Thermal Energy Networks Testimony
350VT allies Debbie New and Jim Dumont testified at the VT House Environment & Energy Committee on April 9 about two bills we’ve been working hard on - Thermal Energy Networks and Ratepayer Protection. Here is their testimony on Thermal Energy Networks or you can watch it here.
Debbie New’s Testimony:
My name is Debbie New. I live in South Burlington and coordinate Vermont Community Thermal Networks to bring this local heating and cooling neighborhood-scale solution to our communities. I also help to lead the Energy Action Network Team that’s focused on accelerating thermal energy network development in Vermont.
Many of us are familiar with the terms geothermal or networked geothermal. Our Vermont bill follows other existing policies in using the term thermal energy networks.
Right now in Vermont, a college campus or private business, as a single owner on its own land, can install a thermal energy network. Champlain College and Hula in Burlington are both heating and cooling buildings with thermal energy from underground. We need to pass the Thermal Energy Networks Act to tap into the opportunity for our towns and cities to do this too, to take advantage of the heat we already have.
Ground source heat pumps and underground pipes are a proven technology that are working in many places in Vermont, but can’t be as widely used and networked for efficiency and equity as they could be until this bill passes. As shared infrastructure, a thermal energy network that serves the public requires authorization. More and more Vermont communities—residents, businesses, and elected leaders alike—want to develop these networks to leverage the resources and local opportunities they already have. This bill is needed not only to dramatically reduce fossil fuel use and emissions, but also to allow Vermonters to access unprecedented levels of federal funding available now for clean energy and community infrastructure.
As we all know, heat is a precious resource in Vermont. We spend a lot of time, effort, and money making, moving, and trying to save heat. We also need to devote more attention to cooling buildings, making our energy systems more resilient, and storing heat so we can use it when we need it.
Thermal energy networks provide heating, cooling, hot water, and thermal storage. They are a tool to help us achieve our climate goals, save money, relieve energy burdens, create resilience, and take control of our own energy.
What would a thermal energy network look like in a Vermont town? First, once installed you wouldn’t see it. A parking lot, green space, or athletic field could hold a “geothermal” borefield to access the solar battery of the earth, adding storage, reliability, and diversity of thermal sources, but not all thermal networks require a borefield or are geothermal projects.
We’re also talking about heat that would otherwise be wasted, either flushed down the drain in wastewater or vented from large buildings, refrigeration systems, and commercial or industrial processes that generate a lot of heat, such as to dry whey to make cheese or freeze ice cream in Vermont factories. Right now, we are wasting almost all of this heat.
A thermal energy network accesses the moderate temperatures of these kinds of heat and moves them where they’re needed via mainly water in horizontal pipes. This “hydronic” or water-based system is not high heat or steam, which is part of why it’s so efficient. We know they save energy and money. The components are simple and long-lasting. They just access and pump heat; they don’t need to produce it, so you can’t beat them for efficiency. They don’t care if it’s 20 below or 95 degrees outside. They will heat and cool your home or building and keep you comfortable.
Thermal energy networks are a community-scale solution. We know how vital it is for us to ramp up our efforts to decarbonize buildings. One important pathway is with air source heat pumps, but this one building or one appliance at a time approach doesn’t need to be our only way. We can also share heat via shared infrastructure, bringing heating and cooling to many buildings at once.
Thermal energy networks can help us reserve electricity for where it’s most needed.
Because they harness and repurpose more moderate, constant temperatures, they use significantly less electricity. In brief, they make electrification go further faster.
This high efficiency of ground source heat pumps can shave electric peaks and mean we don’t have to build as much electric infrastructure. Using less electricity will keep customer bills lower and help us all save money.
By re-using existing heat, we can also reserve more electricity for other uses and diversify our energy sources, increasing both our resilience and our independence from energy imports and fluctuating markets.
Thermal energy networks have many other benefits. They are:
Safe, clean, and healthy: Nothing is burned, so there are no emissions, no pollution, no risk of explosions.
Equitable: As community-scale infrastructure, they can be accessible and affordable across a neighborhood. As this bill allows, customer costs can be low and predictable through rates.
Resilient: System components are inside and underground, making them flexible in design, resilient in extreme weather, and reliable with very low maintenance.
Importantly, thermal energy networks can be part of a just transition. Gas, oil, and propane workers have the plumbing and pipefitting skills required to install thermal energy network components. When we leverage local heat, we can also transition our existing thermal workforce, with minimal retraining, to secure quality jobs.
Vermont communities are starting to see heat differently. Many local leaders, regional planners, economic development corporations, and other Vermonters are organizing to use the potential we have to share heat across our communities. Over a dozen communities are seriously exploring what they can do— identifying building clusters, ownership models, and financing opportunities. St. Johnsbury, St. Albans, and Middlebury are hosting community workshops this month to jumpstart this development process, and other towns are lining up.
