Geothermal Planning Grants

Update (10/14/2025): Contracting for Geothermal Planning Grant Awards is still ongoing.  Awardees who have signed a contract with the state are announced below.

Geothermal Planning Grant Program Basics 

In 2024 the Minnesota Legislature established the Geothermal Planning Grant Program (Minn. Stat. § 216C.47). The purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance to eligible applicants to examine the technical and economic feasibility of installing geothermal energy systems.  

The Department of Commerce will administer $1.08M in grants to local governments across Minnesota.

During the application period, Commerce received 19 applications from 14 different entities, requesting a total of over $2.5M in grants to study the feasibility of geothermal energy systems all over the state servicing locations from sports centers to housing developments to an entire neighborhood. 

Congratulations to our grantees so far:

Grantee Name and Project Award Amount
City of Crookston – The Woods Neighborhood $141,300
Hennepin County – Government Center $100,000
Ramsey County – Rice Creek Commons $92,037
Ramsey County – TCO Sports Garden $51,942
City of Sandstone – Sandstone School Redevelopment $110,250
City of St Paul – Mount Airy Homes $144,958.33
St Louis County – Central Range Transportation Building Relocation $144,958.33
City of Woodbury – Sports Center $63,200

Program Details

The Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Geothermal Planning Grant program was open from Monday, December 16, 2024 until Monday, March 10, 2025.

Eligible applicants for this grant program include counties, cities, townships or the Metropolitan Council (Minn. Stat. § 216C.47, subd. 1).   

Grants are awarded for up to $150,000 for the planning of a geothermal energy system that heats and cools one or more buildings. Eligible systems include a bored geothermal heat exchanger, a groundwater thermal exchange device, and a submerged closed loop heat exchanger.  

Eligible expenses include (Minn. Stat. 216C.47. Subd. 6.): 

  1. analysis of the heating and cooling demand of the building or buildings that consume energy from the geothermal energy system; 
  2. evaluation of equipment that could be combined with a geothermal energy system to meet the building's heating and cooling requirements; 
  3. analysis of the geologic conditions of the earth in which a geothermal energy system operates, including the drilling of one or more test wells to characterize geologic materials and to measure properties of the earth and aquifers that impact the feasibility of installing and operating a geothermal energy system; and 
  4. preparation of a financial analysis of the project. 

A public webinar providing details about the Geothermal Planning Grant program was held December 16, 2024. Webinar slides 

See a list of frequently asked questions about the grant: Frequently Asked Questions