Rico residents outline plan for district heating after $300,000 in state geothermal grants

Teal Stson Lee, a Rico resident and coordinator of the Rico Geothermal Coalition, told the Dolores County Board of Commissioners that the coalition has completed a scoping study funded by a $100,000 Colorado Geothermal Grant and has won a second-round award of $200,000 to fund initial design work and a monitoring well.

The money will support subsurface 3D reservoir mapping conducted by an engineering firm (named in the presentation as Tivera) and the design work needed to site a monitoring well. "We received our first grant through the Colorado Geothermal Grant Program for $100,000 to fund our initial scoping study," Lee said. She added the second award of $200,000 is intended to produce a design and to drill a monitoring well that will give the coalition more precise data on temperatures and reservoir behavior.

Why it matters: the coalition’s survey of 101 respondents — 90 from local residents — showed more than 64% of those residents favor using geothermal heat for home and building heating, hot springs, greenhouse operations or snow melt. Lee said the next step is a feasibility and design phase that will identify the best site for a production/injection well and define the size of an initial district, likely a small demonstration serving a few adjacent buildings on the north edge of town.

The coalition described a closed-loop technical approach that would circulate a secondary fluid (glycol/water) through piping heated by the monitoring/production well; the system would return fluid to an injection well so the geothermal reservoir is not depleted. Lee also raised the prospect of augmenting ground-source heat with wastewater-heat recovery and noted that repurposing inactive oil-and-gas wells is an emerging option in the region.

Costs and barriers: Lee and board members identified capital costs and excavation as the principal barriers. "Capital costs will always be a hurdle," Lee said; she noted that while geothermal systems can repay themselves over time through energy savings, the upfront trenching and infrastructure are expensive. She said the coalition is considering a demonstration project of three buildings near a known access point adjacent to the Bedrock subdivision as a scalable first phase.

Funding context: the Colorado Geothermal Grant Program was described as having roughly $1.4 million in the latest round; the Rico project was among the larger awards and received the second-largest grant in that round. Lee said more funding sources exist but will require additional applications and partnerships.

What’s next: the coalition plans to use the monitoring well and design outputs to seek additional capital and to set up a demonstration project. Lee offered to keep commissioners informed and said the project team holds monthly online "geothermal cafes" to share progress.

At the board meeting, commissioners asked technical and siting questions and suggested the coalition check prior county projects and federal grants used for earlier courthouse heating trials. The board did not take a formal vote on county participation; commissioners encouraged continued coordination and information sharing.

Ending: The presentation concluded with an exchange about potential regional benefits and funding opportunities; Lee said she will continue to share updates and that the next technical phase could take 10–18 months depending on permitting and contracting timelines.