Vail sees geothermal potential for decarbonizing its snowmelt system

Vail received encouraging results from a preliminary thermal conductivity report to determine the viability of using geothermal energy to fuel its snowmelt system.

The town has explored options over the years to decarbonize the system, which effectively melts the walkways in Vail Village and Lionshead but relies on natural gas boilers. It’s the largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions within the town’s operations. 

The snowmelt system is responsible for between 5,500 to 6,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, or about 80% of the town’s natural gas-related emissions, and costs around $750,000.

While the town has explored alternative fuel sources in the past, it has recently begun investing in the use of geothermal energy, or heat from the earth, to heat the streets.

“Geothermal heat pumps have the potential to operate three to six times more efficiently than electric resistance, and initial studies indicate that they can perform cost-effectively when compared to natural gas,” said Cameron Millard, Vail’s energy efficiency coordinator.

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“Geothermal boreholes would enable the use of waste heat from large buildings (think chillers), wastewater and other sources to provide snowmelt heating. The waste heat can be stored seasonally, enabling the geothermal boreholes to act as a kind of thermal storage,” he added.

The town contracted Grey Edge Group in 2023 to characterize the geothermal resources in Vail. The group, alongside, PanTerra Energy, drilled a 500-foot hole in Ford Park to determine how well it might work.

“When they did the thermal conductivity test, they put a loop in that 500-foot borehole, they circulated fluid and they measured the difference in the ingoing and outgoing water temperature and what impact the ground had on that water temperature,” Millard said.

At its Tuesday, Feb. 20 meeting, Millard gave the Vail Town Council an update on what the Grey Edge Group found.  

“It turns out it’s a very strong geothermal resource,” Millard said.

“The thermal conductivity test indicated that the ground not only has heat capacity, but it has the ability to store heat and that’s just as important. It can act as a giant thermal battery.”

Millard added that Vail’s resource looked about twice as good as other projects in the region.

“It has to do with our geology, we have a limestone shelf formation, it’s got good thermal density — you can put a lot of heat and actually store that heat seasonally and maybe even (for) years and it’s available when you need it,” Millard said.

“The engineer of record on this project said it’s really an excellent area for this type of project,” he added.   

Because the town’s snowmelt system has “extensive energy needs,” geothermal would be effective, but a backup system would also likely be needed, Millard said.

“If we were to design a system that could meet 50% of that peak heating demand for our snowmelt, it would actually decarbonize 90% of the energy use, because most of the time our snowmelt is idling. It’s just kind of at the ready, and then when it starts snowing, we ramp up,” he said. “A system like this could deal with the idling temperature very effectively and then we could utilize electric resistance boilers.”

To start with, the town would be looking at how a geothermal district could work with the Lionshead Village snowmelt system and civic area, including the library and Dobson redevelopment. If viable and effective, this could expand to other areas in town.

Growing support

The town has heard support for this system from both Eagle River Water and Sanitation and Holy Cross Energy to pursue this system.

Siri Roman, the district’s general manager, shared in a quote that creating a geothermal district in Vail could help solve two problems: “Provide a method of sustainably heating pedestrian areas, as well as using excess heat from the wastewater effluent. The proposed project has the potential to reduce emissions that would have been produced in two locations (to heat the community area and cool the effluent).”

Similarly, Bryan Hannegan, CEO of Holy Cross, expressed support for the town’s research into geothermal as it pushes toward its goal to become 100% reliant on carbon-free power by 2030.

The town’s geothermal district project “will demonstrate the feasibility of replacing the use of natural gas for heating with clean electricity in a manner that is safe, affordable, and reliable,” Hannegan said.

“The proposed thermal energy district will also provide Holy Cross Energy with a flexible, large electric load that can be managed in response to the variability of available electricity supply, enabling greater integration of variable renewable energy resources in furtherance of Holy Cross Energy’s carbon-free electricity goals,” he added.

The town has been using Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction as an example of what a geothermal district could look like. Reportedly, the university is saving $1.5 million annually after implementing a system that heats and cools 1.3 million square feet of building space, Millard said.

The Town Council expressed support for continuing the exploration of geothermal.

“I love the concept of this, I think it’s the future. It’s a great alternative for us. It’s going to be very expensive — you can pay me now or you can pay me later and I think the benefit that we get environmentally, I think the town of Vail has to seriously consider this type of energy alternative,” said Council member Dave Chapin. “Let’s get rolling.”

For the town staff, the next steps include looking into ways to optimize its existing operations, beginning the engineering and design process, evaluating state, federal and utility incentives as well as potential partnership and financing opportunities.

Growing incentives

Geothermal is somewhat of a hot topic right now, with federal and state funding and interest honing in on clean energy’s potential right now.

“It’s a very exciting time for this technology, we’re really seeing it start to take off,” Millard said. “It bodes well for our project.”

Gov. Jared Polis launched “The Heat Beneath Our Feet” initiative as his 2023 Western Governor’s Association chair initiative. The initiative aims to advance the development and deployment of geothermal energy.

“Jump-starting the adoption of geothermal energy technologies can create new opportunities to boost local economies; provide low-cost, reliable power, heating, and cooling to communities; and assist in meeting our renewable energy and energy security goals,” wrote Polis in the report’s intro.   

Millard added that they are seeing the state “promoting geothermal” as well as several “incentives (that) are starting to kick online” at the federal level.

Part of the town’s next steps will be exploring some of these opportunities and incentives. The town already applied for a state grant that if awarded would allow the town to not only work on the engineering and design but also understand some of the tax incentives out there. This includes a potential opportunity with the Inflation Reduction Act, which Millard said “could have a giant impact on the cost of this, maybe reducing the cost by as much as 30% to 40% for the town.”

With this momentum, there are a “number of geothermal projects popping up in Colorado right now,” Millard said.

In February, the town of Vail attended a meeting with Eagle, Pitkin and Routt counties as well as Carbondale and Steamboat —  “who are all in various stages of developing or implementing geothermal heating districts,” he added.