Alaska geothermal training wins $150,000 GHP PATHs grant

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes · Last updated: 12 October 2026

The Cold Climate Housing Research Center received $150,000 in second-phase funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s GHP PATHs program to design an Alaska-specific training curriculum and run a pilot course for ground-source heat pump installers, as first reported by the Juneau Empire. The award, announced Oct. 2, will be developed in partnership with the Renewable Energy Alaska Project and aims to prepare workers to install and service systems that use underground piping and electrically powered heat pumps. The move responds to local maintenance challenges at Juneau International Airport and to broader interest in reducing heating-oil use across Alaska.

trained local professionals who can design, install, and maintain these systems in our challenging conditions

Paul Rasmussen, executive director, Cold Climate Housing Research Center

What the GHP PATHs award will fund and why Alaska qualified

The U.S. Department of Energy selected eight teams in the second phase of GHP PATHs and awarded each team $150,000 to advance workforce development proposals; Alaska’s entry is titled “Heating Alaska from Below: A GHP Training Program.” The Cold Climate Housing Research Center will use its allocation to draft an Alaska-specific curriculum and stage a pilot course aimed at installers and maintenance technicians for ground-source heat pumps. The organization plans to pair classroom content with hands-on modules that reflect the state’s drilling depths, cold-climate hydraulics and mechanical systems.

Officials framed the work as vocational and technical training rather than academic research: course design will involve industry partners and educators to ensure graduates are prepared for field roles. The award covers curriculum development and an initial pilot; the Department of Energy’s second-phase grants move teams toward a final-stage selection, but the Juneau announcement does not set a timeline for that final stage or for broader rollout.

Juneau’s installations show what training must cover

Juneau already hosts multiple ground-source systems that the training must address in practical terms. Construction at Juneau International Airport began in 2009 with crews drilling 108 wells approximately 360 feet deep and laying a network of underground piping to replace heating oil with electric heat-pump-driven distribution for the terminal. The airport’s field is a scaled example of the drilling, loop-tying and hydraulic balancing skills courses will need to teach.

The Mendenhall Valley Public Library provides a contrasting example: its 21,000-square-foot building is served by 18 vertical boreholes, illustrating how borefield sizing and building-load calculations differ by project. Program organizers emphasize that ground-source systems require specialized underground infrastructure, and they report that some Juneau installations date from 2009; roughly 30 heat pumps installed that year were nearing or past expected service lives, and an April 2025 project noted sediment accumulating in circulating fluid despite filters and other measures. Program organizers say training will therefore need to combine new-install techniques with diagnostic and maintenance procedures for aging systems.

Training pathways, equipment reuse and cost realities

Program organizers propose tapping Alaska’s existing oil-industry skill base: they hope to repurpose retired drilling machinery from the North Slope for geothermal installations and to give drill-experienced workers a pathway into smaller-scale heating projects. That approach leans on decades of local drilling practice and could shorten the learning curve for borehole crews, but it requires adaptation of large rig workflows to the precision and cost parameters of residential and municipal loop fields.

The announcement and reporting underline the economic trade-offs that make training necessary: ground-source systems typically cost more to install than air-source units because of drilling and underground piping, even though they can lower operating expenses over time. Municipal guidance in Juneau also notes some installations need a secondary heat source to meet winter design loads; proper sizing and commissioning therefore matter for a project’s lifetime cost and performance. The pilot curriculum aims to cover siting, drilling practices, hydraulic design and maintenance protocols so installers can preserve the financial case for customers.

How the program could succeed — and what might slow it

The bottom line

The $150,000 GHP PATHs award gives Alaska a narrow but practical foothold to create an industry-focused training pipeline for ground-source heat pumps. Juneau’s installations — from a large airport field of 108 wells to the library’s 18 boreholes — lay out the range of skills students will need, from drilling and loop construction to diagnostics and sediment mitigation. Realising the program’s promise will depend on converting curriculum into hands-on experience, securing adapted equipment if rigs are to be repurposed, and expanding the local contractor base able to install and maintain systems to design standards. The pilot course will be the key next step; organizers have not yet announced dates.

What to watch

• Watch for Cold Climate Housing Research Center to announce pilot-course dates and locations; no date has been set.
• Watch for the U.S. Department of Energy to publish its timeline for final-stage GHP PATHs selections; no date has been set.
• Watch for formal plans to repurpose retired North Slope drilling machinery for geothermal work and any published equipment-adaptation guidance; no date has been set.