Dandelion Energy, the geothermal heating and cooling solutions provider, has announced two new homebuilder partnerships with Dream Finders Homes and Ward Communities, with the projects having been awarded US$1.3mn in funding from the Maryland Energy Administration.
The partnerships represent some of the first community-wide deployments of geothermal through Dandelion and Upstream’s leasing programme. The grant will allow builders to integrate geothermal systems into their communities at the same or lower cost than traditional HVAC systems.
Dandelion will install high-efficiency geothermal heating and cooling across 129 homes in two new communities. Combined, the two projects will deliver annual energy bill savings between 30-40% for homeowners, and last two-times as long as air-source heat pumps. The communities will also reduce peak demand on Maryland’s grid by 20% in the summer and up to 65% in the winter.
Dan Yates, CEO of Dandelion Energy, said, “We thank the Maryland Energy Administration for supporting geothermal heating and cooling as a win-win solution for affordability, electric grid reliability, and decarbonisation. By building geothermal into entire communities from the start, we are providing builders a competitive edge, homeowners stable and low energy bills, and the electric grid with a highly resilient, predictable load profile that stabilises the network for everyone.”