Decarbonization company Vicinity Energy announced agreements with Everllence and DCO Energy designed to advance electrification in Boston and Cambridge. The agreement includes installing a 35-megawatt river-based industrial heat pump complex at its Cambridge facility, capable of providing steam for over 70 million square feet of building space.
A significant portion of this industrial-scale heat pump has already been secured through long-term contracts with medical and educational institutions.
Everllence will provide the industrial-scale heat pump and DCO will complete the installation and balance of plant modifications. A natural gas boiler will be removed to make way for the new, emissions-free heat pump, with demolition already underway in preparation for the heat pump installation at Vicinity’s Cambridge facility by 2028.
The heat pump will be collocated at the existing Cambridge site, leveraging the area’s existing electrical interconnect. This technology will reportedly enable Vicinity to harness the inherent heat of the Charles River, turning it into a renewable energy resource to generate and deliver carbon-free thermal energy, known as eSteam, to its customers.
“The heating sector still drives a major portion of global carbon dioxide emissions, and the energy transition simply cannot succeed without decarbonizing heat,” Everllence’s Uwe Lauber said. “District heating remains one of the most efficient and sustainable ways to deliver thermal energy to commercial and industrial users.”
As the baseload generating equipment for the company’s electrification plans in Boston and Cambridge, this system will be the first to utilize the Charles River as a renewable resource to produce carbon-free steam. The company also plans to install thermal storage technologies to provide on-demand eSteam production from renewable electricity.
The project’s impact includes customer access to carbon-free thermal energy, cleaner air for citizens, new jobs and reduced temperatures for the Charles River ecosystem.
“We are establishing the blueprint of how to decarbonize a U.S. city and will be installing similar innovative electrification technologies at our district energy systems across 12 U.S. cities,” Vicinity Energy CEO Kevin Hagerty said.
Previously, Vicinity installed a 42-megawatt electric boiler at its Cambridge facility, which provides carbon-free thermal energy to its Boston partners through an established 29 miles of steam piping that runs underneath the city. eSteam customers currently include IQHQ and Emerson College.
