Utility Thermal Energy Network Site Selection Study

In the heart of Buffalo, New York, geothermal energy is being explored as a means to heat and cool the historic buildings of Niagara Square and its surroundings. The area is home to City Hall and other governmental offices, the McKinley Monument, the historical Statler Hotel—where many spent their last night prior to embarking on their military service in defense of our country—and a church where President Abraham Lincoln attended Mass in 1861.

National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation engaged LaBella Associates to perform a scoping study evaluating the feasibility of building a utility thermal energy network within its service territory, in accordance with the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act (UTENJA).

Our team began with a high-level assessment of the service territory and worked with the utility to develop a strategic site selection protocol, which guided the identification of potential pilot sites. Such an undertaking required discovering and mapping over 200 years of infrastructure to potential sites.

To support this, LaBella’s land surveyors created a property map from a boundary survey and utilized drone-mounted LiDAR technology to reproduce the layout of streets as they were originally designed in 1804, as well as the reconstruction performed during the area’s urban renewal project.

The result is a comprehensive map that merges Buffalo’s 19th-century built environment with its 21st-century landscape—marking a first-of-its-kind land surveying endeavor for the city’s historic core.

Through the site selection process, 30 potential pilot sites were identified across the utility service territory, each varying significantly in characteristics to provide the National Fuel Gas Corporation with a diverse range of options. These 30 sites were further evaluated based on weighted criteria to determine the most optimal location for a district geothermal system. Factors such as customer acquisition risk, thermal balance, available thermal resources, building diversity, ease of conversion, replicability, and expandability were analyzed to inform the final site selection.