Ukrainian Officials Find Inspiration In Framingham Geothermal Project

FRAMINGHAM, MA — As Ukrainian officials chart their path to recovery, a group of lawmakers and utilities officials visited Framingham for inspiration and research.

Officials shared that a group of Ukrainian officials visited Framingham last week to get a better understanding of the city's geothermal project.

Framingham officials met with mayors, deputy mayors, Ukraine's heat supply division leader from the utilities department and the deputy head of the Ukrainian Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Savings, among others.

City officials shared that Ukraine is focused on developing new water and sewer infrastructure while simultaneously implementing geothermal systems after their years-long conflict with Russia has left parts of that infrastructure system damaged or destroyed.

Their two-day trip to the United States included a meeting with Mayor Michelle Wu in Boston, a visit to Framingham and a stop in Washington, D.C., Framingham officials said.

According to Eversource, geothermal technology works by transferring heat to and from the earth using water, wells, piping and pumps to pull the earth’s heat out of the ground to warm buildings in winter and pump heat from buildings back into the ground in summer to cool them.

Approximately 40 single-family homes, apartment buildings, businesses and a fire station will be connected to the “loop” through a new network of pipes that Eversource and its local contractor, R.H. White Construction, are building underground, officials said.

The networked geothermal system will be tested in Framingham’s Concord Street neighborhood, where the energy company already provides services to a diverse group of customers – single- and multi-residential and commercial – all within a dense neighborhood, officials said.