The Learning from the Ground Up Research Project sponsored by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center allocated $450,000 to fund research partnerships that perform feasibility studies for communities interested in serving as hosts for geothermal network projects and to engage and educate stakeholders in the host communities of potential sites.

Kickstart Massachusetts frames project feasibility as an alignment between community priorities, technical parameters, and institutional factors. HEET launched Kickstart Studies to fund 12 early-stage community feasibility assessments (spanning diverse geographies and use cases across Massachusetts) to to build a pipeline of project sites and learn from their varied contexts––generating insights in line with HEET’s mission of bringing stakeholders together to co-develop and drive a resilient and inclusive thermal energy transition.

Geothermal heat exchange is widely applicable, and thermal resource availability is rarely the limiting factor—making geothermal networks technically feasible in many contexts. In densely built areas where heating and cooling loads are high, the conditions for deployment are especially favorable. Yet despite this strong technical foundation, uptake has been constrained by non-technical barriers.

Geothermal energy networks work by circulating water through a shared underground pipe loop that passes by multiple buildings. Each building uses a heat pump to draw or reject heat as needed—similar to how potable water is distributed but without a central plant. This design allows the system to harness shallow geothermal energy as well as waste heat from buildings and other anthropogenic sources. By reusing thermal energy already present in the environment, GENs improve efficiency and lower the amount of new geothermal infrastructure required.

Because each building both uses and contributes to the network, participation and decision-making are inherently distributed across many stakeholders. Feasibility depends on clustered building participation and buy-in from households, businesses, institutions, and local leaders. While 100% participation isn’t required, a minimum thermal demand threshold must be met—and in general, performance and cost-effectiveness improve with higher uptake.

Existing feasibility study approaches tend to start their assessments with detailed subsurface analysis or building audits. While these methods can offer valuable insights, they may not fully equip communities to navigate decision-making—particularly when the path to implementation is uncertain. For many, the high upfront cost of drilling test boreholes or commissioning a full technical design is a daunting barrier. Yet, without a critical mass of diverse buildings opting to participate within your project site, even a well-designed system may not be cost-effective.

Thus, Kickstart Massachusetts flips that model. Instead of beginning with costly technical design work, the program invests in early-stage exploration—reducing risk for communities and helping them build the internal alignment needed to pursue next steps with confidence. By creating a pipeline of informed, motivated, and aligned communities, Kickstart lays the groundwork for demand-driven deployment of geothermal networks. The program provides guidance, tools, and technical support to help stakeholders make informed decisions—lowering upfront costs, clarifying the pathway to implementation, and catalyzing coordinated participation. The Kickstart model prioritizes community process from the start and recognizes that social and institutional readiness are as essential as technical potential.

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Learn more

Kickstart Massachusetts represents an innovative path forward for our energy transition. By pairing community-driven enthusiasm with technical guidance and supportive policy, we are turning the bold idea of neighborhood-scale transition beyond gas into practical reality that centers distributional, procedural and intergenerational equity. 

To view answers from the completed studies, visit our Kickstart Project Summaries page.

For access to the full reports, connect with the Kickstart Mass team: email kickstartmass@heet.org. And be sure to explore the resources in HEET’s Gas-to-Geo Hub for more information about how to get started in your community.