Framingham, Massachusetts receives federal funding to expand geothermal project capacity
Drilling equipment arrives on site of the Framingham Geothermal Pilot Program in Massachusetts (source: Eversource)
Carlo Cariaga
8 Dec 2025
The networked geothermal pilot in Framingham, Massachusetts will be expanded soon, with the support of a grant awarded to HEET by the US DOE GTO.
The Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), a Boston-based nonprofit focused on thermal energy transition, has announced that it has been awarded a USD 8.6 million grant by the US Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office (US DOE – GTO) for the expansion of an existing networked geothermal system in the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. Working alongside Eversource and the City of Framingham, the project has already started and construction is planned to start in 2026, pending regulatory approval.
“This award is an opportunity and a responsibility to clearly demonstrate and quantify the growth potential of geothermal network technology,” said HEET’s Executive Director Zeyneb Magavi, “Which we will do, together with our partners and colleagues on the project team and at GTO. This project also represents the continuation of a collaboration that began when HEET first pitched our idea of geothermal networks to gas utilities in 2017.”
The federal funding had already been announced back in December 2024 under the previous administration, but the contract between HEET and the Department of Energy had not been finalized until recently.
Framingham’s geothermal pilot went online in 2024 and currently serves about 140 residential and commercial customers both with heating and cooling. The project expansion will have a similar heating and cooling capacity as the existing infrastructure. Constructing the new network and interconnecting it to the existing network is intended to demonstrate geothermal utility growth or expansion potential, while also improving understanding of geothermal deployment and developing the geothermal workforce.
“We’re proud to be leading the way in energy innovation with our first-in-the-nation networked geothermal system fully operational in Framingham,” said Nikki Bruno, Eversource Vice President of Thermal Solutions and Operational Services.
“This DOE funding builds on the solid foundation we’ve established with HEET and the City of Framingham and allows us to explore how interconnected geothermal loops can further boost resilience, efficiency, and affordability. It’s a critical step toward scaling this technology as a viable energy solution and a powerful example of collaboration between utilities, municipalities, and nonprofits like HEET.”
Interested in networked geothermal systems has been increasing in the USA, with another example just going online recently in Rochester in Minnesota. Unlike other forms for renewable energy, geothermal has been seemingly more favored by the Trump Administration notably as one of the energy sources to benefit from the administration’s Energy Emergency policy.
Source: HEET
