Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

Return to search results

Techno-Economic Simulation Results Using dGeo for EGS-Based District Heating in the Northeastern United States

Published by National Renewable Energy Laboratory | Department of Energy | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2025-01-31T15:53:59Z
This dataset presents the results of techno-economic simulations performed using the Distributed Geothermal Market Demand Model (dGeo) to evaluate the feasibility of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)-based district heating in the Northeastern United States. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), dGeo is a geospatially resolved, bottom-up modeling framework designed to explore the deployment potential of geothermal distributed energy resources. The dataset, created as part of the Cornell EGS Ground-Truthing Project, provides census tract-level data that includes inputs and outputs such as thermal demand, road length, energy prices, geothermal system sizing, annual energy contributions from geothermal and natural gas peaking boilers, system capital costs (CAPEX), operation and maintenance costs (OPEX), and the levelized cost of heat (LCOH). Key simulation parameters include geothermal gradients, measured well depths, production temperatures, and district heating piping lengths based on S1400 neighborhood road lengths. The simulations assume a target bottom hole temperature of 80C and the development of new district heating networks in each census tract.

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov