Vermont Gas and Champlain Housing Trust pilot geothermal system at Hinesburg affordable housing site

Vermont Gas Services and Champlain Housing Trust on May 7 briefed the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure committee on a pilot community‑scale geothermal project at the Windy Ridge development in Hinesburg.

The pilot will serve a Rigs Meadow phase that includes a 36‑unit affordable rental development with Evernorth and eight permanently affordable shared‑equity homes built with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity. Champlain Housing Trust said the property donation included an expectation to incorporate alternative energy, and the organizations plan a utility‑owned, ground‑loop approach in which Vermont Gas owns the inground thermal asset and the housing partners own interior heat‑pump equipment.

The partners said the model reduces the high upfront capital burden for affordable‑housing providers by shifting much of the well‑drilling and loop installation costs to the utility. "We won't bear that high upfront capital cost, but instead we'll pay an access fee to VGS to connect to their geothermal loop system, much like right now we pay VGS for our natural gas…