Geothermal Planning Grants
Current Information (4/10/2025): Applicants for the Geothermal Planning Grant all received notification of their application’s selection or non-selection on 4/7/2025. Awardees will be announced once contracts have been executed later in the summer.
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. Eligible applicants for this grant program include counties, cities, townships or the Metropolitan Council (Minn. Stat. § 216C.47, subd. 1).
Grants will be 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.
The Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Geothermal Planning Grant program is open Monday, December 16, 2024 until Monday, March 10, 2025 at 5pm.
Eligible Grant Expenses
Eligible expenses include (Minn. Stat. 216C.47. Subd. 6.):
- analysis of the heating and cooling demand of the building or buildings that consume energy from the geothermal energy system;
- evaluation of equipment that could be combined with a geothermal energy system to meet the building's heating and cooling requirements;
- 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
- preparation of a financial analysis of the project.
Questions and Additional Information
A public webinar providing details about the Geothermal Planning Grant program was held December 16, 2024.
For questions about the program and application process, email Energy.Contracts@state.mn.us. Answers will be posted to the Geothermal Planning Grant posting on the RFP page through February 28, 2025.