Vicinity Energy Decarbonizing District Heat in Historic Kendall Square near Boston
Vicinity Energy will replace a natural gas-fired boiler system with electric heat pump to provide steam generation for 70 million square feet of industrial building space in a historic Cambridge, Massachusetts business district.
The 35-MW industrial-scale heat pump complex will serve district energy provider Vicinity’s Kendall Square facility near the Charles River. The electric heat pump installation should be completed by 2028.
Everllence (formerly MAN Energy Solutions) is providing the heat pump system, while installation and balance of plant modifications will be handled by DCO Energy. The project will use water from the Charles River to create the heat and district energy system.
The switch from natural gas boiler to electric heat pump will cut carbon emissions for Kendall Square, an industrial district with roots dating back to the 1800s that has transitioned to biotech and research work near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.
“Execution of this project makes Vicinity’s vision of decarbonizing cities at scale a reality,” said Kevin Hagerty, CEO at Vicinity Energy, in a statement. “Powered by renewable electricity to safely and efficiently harvest energy from the Charles River, this represents rapid advancement in electrification for U.S. district energy systems, demonstrating how proven heat pump technology can be deployed at scale to decarbonize cities.”
Vicinity also installed a new 42-MW electric boiler at its Kendall facility, which provides carbon-free thermal energy to its Boston partners through 29 miles of steam piping that runs underneath the city, the Boston and Cambridge district energy system. eSteam customers include IQHQ and Emerson College.
“Vicinity’s heat pump installation is a smart investment—it reduces emissions without compromising performance, and it’s built to operate efficiently over the long term,” said Gary Fromer, CEO at DCO Energy. “It’s a real-world step toward sustainability that works for today and the future.”
Industrial sector energy consumption and processes account for about 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which results in about 1.4 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. High-efficiency industrial heat pumps could cut those emissions could dramatically reduce the environmental impact compared with gas-fired and other fossil-fueled systems, according to a report by the advocacy nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
About the Author
EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.