daily · Electrification

New York PSC approves $111.5 million in utility thermal energy network pilots, declines nine other proposals

New York's Public Service Commission authorized two neighborhood-scale thermal energy network pilots in Buffalo and Haverstraw totaling $111.5 million, while declining to advance nine other proposed projects that sought more than $1 billion in ratepayer funds.

By Greener Numbers Editorial Team · Published October 23, 2026 · Updated 10/23/2026

The New York State Public Service Commission has authorized two utility thermal energy network pilot projects to move forward with customer enrollment and construction: National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp.'s project in Buffalo and Orange & Rockland Utilities' West Loop project in the Village of Haverstraw. Together the pilots represent a $111.5 million investment in neighborhood-scale clean heating and cooling, drawing on $93 million from the state's Sustainable Futures Program to sharply lower the cost to the utilities' ratepayers.

The Buffalo project, authorized for $61.4 million, will use a four-pipe network to supply heating and cooling to 12 affordable multifamily buildings and a municipal building in a disadvantaged community downtown, integrating thermal energy from wastewater influent and geothermal boreholes and displacing hot water boilers in the existing Buffalo District Energy System. Orange & Rockland's $50.1 million West Loop project will connect municipal, commercial and residential buildings across roughly 10 acres through a single-pipe ambient temperature loop fed by two geothermal borefields and a wastewater heat exchanger.

At the same session, the Commission declined to advance nine other proposed pilot projects that together sought more than $1 billion in ratepayer funds, and addressed recovery of costs incurred to date. The order also directed Department of Public Service staff to work with utilities and stakeholders on lessons learned to guide future proposals and to inform a Thermal Energy Network Roadmap called for in the State Energy Plan.

The Commission noted both utilities' commitments to engage a skilled union workforce for construction and operation of the pilots. Thermal energy networks, which connect multiple buildings through shared piping loops to exchange heat with sources like wastewater and the ground, are being watched nationally as a pathway to cut building-sector gas use without full building-by-building electrification.

Official source: dps.ny.gov ↗