OSSINING – Legislation has been signed into law of his bill allowing geothermal boreholes deeper than 500 feet. That will pave the way for a project where WBP Development LLC is developing a 109-unit mixed-use structure called Station Plaza with affordable housing that will utilize geothermal heating and cooling.
A geothermal borehole deeper than 500 feet—one of the first to be initiated in the state for a commercial development—is set for the project, which is located at 30 Water Street.
The new law, sponsored by Senator Pete Harckham, will help the state meet decarbonization goals and substantially boost local economies by opening new markets for clean heating and cooling technologies in densely populated regions while meeting New York State’s emissions reductions targets as established in the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Project Act, he said on Wednesday.
“Geothermal energy systems, the most efficient way to heat and cool buildings, are a clean energy technology that needs to be encouraged,” said Harckham. “The new law allowing deeper boreholes means lower project costs, which will significantly ramp up this alternative energy industry statewide. More than ever, we need to reduce fossil fuel use. Being able to shift toward a geothermal energy source, especially in dense urban settings, will create new jobs and real savings to all involved parties—developers, contractors, homeowners—while boosting our economy.”
Prior to Harckham’s bill being enacted, the DEC applied regulations developed for oil and gas wells to geothermal boreholes greater than 500 feet deep, even though they do not involve injection into or extraction from the ground and thus do not have the same adverse impact adverse on the environment in the way that oil and gas wells do.
The DEC’s existing regulations also applied on a per-well basis, which added significant cost and permitting barriers to ground-source heat pump installations and geothermal energy network projects that benefit from installing multiple boreholes to distribute heat.
