From Community Solar to Community Geothermal, New Opportunities for Corporate Social Responsibility

The growth in community solar has enabled more electricity ratepayers to access low-cost solar power, without the expense of installing solar panels on their properties. Now the U.S. geothermal energy industry is getting a chance to show how it, too, can increase consumer access to renewable energy. As the emerging community geothermal movement gains momentum, it can also provide businesses with new opportunities to support the energy transition, especially in disadvantaged areas.

The U.S. geothermal industry is stirring into life

Compared to the community solar field, geothermal energy has some catching up to do. The U.S. geothermal industry was practically dormant by the early 2000s, rendered irrelevant by the relatively low cost and broad availability of fossil energy resources. More recently, the decarbonization movement has sparked renewed interest in geothermal energy, alongside technology improvements that bring costs down, particularly in the area of heat pumps.

In addition to cutting carbon emissions, the U.S. Department of Energy takes note of the ripple effect of geothermal heat pump technology on the nation’s energy infrastructure.

“Widespread geothermal heat pump installations could also save 24,500 miles of new grid transmission lines from needing to be built (36.7 TW-mi) — the equivalent of crossing the United States eight times — because of a reduced need for generation capacity, storage and transmission compared to other energy pathways,” the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory concluded in a report earlier this year.

For many households, though, access to geothermal energy is far out of reach. That includes millions of renters along with homeowners who lack the space or financial resources to install a geothermal system on their property.

Modeling best practices for community geothermal 

Some municipalities, including New York City, are beginning to explore the feasibility of deploying geothermal energy for district heating. To help provide more cities and other jurisdictions with an actionable knowledge base, last year the Energy Department launched a $13 million community geothermal heating and cooling program focused on opportunities for disadvantaged areas.

“DOE is providing the possibility of wider adoption of these geothermal systems which can go a long way in decarbonizing the building and electricity sectors,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement last year.

Eleven projects were selected for Phase I of the program, which involved assessing the suitability of various sites. In the latest development, five of the projects have been selected for additional funding to continue on to Phase II. The group includes three urban/suburban projects and two rural projects, an intentional diversity aimed at providing geothermal models over a wide spectrum of communities.

The five projects were selected partly on the basis of their sponsors’ experience with local workforce development. That includes the Chicago-based environmental justice organization Blacks in Green. Working with a network of local workforce and economic development partners, Blacks in Green has established experience in the community solar field, including a recently awarded 9-megawatt contract described as “one of the nation’s largest non-utility-based solar projects launched by a clean energy co-op.”

With an assist from half a dozen public, academic and private partners, the organization is deploying its Energy Department grant to establish a district geothermal heating system in the predominantly Black neighborhood of West Woodlawn in Chicago. The neighborhood lacks an open plot of land available for a geothermal field, so the project will be deployed along alleys. Use of the alleys will also help avoid conflicts with existing utility infrastructure.

New opportunities for businesses to contribute

Last year, Blacks in Green also received a grant from the Energy Department through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to spearhead the new Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center in Illinois. The Illinois center is part of a collaboration between the two agencies that is designed to improve access to clean energy grants in disadvantaged communities. It is one of 18 established so far across the U.S. through the EPA.

“The goal is to flip the script of business as usual with the simple step that no movement for equity can ever thrive without Black, Brown and Indigenous people leading in all matters essential to thriving communities,” Blacks in Green founder Naomi Davis said in an EPA press announcement. 

More room for growth in the U.S. 

As Davis suggests, businesses looking to take an active role in the environmental justice movement can explore new opportunities to engage in public-private partnerships that demonstrate emerging technologies in underserved communities, implement mature technologies, and support workforce development, including geothermal and other clean energy projects.

Concurrently, new systems are also emerging to make geothermal energy available in more areas of the U.S. One example is the startup Fervo Energy, which has received Energy Department funding for a demonstration project in Utah. The company aims to draw at least 8 megawatts of power from three new wells in an area that has never generated geothermal energy commercially. 

Data center stakeholders are also supporting innovation in geothermal technology, as they search for reliable sources of renewable energy in bulk. One  example is a new partnership between Facebook parent company Meta and the startup Sage Geosystems, which has developed a new pressurized geothermal system. 

There is plenty of room for growth. Today, geothermal energy only provides about 4 gigawatts of electricity generation in the U.S. The Energy Department estimates that at least 90 gigawatts could be generated by 2050, enough for the equivalent of 65 million typical homes.