CAPA receives $4M grant for NHS geothermal project

NORTHAMPTON — Northampton’s fight against climate change and global warming just received a vital boost.

The Climate Action and Project Administration Department has been awarded $4 million through the Mass Clean Energy, or MassCEC, Green School Works grant to support a new ground-source heat pump system for the Northampton High School geothermal project.

According to the city, the project and award will reduce the amount the city will need to borrow and slightly increase the tax rebate the project can receive. Northampton Climate Action and Project Administration Director Ben Weil told Reminder Publishing that the city has been focused on this geothermal project for Northampton High School since the department’s creation three years ago. The goal is to address the future needs of the building, and this funding will bring that goal to reality.

In December, the City Council voted to authorize the use of Climate Stabilization funds and municipal long-and-short-term bonds to finance the design, installation, and construction of a geothermal heating and cooling system at the high school.

Weil explained that the geothermal system will allow the high school building to cool thanks to the high-efficiency ground source heat pumps. He added that the current chillers are well past their expected useful life and will need to be replaced within five years at the latest.

On top of the chillers, the high school’s boilers are also nearing the end of their expected useful life if continually operated, which is why the geothermal project has become an enticing and proactive approach to benefit the building and its students. Weil explained that ground source heat pumps are protected from the elements and have an equipment lifetime of 25 to 30 years.

“We described to the City Council, and to the School Committee, and the mayor, so they understood that the first thing to understand was we were going to have to spend a significant amount of money on replacing the chillers very soon, one way or another, and we would have to spend a significant amount of money on replacing the boilers very soon, one way or another. That would probably be in the range of about $7 million,” said Weil. “So, with the federal tax credits available, if we could be spending approximately that after all our incentives in upfront capital, then the fact that we have a much lower cost to operate system with the geothermal system would mean that was actually a net benefit immediately to the city, so that was the first thing to understand.”

The heating and cooling associated with ground source heat pumps are projected to reduce energy costs by 17%, maintenance costs by up to 50%, carbon emissions by 43%, and total energy use of the building by 68%, based on early estimates. The design phase is still being finalized, according to Weil, and federal tax credits are currently available to reduce the installed cost of a geothermal system by up to 40%.

“[MassCEC] awarded us $4 million, $3.5 million of that is what is called a recoverable grant, which really means it’s a 0% loan, so that means we don’t have to do short-term borrowing on about $3.5 million, so that saves us about $200,000-300,000 in interest payments,” Weil explained. “It also increases the amount of the tax rebate we get because it’s technically not a loan, it’s a grant. There’s details in the tax law that would cause us to get less tax rebate for whatever portion of the project we financed as opposed to just paid for.”

Weil said the grant opportunity is really helpful when pulling off a project of this scale. And in this context, they are still left with $500,000 to use as a direct grant, which allows CAPA to complete envelope measures on the high school to make the geothermal system work better and allow it to do 100% of heating and cooling for the building.

“That’s the nature of the grant that we got, and I think primarily, we got it because it’s a shovel-ready project where we’re already underway, we already did our test bore, we have our contractor doing design right now. We expect to start drilling in July for the actual production, and we expect to be operational this time next year,” Weil added. “We’re doing a few things that are a little bit innovative, and I think that they’re hoping that we can provide, kind of a case study that will help maybe drive costs down or make projects happen faster around the state. We’ll see, we’re at the beginning and not the end.”

Weil said more information and finalized design details will be available by July 17, and they will continue to map out the best path forward for the geothermal installation. He said the benefits will be worthwhile for the building and school community, because the city can invest in more modern technology. The project will also lead to a better cooling system, which in turn creates a better learning environment for students and saves money for the district.

“And of course, we’re going to be reducing our carbon emissions, and as the state’s electric grid gets cleaner and cleaner, as we start to add offshore winds and as we add more solar as we need it. Once we replace the roof on the high school, which will happen eventually, that will put PV [photovoltaic solar] on the roof, and we’ll have more solar production on site, and all of that will reduce our carbon emissions pretty dramatically,” he said.

Weil added that this project is a big investment and a worthwhile project to fight against climate change.

“Climate change is happening, and we are getting really, really hot days earlier and earlier in the year, and it’s becoming a real problem for our schools, where very few were designed with cooling at all. We now live in a world where we absolutely have to be able to provide cooling to be able to get through the school year,” Weil said.