Colorado announces new round of grants for geothermal heating projects
Joseph P. Martinez Park in Denver, Colorado (source: Bsweez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Carlo Cariaga
4 Apr 2025
The Colorado Energy Office has announced another round of grants for geothermal heating projects, including thermal energy networks and heat pump applications.
The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) has announced a total of $14.4 million in funding awards from the Geothermal Energy Grant Program (GEGP) and Geothermal Energy Tax Credit Offering (GETCO) for geothermal heating projects across Colorado. The funding will enable the awardees to plan and install geothermal heat pumps and thermal energy networks.
The selection of awardees includes local governments, school districts, residential communities, a medical campus, and a wastewater treatment facility. The recipients of funding from the GEGP are as follows:
- Town of Bayfield: $51,000
- Town of Mountain Village: $64,269.50
- Town of Winter Park: $64,269.50
- Karval School District: $225,000
- Liberty School District: $246,000
- Golden Hills: $60,000
- Mount Zion Church: $240,000
- Mountain View Church: $75,000
- Memorial Hospital: $57,626.80
- Metro Water Recovery: $250,000
- Clayworks Parcel B3: $200,000
The following are the awardees of GETCO:
- Pitkin County: $131,700
- Liberty School District: $1.109 million
- City and County of Denver: $4.999 million
- Eagle County: $3.484 million
- Metro Water Recovery: $3.095 million
Some projects qualified for both GETCO and GEGP incentives based on project eligibility. This round of GEGP provided grants for single-structure geothermal, thermal energy network studies, and thermal energy network construction projects. GETCO recipients receive a refundable tax credit reservation that can be deducted from their income tax liability. Cycle two of GETCO provided tax credit reservations for geothermal electricity or thermal energy network studies and project installations.
The awarded projects include a broad range of ways to utilize geothermal energy. For example, the City and County of Denver will use its GETCO award to study the creation of a cutting-edge, multisource district thermal system that provides heating and cooling through a shared water loop for 5.5 million square feet of municipal buildings.
Liberty School District J-4 will apply its funding to install a geothermal energy network for two buildings at Liberty School. This will replace a 60-year-old hydronic heating system with three cost-efficient heat pumps that will add cooling, improve ventilation, and enhance indoor air quality for better occupant health and comfort.
This announcement marks the second round of funding for GEGP and GETCO. Last May, the Polis administration also announced $7.7 million in awards for the GEGP. Applications for the third GEGP funding round, which is the last planned round of funding for the program, closed March 31. CEO expects to announce awardees in early summer.
Source: Government of Colorado
