EPB is always looking for ways to improve providing energy to its customers. At a recent conference, CEO David Wade learned more about using geothermal on a large scale. In the past, he said it has been used on a small scale such as for individual buildings. The challenge for an electric company will be how to do it on a community scale, he said.
This way to use energy is more efficient than a traditional heat pump, which starts with the outside temperature. Geothermal systems use energy from below ground which has a constant temperature year round, so the exchange of temperatures starts at about 60 degrees all year. On a community system, individual users would connect to a single set of ground pipes.
Mr. Wade sees that this energy could be used to reduce peak demand, especially in the winter, the same way solar power now helps to reduce peak energy demand in the summer.
Geothermal units also are beneficial because they use about 20 percent of the amount of refrigerant that traditional units use. And since the freon is sealed in the unit, there is less possibility that it will leak. These units also have a longer life expectancy than traditional units.
The cost of the equipment is not much different than traditional heat pumps, but the cost of building the underground components make it more expensive to install.
In the future more power generation will be needed and this could be an opportunity to add innovation to the traditional ways of getting energy. One of the challenges will be to understand how geothermal can become a business model for EPB, said Mr. Wade.
EPB has applied for grant funding to develop how this source of energy can be produced and used.