By Dominik Lobkowicz
A worker operates a drilling rig at Lincoln County Publishing Company in Newcastle Monday, Oct. 20. The company is adding a geothermal heating system, expected to be operational within a month. (Michelle Switzer photo) |
Expected to be up and running within a month, a new geothermal heating system at Lincoln County Publishing Company will heat around 10,000 square feet of the company’s facilities, according to Publisher Chris Roberts.
Geothermal heating uses a heat pump to draw heat from groundwater, which is relatively constant 47 or 48 degrees at this latitude, according to Gina Philippon, sales manager for Mid-Coast Energy Systems in Damariscotta.
The groundwater is circulated around a cylinder of refrigerant, the refrigerant is “flashed” to steam before being compressed (concentrating its heat) and heat is drawn off the system’s condenser, Philippon said.
“It’s essentially a refrigeration cycle” like in a chest freezer or refrigerator, she said.
Mid-Coast Energy Systems is installing the geothermal system, and Pine State Drilling, of Athens, is doing the necessary drilling as a subcontractor, according to Roberts.
Drilling and other work related to the installation will be ongoing in the Lincoln County Publishing Company’s parking lot during the week of Oct. 20, Roberts said.
The decision to install a geothermal heating system was both financially and environmentally motivated, Roberts said, but there was a practical consideration, too.
“One of the furnaces was getting bad, so I had to make the decision to stay with oil or [get] geothermal,” Roberts said.
The geothermal system will cost the company $58,000 to install – roughly three times the cost for all the work necessary for a new furnace – but will eventually lower overhead costs, Roberts said.
The payoff for running the geothermal system is expected to be 10 to 15 years, Roberts said, but the timeline isn’t firm.
“Now with electricity going up, it might be a longer payback,” he said.
The system is also eligible for accelerated depreciation, Roberts said.
The geothermal setup, backed up by a propane system, will heat a portion of the company’s largest building.
The smaller building will still be heated by an oil furnace for now, supplemented in several areas by several “mini-split” heat pumps installed in 2013, Roberts said. He plans to wait and see how the new geothermal system works before deciding whether to install one in the other building.
“I’m ready to see how efficient geothermal really is before taking any further steps,” he said.
The move to geothermal is not Lincoln County Publishing Company’s first foray into alternative energy. The company installed 70 solar panels on the building’s roof three years ago, and a year ago added 96 more.
The entire setup is estimated to produce 35 megawatts of electricity over a calendar year, Roberts said.
