The houses, offices and businesses that might one day populate what is today the Inner Loop highway could tap into a massive geothermal field rivaling the largest systems of its type in New York.
Geothermal harnesses consistent underground temperatures through a series of wells to provide low-cost heating and cooling. Such systems have become increasingly popular as New Yorkers look for ways to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.
Finding out the power potential of a geothermal project along the 1.5-mile corridor is the first step. City Council last month unanimously approved funding a study to find out.
“We need to make sure that we’re thinking of geothermal not as an afterthought, but as a way we consider the design,” said City Councilmember Mitch Gruber. “If we have all of that ground opened and don’t do geothermal now, we made a big mistake.”
The fill-in and removal of the remaining highway section stretching across the northern edge of downtown could cost more than $220 million and is expected to create 43 acres for development. Whatever gets built there would be able connect into the network, dubbed a geothermal bore field, to be operated by the nonprofit, member-owned Rochester District Heating Cooperative.
That organization has operated a high-pressure steam heating plant in Rochester since 1985, taking over for Rochester Gas & Electric. That system provides heat to a slew of downtown buildings, including Tower 280, Innovation Square, and The Metropolitan.
“If the energy is available for these parcels, they would be able to heat and cool on a pretty much fully electrified, decarbonized solution: geothermal heat pumps,” said John Duchesneau, the cooperative’s general manager.
The city-backed study will cost $137,585, records show. Of that, $103,188 is expected to be reimbursed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Gruber and Council President Miguel Meléndez proposed the study.
Currently, the largest geothermal in Rochester can be found at the former Hickey Freeman building on North Clinton Avenue. That project, which began last year, dug 92 wells to heat 134 apartments, as the former menswear factory was converted into residential units.
The cost of the project clocked in at $1.9 million. The Inner Loop bore field could be much bigger.
Geothermal has been looked at across the state in large-scale development. The town of Troy, for example, is eyeing a $12 million geothermal network to heat and cool its downtown district. That project would dig 200 wells at its Riverfront Park.
The timing aligns with a state push toward electrification of new developments.
In 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the All Electric Buildings Act into law. That bill would require new buildings under seven-stories to only use electric heat and appliances, beginning Jan. 1, 2026. By 2029, the bill would expand to include taller residential buildings and smaller commercial buildings.
The Inner Loop redevelopment remains several years off.
“At this point, we don't have a construction project, we don't have a design project, we only have a scoping project,” Duchesneau said. “We are in the very beginning of this project.”
Duchesneau also stressed that, at least initially, geothermal is not a cost-saving measure. But over the life of the project, that is likely to change, and building out a strong cooperative heating and cooling base could be attractive to developers, as well as future-proof whatever is built on the site.
He likened the geothermal industry to flat screen TVs, which were extremely expensive on their introduction, but now are far more affordable.
“Today, fossil fuels are more economical for heating and cooling than a geothermal system. In three to five years, it's anticipated that it's going to switch,” Duchesneau said. “There's going to be more pressure on fossil fuels. The anticipation is that the cost of fossil fuels are going to go up, and there's going to be more implementation of geothermal, and so the capital cost should be coming down.”
Gruber, meanwhile, stressed that turning to a geothermal base can help lessen city development’s reliance on Rochester Gas and Electric which is running into capacity issues in some parts of Monroe County.
“I think one of the best ways for us to address that is by figuring out what are ways that we as a municipality can actually help to facilitate /or foster the creation of more alternative energy that does not rely on the virtual monopoly that is RG&E,” Gruber said.