Unlike electricity, thermal energy is actionable for our communities. We can start small with a few buildings and build larger networks over time. Our towns, businesses, and community organizations can implement thermal solutions alongside projects already planned for new housing, water and wastewater systems, municipal building improvements, and downtown revitalization projects.
As one local leader put it, “The technology is straightforward and well-established. Small groups of people can actually do this. It’s achievable. There are many options, and every situation will be a little different, but normal people can figure it out.”
Thermal energy networks also give our communities agency. As one selectboard member said, “I like that we’re not just replicating something pre-packaged. We’re asking questions, we’re learning, and we’re implementing it ourselves, so people are more willing, more receptive. Our town has agency.” That municipality is just one of many that wants to keep energy dollars local and leverage the economic benefits of taking thermal energy into their own hands.
We have a huge opportunity in Vermont to make the most of thermal energy networks where they make sense, particularly for new construction and in our town centers where we’re working to add housing, increase density, and create walkable, vibrant communities. Thermal energy networks are a proven solution, funding is available now, and people are ready to take action.
This bill does not require any state or taxpayer money and is needed to allow Vermonters to build thermal energy networks in their communities. Thank you.
Jim Dumont’s Testimony:
Vermont’s Thermal Energy Networks bill (S.252, H.669 and now proposed part of S.305) is modeled on NY’s S.9422, effective July 5, 2022. S.9422 passed the NY Senate unanimously – because of the strong support of the major environmental, labor, and business advocates. The Governor then signed it. The bill was a win for everyone—Democrats, Republicans, labor, business and the environment. The same will be true in Vermont if S.305 is signed into law with the Thermal Energy Networks sections added to it.
What are Thermal Energy Networks?
Thermal energy networks consist of both vertical and horizontal loops of pipes carrying water between multiple buildings and energy sources. The water in the sealed, piped systems may be heated or cooled by geothermal sources, waste heat, or other sources. Building owners can connect to ground source or water heat pumps installed within the building for heating and cooling and hot water services.
Thermal energy networks have been proven to substantially reduce GHG emissions from heating and cooling buildings, while preserving well-paying jobs in the energy sector by transitioning away from fossil-fuels to thermal networks.
The Vermont proposal differs from the NY bill in two major respects:
1. No utility is forced to participate. The bill authorizes, but does not require, electric and gas utilities to develop and operate Thermal Energy Networks under the continued supervision of the PUC.
2. Municipalities are authorized to construct, fund and operate thermal energy networks the same way they do their water and sewer u li es. There is no PUC supervision or reporting. Local government controls itself. (The NY PSC staff has recommended that the NY PSC issue a rule exempting municipal TENS utilities from PSC regulation, for the same reason.)
Because of Dillon’s Rule, Vermont Municipalities Need This Bill
Our communities can be capturing waste heat from wastewater treatment plants and providing it to residents and businesses alike. One neighborhood in Vancouver is getting 70% of its heating and cooling, reducing building emissions by 50%, by using its wastewater treatment plant to supply thermal energy. This system is municipally owned, requiring no taxpayer dollars. It’s paid for and earns a return on investment through rates. Vermont towns such as Northfield, Woodstock, Killington, Johnson, Winooski, and St. Albans could use this technology and this locally-owned model that we know works and keeps energy dollars invested locally for the public good.
Low income housing, health centers, schools, and town centers can be served by geothermal borefields and a network of underground pipes that can also harness and share waste heat from grocery stores or ice arenas. Another municipally-owned thermal network in a rural community in Iowa is using this infrastructure to atract businesses and revitalize their downtown. Har ord and St. Johnsbury want to do this to support affordable housing, build vibrant, resilient town centers, and create the kind of sustainable prosperity they value.
However, under “Dillon’s Rule,” adopted by our Supreme Court, municipalities have only those powers expressly granted to them in their Charter and in the General Laws, and those powers necessarily implied in the express grants.
Very few Vermont municipal charters (we have found only one) and no general laws expressly authorize municipalities to construct, fund and operate Thermal Energy Networks.
The NY Constitution was amended in 1964 to overrule Dillon’s Rule in NY. Vermont still is controlled by Dillon’s Rule. Without this bill, it is unlikely that most municipalities in Vermont could construct, fund or operate a TENS. This bill is needed not only to dramatically reduce fossil fuels and emissions, but also to allow Vermonters to access unprecedented levels of federal funding for clean energy and community infrastructure.
The current draft language is the product of 18 months of meetings with engineers, municipalities, a municipal law expert, utilities, PUC staff, fuel dealers, and environmental advocates.
Why the utility model makes sense
The model of utility regulation already governing electric and gas utilities in Vermont enables utility companies to invest in infrastructure and operating costs, to recover the investment in rates, and to obtain a fair rate of return on the investment, while the PUC ensures this is done in a manner that is fair to ratepayers. 30 V.S.A. §§ 218, 225, 226; Petition of Allied Light & Power Co., 132 Vt. 354 (1974).
The same model would enable thermal energy network providers to invest in thermal energy networks, recover the investment in rates, and obtain a fair rate of return on the investment, while protecting ratepayers.