County support CMU's Geo-Thermal Grid Expansion grant request

The Mesa County Commissioners sent the Colorado Energy Office Geothermal Committee a letter of support for Colorado Mesa University's Geo-Thermal Grid Expansion grant request during their Jan. 9 administrative public hearing. 

Read the full letter:

Mesa County is pleased to offer this letter of support for Colorado Mesa University’s proposed project titled “Colorado Mesa University Geothermal Grid Expansion.” Mesa County supports the goals of this project to expand the capacity of Colorado Mesa University’s geogrid while beginning design phases for converting its existing residential buildings to geothermal-compatible systems. 

CMU’s existing geo-exchange system is the largest of its kind in Colorado and across the Intermountain West. The current system provides sufficient drill field and loop field capacity to serve 16 campus buildings, both academic and auxiliary facilities, for a total connected load of 1,200,000 square feet. The current system saves CMU over $1,500,000 in annual operating costs and reduces its carbon footprint by nearly 9,000 metric tons annually. This phase of the project will focus on designing and planning the retrofit of aged campus residence halls to be compatible with the existing geo-exchange loop. The project will also fund the installation of the designed Fine Arts building connection to the geothermal grid. 

The mission of the proposed project is consistent with Mesa County’s interests in exploring affordable, clean energy solutions for Colorado residents and the overall goal of advancing knowledge in this area. Mesa County looks forward to participating with the CMU planning team as a stakeholder in this effort, providing input and support.