ROCHESTER — A $2 million federal boost will help propel Rochester’s downtown district energy plan.
The funds will expand on the need to transition away from using an Olmsted County steam supply used to heat and cool four city buildings, which has become too costly to maintain for downtown buildings.
“We are leaning forward to 100% renewable at City Hall,” Deputy Administrator Aaron Parrish said, pointing to plans to install a geothermal system this year for heating and cooling and Rochester Public Utilities plan to provide electricity through renewable sources in 2030.
With the earth-based geothermal system providing a system that is more than four times more efficient than natural gas, the work is intended to reduce costs while transitioning to cleaner energy.
“When you think about it, it can be (equal) to over 35 homes we would be taking off the energy system,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The City Hall geothermal project is part of a $15.6 million energy transition for four city-owned buildings.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith visited one of the buildings — the Rochester Art Center — to confirm $2 million in federal support has been secured for advancing the city’s effort to create a district energy system.
She said the effort will make Rochester a leader in sustainable energy.
“It is really exciting to see Minnesota on the forefront of building out a clean energy future,” the Minnesota Democrat said. “I believe the clean energy transition is going to happen. The question is whether we here in Minnesota and around the United States are leading the transition, or whether we will follow.”
Parrish said the added federal funding, along with new tax credits, will be used to fund a second phase of the planned district energy system, which could add a geothermal system to the Mayo Civic Center or the Rochester Public Library, as well as connect the city buildings to allow sharing the generated energy.
“We’re working into the design phase for the next part of the project,” Parrish said, pointing out that installation of an expansion cannot start until the federal funds are in hand, which could take up to a year.
The current plan calls for installing natural gas boilers and electric heaters in the Art Center, Rochester Civic Center and Rochester Library. Rochester Facilities and Property Manager Scot Ramsey said those units could become backups to the more-efficient geothermal systems.
He added that the advantage of expanding the system and connecting the buildings would be the ability to use excess energy produced in one building to heat or cool another.
ADVERTISEMENT
As an example, he pointed to the periodic need to cool the Mayo Civic Center during winter months. The extra heat is currently released from the building, but the new system would allow it to be used to heat the library on the other side of Civic Center Drive.
The potential benefits don’t stop at city buildings.
Smith, who served as the Destination Medical Center Corp. board chairwoman before becoming a senator, said the expansion could provide opportunities to connect to future private development, reducing potential energy costs for the city and nearby property owners.
The DMC Corp. board had approved spending up to $2 million to support expansion of the planned city energy system, if the infrastructure is large enough to serve more than city buildings.
DMC Economic Development Agency Executive Director Patrick Seeb said that is still possible, depending on future plans for the system.
Parrish said current efforts were designed to make sure the city has the flexibility to take advantage of future funding, as well as emerging technology, but more work is needed before settling on a specific strategy moving forward.
“As new opportunities present themselves, we can really lean in,” he said of the potential for expanding the system and increasing its efficiency.
The Trust Project
