by Rebecca Walker — August 12, 2009—The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago (BOMA/Chicago) is aiming to develop the first commercial office building smart grid program in the United States. The organization filed an application to fund half of the program with $92.7 million in matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, which was formed under the recently passed American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). The total cost of BOMA/Chicago’s smart grid program is estimated at $185.4 million.
The BOMA/Chicago program will deliver a utility-scale, clean, virtual generator through implementation of smart grid technology in more than 260 commercial buildings in downtown Chicago. BOMA/Chicago represents more than 80 percent of the square footage and an estimated 1,000 megawatts of peak demand in the city’s central business district. The virtual generator could provide as much as 200 megawatts of demand response capability, lowering costs and avoiding the need to construct expensive new generation plants, says BOMA/Chicago.
The program calls for upgrading the buildings’ electric metering infrastructure with smart meters that will communicate with a BOMA/Chicago-run Network Operating Center (NOC) in real time. The NOC will analyze electricity demand in light of grid conditions and electricity market prices, then send suggested response strategies back to the buildings for speedy implementation.
Effective participation in the program will require significant building-level upgrades such as installation of variable speed motors, digital controls and new or upgraded building automation systems. These investments will enable the buildings to respond more effectively to grid conditions and market signals with little or no impact on tenant comfort. Through the installation and management of these systems, the program is estimated to create or retain 2,037 jobs.
BOMA/Chicago will help participating buildings by cutting the cost of those upgrade investments in half through the use of matching federal stimulus funds. The organization will also provide unique performance contract options for financing the balance through revenues generated from the buildings’ demand response activities.
BOMA/Chicago’s smart grid program will enable commercial buildings to compete in markets formerly dominated by large central station generators and simultaneously reduce carbon emissions by approximately 300 million pounds annually. Through smarter utilization of energy resources, the program will reduce the need to build new power plants and take inefficient generation permanently offline.
As the premier trade association for the commercial real estate industry in Chicago, BOMA/Chicago is in a unique position to facilitate its members’ efforts. Just as importantly, BOMA/Chicago is affiliated with 91 other local associations in every major city in North America through BOMA International. Those affiliations present an unparalleled opportunity to promote replication of the BOMA/Chicago program in other major markets.
For more information, see the Web site.
