Overview
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA leaders announced the joint study on Monday to explore a Thermal Energy Network at the Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall and Chambers Street station complex.
- The study, funded at about $800,000, will assess technical and economic feasibility before any drilling or construction and a contract to start the work is expected this fall.
- Technicians will evaluate radiant cooling panels that move platform heat through piping into deep boreholes drilled 500 to 600 feet beneath the Chambers Street abandoned center platform for seasonal underground storage.
- No boreholes will be drilled as part of the study and design work would only begin in early 2027 if the feasibility analysis shows the system can sufficiently cool open stations and reliably supply heat to nearby municipal buildings.
- The plan builds on existing geothermal use in some New York buildings and in Canada and Europe and, if feasible, could reduce platform temperatures, lower winter heating bills for City Hall and other municipal offices, and offer a model that might be replicated at other heat-producing sites.