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Geothermal Pilot Project in Framingham

Groundbreaking Event

We will celebrate the groundbreaking of our Networked Geothermal Pilot in Framingham on Monday, June 12.

Speakers will include President and CEO Joe Nolan, Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky, President of Gas Distribution Bill Akley and Vice President of Clean Technologies Nikki Bruno. We will also ceremonially put shovels in the ground along the pilot route to indicate the start of construction.

You can watch the event live on Facebook page beginning at 11 a.m.

Why Are We Doing This Project? 

We're committed to delivering New England's vision of a clean energy future and determining if networked geothermal systems are a viable option to affordably heat and cool homes and businesses.

A geothermal system uses water, wells, piping and pumps to pull the earth's heat out of the ground to warm buildings in winter and pumps heat from buildings back into the ground in summer to cool them.

It is renewable energy that comes from the sun's rays and temperatures produced in the earth's core. This energy can be used to heat and cool indoor spaces and produce hot water in conjunction with geothermal heat pumps.

Where Is The Work Being Done

The route is a neighborhood in Framingham consisting of 37 buildings – 32 residential and five commercial – for a total of 140 customers. The technology may be expanded elsewhere based on the outcome of the pilot.

Learn more about the program and what participating customers receive.

What Work Will Be Done?

There will be three parallel stages:

  1. Drill well fields
  2. Install main in the street/install service "Ts" for individual homes/buildings
  3. Work in customers' homes.

Each is not dependent on the other, but all three must be complete prior to starting up the network.

When Is The Work Being Done?

  • Project design - Complete
  • Electrical design (best plan for powering the networked system) - Complete
  • Requesting proposals for construction work - Complete
  • Working with City of Framingham on permitting - In progress
  • Test well borehole drilling, thermal capacity (test results determined viability) - Complete
  • Begin construction - Expected June 2023, target completion September

Construction Updates

May

RH White Construction has been named as the contractor for the project.

Eversource and RH White have a strong history of working together on complex projects across multiple business areas.

Their extensive experience with plastic pipe installations will help to ensure the project is completed efficiently and to the highest quality.

September 2022

Test boreholes were drilled at three locations along the pilot route in September:

  • Outside the fire station on Concord Street near Normandy Road
  • On Rose Kennedy Lane inside the Framingham Housing Authority complex
  • In Farley Parking Lot on the Mass Bay Community College campus on Normandy Road

The tests helped us determine how much heat we can put in and take out of the ground with our networked system.

The results of these tests confirmed that each location was viable for full construction drilling. Additionally, the results are helping us evaluate the accuracy of our thermal capacity models and values so we can size the system appropriately moving forward.

Community Outreach

We're committed to engaging municipal officials, residents, businesses, community groups and neighbors about upcoming project activities.

Our efforts have included municipal briefings, direct mailings, on-site and virtual meetings, door-to-door outreach, and participation in community events. You can read more updates in the most recent geothermal email.

Featured Outreach: Introduce a Girl to Engineering and Science at Fuller Middle School on March 2, 2023

We partnered with the Fuller Middle School in Framingham to host a one- day program designed to encourage girls to explore the areas of engineering and science, and to help address the gender gap in the STEM fields.

We celebrated the creativity and innovation of the students as they applied math and science concepts to learn the heating and cooling principles involved in geothermal technology, which is being developed at utility scale right in their own city.

Learn more about the event, including the mentors and judges, at the event page.

Other past events include:

  • Webinar on April 5, 2023 - Watch a recording of the webinar to hear the latest on the geothermal pilot.
  • Customer Meeting at Fuller Middle School in Framingham on April 13, 2022 - Information session where we connected with potential pilot participants who own homes or businesses along our proposed project routes.
  • Westborough Energy Fair at Mill Pond School on April 30, 2022 - We engaged with students and community members as enthusiastic about renewable energy technology as we are.
  • Framingham "Cooler Communities" event at Harmony Grove Elementary School on May 21, 2022 - We showed fourth graders that it can be "cool" to be involved in energy, especially when talking about home heating and cooling.
  • Framingham Earth Day Festival at Framingham Centre Common on April 23, 2022 - We met with and fielded questions from fair attendees interested in knowing more about the geothermal pilot project Eversource is building in their community.

Have questions about the geothermal pilot?

If you have questions about the pilot or would like to receive regular updates, please email geothermal@eversource.com.