Colorado launched a new era of investment in geothermal energy Friday in a two-pronged effort to broaden renewable sources and lower consumer bills, with Gov. Jared Polis going deep into the details of a $7.7 million round of grants meant to boost private developers.
Polis said the state geothermal grants will help unlock $100 million of total investment in the emerging technology, from tests of warm water deep inside oil well sites, to new ground-source heat pumps to take three Pueblo fire stations to net-zero on emissions.
Adding geothermal energy sources to Colorado’s market-leading push into solar and wind generation, Polis said, is necessary to both meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals over the next two decades and to offer consumers a break on heating and cooling costs.
“Energy is a cost that everybody is frustrated with,” Polis said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s really critical and essential that we look for creative ways to provide relief to people on their monthly bills. Imagine having zero heating and cooling bills on those warm summer days and cold winter days. That can save a family a lot of money with simply the upfront improvements that are put in before they even move in.”
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Geothermal projects take advantage of the steady, medium-level temperatures of underground air and water as compared the wide seasonal fluctuations of outdoor air. A geothermal heat pump uses underground sources that might be 50 to 60 degrees all year round, and uses that as a base in a heat exchanger to either warm or cool air efficiently in homes and offices.
Other potentially larger geothermal projects could tap into Colorado’s large stores of hot underground water to create heat exchangers warming entire neighborhoods or city blocks. Exploration of such ideas is underway at places with geothermal stores, like the area around Mount Princeton.
Though recent designs have improved, air-source heat pumps can struggle to work efficiently when Colorado’s outdoor temperatures drop below zero. When the differential between outdoor air and the ideal indoor temperature is too great, air source heat pumps require too much additional electrical energy to reach the right temperature. Underground sources providing geothermal energy are steadier and more efficient, Polis said.
“We’re really helping to remove pollution from buildings without creating a new big cost on the electric side,” he said.
Colorado energy officials have also touted existing oil and gas exploration infrastructure as more research opportunities for geothermal, with the potential to get down into hotter water. The oil basins in northeastern Colorado have hot water within reach, and developers might deepen existing well bores to take advantage, energy officials have said.
The $7.7 million awarded Friday as part of the Geothermal Energy Grant Program includes 35 projects, including one in Pierce exploring possible uses of heat from an unproductive oil and gas well there. Nearly half the awards were made for projects related to disproportionately impacted or “just transition” communities, and the Pierce project is an area of Weld County where some past oil and gas development has run out.
In another grant, Pueblo will use $270,000 for ground-source heat pumps at three new fire stations designed to reach net-zero on greenhouse gas emissions.
The new Pueblo fire stations will be in majority-minority neighborhoods that are currently far from emergency services, a state news release said, “helping reduce insurance rates and improve emergency response time and outcomes. This project will also save taxpayers money, resulting in more than $28,000 in energy cost savings annually.”
Colorado cannot supply a major portion of its energy needs through geothermal in the way countries like New Zealand or Iceland have, Polis said. But a few percentage points of geothermal contribution are important in helping to lower emissions in some corners of the economy that are hard to decarbonize, and can provide support for the electric grid at moments when solar and wind are not generating.
Waiting for the free market to develop geothermal on its own is not fast enough for Colorado’s needs, Polis said. Energy is heavily regulated, while developing long-term alternative sources takes technological and investment risk, he said.
“When they’re not as likely to engage in endeavors that are future oriented, then we might need to prove them out. So we’re going to prove them out,” Polis said.