VCGA GOES TO WASHINGTON
Geothermal Rising Conference and Capitol Hill Fly-In
June 5 & 6th, 2023
“Ground source heat pumps are an ‘already’ technology. Now is the time to scale it.”
Last week, Vermont Community Geothermal Alliance participated in Geothermal Rising’s Capitol Hill Day. We heard from speakers on deep geothermal—or “supercritical hot rocks”—and thermal energy networks.
Industry experts shared their perspectives on geothermal’s capacity for electricity production and how to leverage technology, data, and drilling knowledge from oil and gas companies.
We heard from two of our Thermal Energy Networks for Vermont webinar speakers—Jay Egg and Zeyneb Magavi—on the importance of community-scale solutions.
“The energy transition can’t just be a kitchen table decision. We can’t let it fall on personal savings accounts.”
We also met with legislative staff from the offices of Senators Sanders and Welch and Representative Balint to discuss how our congressional delegation can support taking thermal energy networks to scale in Vermont and nationally, developing needed workforce, and layering clean energy solutions with affordable housing.
We asked for their help to:
Use Defense Production Act funding to support drill rig manufacturing and training in the Northeast.
Ensure access to Inflation Reduction Act incentives for domestic content and maximize distribution of incentives to all parties.
Increase funding for the Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office.
Our delegation in D.C. is enthusiastic about geothermal and thermal energy networks. Like many of us, they need more information about costs and data on the potential of thermal energy networks to accelerate the clean energy transition.
We’ll be sharing our work with them and with you as we gather information to address these questions.