Funding from Colorado Energy Office will expand on 2024-2025 scoping study.

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Top image: 3-dimensional illustration of Rico-area subsurface geography features developed by Teverra. Color-enhancement added by Ore Cart.

by Allyn Svoboda
Publisher

The Rico thermal energy network (TEN) and geothermal resource exploration project will receive a $200,000 grant for the next phase of exploration and design. Colorado Governor's Office and Colorado Energy Office announced selections of grant awardees in a June 30, 2025 news release:

Polis Administration Awards $1.6 Million in Final Round of Nation-Leading Geothermal Energy Grant Program Funding

This third round of awards will support 16 geothermal heating and cooling initiatives and studies across Colorado

The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) announced $1.6 million in Geothermal Energy Grant Program (GEGP) funding today to support geothermal heating initiatives and studies across Colorado. This is the final expected funding round for this nation-leading grant program, which has provided a total of $10.3 million in funding for 56 initiatives to advance geothermal technology in Colorado since the program launched in November 2023. The funded initiatives will enable awardees to plan and install geothermal heat pumps and thermal energy networks (TEN) that deliver low-cost, energy-efficient heating and cooling to homes and buildings around the state. Awardees include local governments, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. . . .

CEO made a total of 16 awards through GEGP this funding round. Awards will support five single-structure geothermal initiatives, nine thermal energy network studies, and two thermal energy network installation initiatives. A total of 89.3% of this funding will go to initiatives that serve just transition, disproportionately impacted, or low-income communities.

Rico project description

Scope of work to be performed is described at Colorado Energy Office Geothermal Incentive Award Tracker:

Project Type: TEN STUDY / DESIGN

Project Name: Resource Confirmation for a Natural Geothermal Augmented Thermal Energy Network for Rico, Colorado: Resource Confirmation

Project Description: Teverra and the Town of Rico seek to expand their current scoping study to support land ownership mapping, drilling a resource confirmation well, identifying integration of TEN design with natural resource, building preliminary TEN design, finalization of their pre-feasibility study, and continued engagement.

Teverra is a subsurface exploration company with experience in "developing cutting-edge technologies, providing consulting services, and executing global projects to promote a sustainable low-carbon energy mix. Our track record includes the successful completion of numerous geothermal, CCS, oil and gas and hydrogen projects worldwide." The company has received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to support development of software, well downhole tools, subsurface thermal energy storage, and repurposing oil and gas wells for clean energy applications. Teverra has a 5-year contract with U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for geothermal energy, and is developing a subsurface visualization web-based platform "that makes the interaction between scientific variables and their spatial and temporal dimensions straightforward and intuitive using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)."

More Colorado geothermal awards info

Excerpt from June 30, 2025 news release (below) includes a list of all projects. Teverra-Rico received the second-highest grant award amount. Telluride received a $7,000. zGEO Energy in the Dallas Divide area was awarded $70,000. zGeo's other proposed project is a geothermal electric generating station.

. . .

The awarded initiatives represent a number of innovative applications for geothermal heating and cooling, ranging from smaller-scale single buildings to utility-scale thermal energy network projects. For example, Larimer County will install single-structure geothermal heat pumps at a new emergency services facility, which will cut carbon emissions by more than half over 25 years. Meanwhile, following a siting study for two sites, Xcel Energy’s project will develop detailed design and community engagement strategies for utility scalethermal energy network projects in Denver’s Ruby Hill neighborhood and in the southern part of Frisco.

GEGP Round 3 recipients are:

SINGLE-STRUCTURE

Larimer County: $158,250

CMTA Warmire Dome (Adams County): $291,000

CMTA CASP Tower (Adams County): $51,000

Denver Arts: $100,000

Town of Hayden: $100,000

THERMAL ENERGY NETWORK STUDY

Teverra-Rico: $200,000

zGEO Energy: $70,000

Urban Land Conservancy: $125,000

City and County of Denver: $50,000

Public Service Company of Colorado (Xcel Energy): $125,000

Aspen School District: $78,400

Denver District Cooling: $29,458

Town of Breckenridge: $34,000

Town of Telluride: $7,000

THERMAL ENERGY NETWORK INSTALLATION

Colorado Mountain College: $84,000

Colorado Bathhouse, LLC: $84,000

For more information on these and previously awarded initiatives through the Geothermal Energy Grant Program, see the Colorado Energy Office Geothermal Incentive Award Tracker.

This is part of Governor Polis’ nation-leading Heat Beneath Our Feet initiative to advance geothermal technology in the Mountain West. Although this was the last funding round through the Geothermal Energy Grant Program, incentives for geothermal projects are available through
the Geothermal Energy Tax Credit Offering (GETCO) through 2032 or until funding is expended. GETCO applications open twice annually, with the next cycle opening this Fall and closing
December 31. GETCO offers up to $5 million per project in investment tax credits or $0.02/kWh for geothermal electricity generation.

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