Con Edison outlines $140 million thermal energy pilot for Mount Vernon, files with PSC July 9

Greg Kamulus of Con Edison told the Mount Vernon City Council on Monday that Con Edison will file its stage‑2 submission with the Public Service Commission on July 9 for a thermal energy network pilot in Mount Vernon, and that the company is aiming to advance to construction if the commission approves stage 3.

The project Con Edison described would connect 42 existing buildings plus one new Energy Center building and use four ground bore fields sited on city property. Kamulus said the company currently estimates the project cost at about $140,000,000 “with contingencies” and that design work and customer assessments have been completed for the buildings included in the pilot. He said the company has been inside each of the 42 buildings to design customized retrofit solutions and has engaged with customers about participation.

Con Edison outlined where the bore fields would be located. Kamulus said one test borehole was originally drilled at the Dole Center but that planned construction there (a building with a sub‑basement basketball court) now prevents use of that bore field; the company moved that bore field conceptually to the Fourth Street playground and said it is coordinating with the group New City Park. He also identified a parking lot for the Dole Center, a small playground on Seventh Street, and Purdy’s basketball courts on South Ninth as locations under consideration. Kamulus said the company intends to avoid impacts to any newly rehabilitated park and will share final drawings with the city and any park engineers so projects can be designed around…