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Rico residents outline plan for district heating after state grants fund scoping work
Summary
A Rico resident and coalition presented scoping and mapping results funded by Colorado geothermal grants and outlined a plan for a demonstration district-heating project, a monitoring well and a feasibility study that could lead to broader community heating.
Teal Stetson Lee, a Rico resident who founded the Rico Geothermal Coalition, told the Dolores County board the coalition has completed a scoping study supported by state geothermal grants and is moving to a feasibility and design phase.
"We've received our first grant through the Colorado Geothermal Grant Program for a $100,000 to fund our initial scoping study," Teal said, summarizing the coalition's work with a subsurface firm named Tavira to produce 3-D reservoir maps. She said the coalition also surveyed residents and collected 101 responses, with more than 64% of local respondents indicating interest in using the resource for heating buildings.
The coalition aims to drill a monitoring well during the current grant cycle and use the resulting data to design a small demonstration district to heat a few buildings near the planned well. Teal described potential demonstration uses — a co-working space, greenhouse and public restroom — intended to show immediate community benefit before expanding to a full district.
Board members and staff questioned barriers and next steps. Teal acknowledged the main hurdles are capital costs and plumbing/excavation complexity but noted state and federal incentives can help: later funding rounds awarded the coalition a $200,000 grant for initial design and a monitoring well, she said. She described the feasibility window as roughly 10–18 months to install a monitoring well and gather the data needed for design and financing.
The presentation emphasized community engagement and incremental steps. "We're in a really exciting time to be exploring these innovations and applying them broadly across the state right now," Teal said. She invited board members to follow the coalition's monthly geothermal cafes and offered to keep county staff updated as the project moves into design and permitting stages.
The board did not take a formal vote on the project; next steps recorded in the meeting included continued information-sharing and staff follow-up with the coalition.
