Bring Geothermal Power To Hunts Point Food Center, Panel Says

HUNTS POINT, THE BRONX — A think tank wants to bring geothermal energy to Hunts Point in The Bronx to power a sprawling food distribution center in the neighborhood, according to a report released Monday.

The Urban Land Institute New York says geothermal energy could power the center in Hunts Point — often called "New York City's refrigerator" — which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the facility more resilient in the wake of future storms.

"The food distribution center in Hunts Point provides almost half the food that people consume in this city," Felix Ciampa, the executive director of the think tank, told Patch. "The idea would be that you would have more resilient energy [so that it] wouldn't be as subject to some of the outages that you see periodically."

The city's Economic Development Corporation commissioned the study asking Urban Land Institute to investigate the feasibility of hydropower sourced from the East River, building on previous studies following Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

ULI found hydropower was not as feasible as geothermal energy would be to power refrigeration systems at the center, which distributes 4.5 billion pounds of food each year.

The panel at ULI estimated a geothermal energy system would cost $55 million — about $25 million less than hydropower. Geothermal would produce nearly six times more megawatts of power and take two years to complete, rather than five years for a hydropower system, the report released Monday says.

"The additional benefit to this type of energy production is that it lessens the carbon impact of Hunts Point energy consumption, thus accelerating the City’s target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050," the report reads.

The panel estimated there would be utility cost savings of $6.2 million a year.

"ULI NY's recommendations to explore geothermal energy as an additional renewable energy source amplify NYCEDC’s vision for a resilient campus that could protect the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center from the impact of climate change and will help safeguard residents in this South Bronx community," senior vice president of EDC's asset management Winthrop Hoyt said in a statement.

In Hunts Points, there were more than 300 emergency room visits for asthma per 10,000 adults — three times the city's rate — in 2016.

Air quality was a key community concern brought up among interviews with stakeholders, the report says. Refrigerated diesel trucks at the food distribution center run 24/7 in areas where the food distribution center's buildings are at capacity.

ULI encouraged EDC to expand facility space or look into ways of powering the trucks with a renewable source rather than diesel, the report says.

"From ULI's perspective, being able to help the city think about how to make such a vital area like the food distribution center more sustainable [and] more resilient against the threats of climate change and rising sea levels was really key and attracted us to taking on the engagement," said Ciampa.

Read the full report here.