

It is HEET's intention to improve safety, affordability, resilience, reliability, and security of our energy system, while increasing health, creating good jobs and lowering emissions. The geothermal network designed has the potential to deliver on this vision.