February 23, 2026

Written By Grace Deck

📝 Unidos Climate & Equity city-wide meeting at El Colegio

Notes from Geothermal breakout session

  • We do not have to be energy experts to ask for this

  • Collect names & contact information

  • Why do people want this?

  • What questions do people have?

    • Does anyone have a specified engineering plan set up citywide?

    • Examples of cities that have something working and what was the process to get to it?

      • What issues are these cities encountering? What are the social impacts?

    • What are some of the biggest problems that might get in the way of this being successful?

    • What already exists? Locally and elsewhere?

    • Who is already thinking about this?

      • For people who have thought about this and decided not to, why did they decide not to?

    • What benefits does a city-owned utility TEN have over a utility-owned TENs?

    • What other political initiatives exist? At the county level?

      • What else is the city pursuing?

    • Sabathani is drilling their geothermal this week!

      • Janet Brown is the contact

    • How do we pay for this?

  • Next steps:

    • Meet again and establish roles

    • Help schedule research visits

    • Help organize list of questions

Why do we want a municipal heating/cooling utility?

  • Networked geothermal is recognized as the future of heating/cooling in Minneapolis - it is the most efficient heating/cooling technology that exists. Its efficiency offers grid infrastructure benefits compared to other forms of electrification

  • Our current utilities are not working fast enough to decarbonize heating:

    • Natural gas fuels 72% of end uses (space heating, water heating, cooking) in residential buildings as of 2024

    • Residential gas deliveries have increased 24% from 2010-2022 AND both utilities have submitted filings to the PUC projecting that gas delivery will continue to increase until at least 2038.

      • CenterPoint has continued to install new gas pipeline infrastructure in South Minneapolis just last year

  • This is climate justice. 

    • The monopoly utilities that serve electricity and gas in Minneapolis have the primary interest to deliver profits to their shareholders NOT to decarbonize our city, provide reliable service, and keep rates as affordable as possible.

      • Natural gas is prone to spikes when there is a lot of demand (such as the winter storm that hit 70% of the US in January) - bills will be higher than average in February and March

    • Xcel has requested a rate increase the 5th year in a row. Part of this is to increased the Return on Equity to their shareholders - resulting in an additional $100million/year collected from Minnesotan customers. At a time where disconnection rates have been the highest in recent memory

      • Even if Xcel and CenterPoint decarbonize - this unjust system will not change much 

    • We also want to make sure everyone has equitable access to decarbonize - will not happen by individual choices

  • This is the right time to start planning to get ahead of new infrastructure deployment which will soon be developed

  1. What is your project Team goal?  

    1. Get the city to thoroughly investigate different municipal options and their feasibility

  2. What will your team focus on now? 

    1. Help the city understand what the options are and then push the council to explore them

      1. Research options

      2. Ideas for building power

      3. How to communicate the need for this idea simply

  3. What are your next steps?  

  4. What outreach/ideas for building power/gaining public attention did your group brainstorm?

Grace Deck
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March 23, 2026