AN EXCITING CLEAN ENERGY pilot project is racing toward completion in Framingham, and it could be a game-changer when it comes to decarbonizing the natural gas system.

The neighborhood has been buzzing with activity—drills digging boreholes hundreds of feet belowground, crews laying thousands of feet of main in the streets, and eager participants making plans to switch to this zero-emissions system to heat and cool their homes and businesses. It’s a first-in-the-nation utility scale networked geothermal system, which works by harnessing the earth’s ambient temperature, and Eversource is betting similar systems can be built across Massachusetts.

This very project was recently highlighted as a positive example in the historic Department of Public Utilities 20-80 order on the Future of Gas in the Commonwealth. Massachusetts is undertaking an unprecedented clean energy transition that will undoubtedly impact everyone—building new infrastructure, switching energy sources, testing emerging technologies—and work is underway to figure out the best, most cost-effective ways to achieve the 2050 climate targets set by lawmakers.

Eversource is enabling the interconnection of clean energy sources like wind and solar, building an accessible electric vehicle charging network, supporting electrification, and developing a plan for the natural gas system that serves more than 1.7 million people across Massachusetts.

The natural gas system cannot simply be turned off. It remains an important part of the region’s current energy mix for heating and other energy needs, as well as electric generation, so a reasonable, feasible decarbonization transition must consider the interests of all customers. Eversource is first and foremost responsible for providing safe, reliable service to its nearly 640,000 natural gas customers in Massachusetts alone, many of whom live in environmental justice communities.

This is precisely why the company continues to explore and will ultimately deploy technologies that consider all economic, environmental, and demographic or geographic impacts with a balanced approach to engage communities and collaborate with government agencies, advocacy groups, stakeholders, and customers to best serve them.

There is no precedent for decarbonizing something like the natural gas system that is relied upon widely, and it will be critically important that all stakeholders understand the feasibility of clean energy options that best suit customers’ needs and achieve data-tracked emissions reductions.

One promising option is the state’s flagship geothermal pilot in Framingham, which connects 140 customers in an environmental justice community (low-income housing, multi- and single-family homes, commercial buildings) to an emissions-free heating and cooling system.

This system uses the earth’s constant temperature of about 55 degrees and a network of main, boreholes, and ground source heat pumps to extract heat from a water-based liquid to warm buildings in the winter. A reversed process is used in warm weather to cool those buildings – eliminating their reliance on delivered fuels, natural gas, and inefficient electric resistance heating.

The DPU first approved the geothermal pilot in 2020 and outlined a number of criteria that Eversource used to select its location. Eversource will study the system for two complete heating and cooling seasons, compiling data about its performance, customer satisfaction, cost, and feasibility for expansion or replication in other communities. Those findings and lessons learned will be presented to the DPU, and with the agency’s support along with key advocacy group collaborators like the Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), Eversource could build similar gas-alternative projects across the state.

Importantly, the pilot’s focus on community and customer engagement through regular efforts to host information sessions, partner in local events and identify interested participants will also be a critical component of all future projects. Moreover, because geothermal systems use similar underground infrastructure to the gas system and similar skillsets to develop and manage, these projects may provide an opportunity to transition and further diversify the existing workforce.

This networked geothermal pilot marks an exciting step in creating a clean energy future and could be a revolutionary tool, along with other emerging technologies, to decarbonize the natural gas system.

A monumental transition to a clean energy future is already underway in Massachusetts, and Eversource remains committed to ushering this change, but utilities can’t accomplish these goals alone. It will require a collaborative approach from lawmakers, climate advocates, and the support from customers and communities across the Commonwealth willing to participate.

Nikki Bruno is the vice president of clean technologies at Eversource.