Project Highlights
- Identify the most cost-effective pathways for commercial and multifamily customers to comply with BPSs in a service territory.
- Learn how peers and other stakeholders are responding to BPSs.
- Understand how large-scale adoption of compliance measures will affect utility operations.
Background, Objectives, and New Learnings
Building Performance Standards (BPSs) are being adopted nationwide by various jurisdictions at all levels of government. Those standards require buildings to report data showing that their actual energy use and emissions performance meets legally mandated requirements. As reporting and compliance requirements intensify, customers will seek support in understanding their best options for meeting BPSs. As customers adopt measures like electrification and renewable generation to comply with emerging standards, their energy use patterns shift causing significant impacts to utility operations, including staffing needs and higher service upgrade volume.
The objective of this project is to evaluate how utilities can support their commercial and multifamily customers through this compliance process. Its two-tiered structure creates both regional and utility-specific new learnings. Tier 1 seeks to develop optimal regional compliance pathways that can be used by utilities to prioritize the development of customer programs, and Tier 2 aims to analyze utility-specific impacts of large-scale customer BPS compliance on utility operations (Tier 2). By leveraging EPRI’s unique framework and methodologies, utilities will be well-equipped to handle the changes imposed by the emerging BPSs.
Benefits
Potential public benefits of this work include more robust programs to support commercial and multifamily customers as they look to comply with building performance standards. Plus improved utility operations, grid resilience, and electrification readiness that may ultimately result through a better understanding of how large-scale BPS compliance will impact utilities.
Utility benefits include clarity regarding compliance pathways tailored to their region and service territory that can be used for effective customer program design, opportunities to hear from other utilities and industry stakeholders regarding how they are responding to emerging BPSs, and custom model application to each utility’s service territory (Tier 2 participants).
Project Approach and Summary
Tier 1: Regional Analysis
Regional BPS compliance pathway analysis: EPRI will apply its unique frameworks and methodologies to analyze options for BPS compliance in the participating utilities’ region, examining options for efficiency, electrification, flexibility, and renewables. These different approaches will be modeled according to the unique climate and operational specifications of the region, and assessed based on public, customer, and utility benefits. The result will be optimal decarbonization and BPS compliance pathways tailored to the region. Utilities will be able to use this information along with the underlying insights and data to design programs that support their customers in achieving BPS compliance.
Quarterly market and industry webcasts: In addition to the pathways analysis, quarterly webinars will be held featuring a variety of industry stakeholders who are part of the BPS ecosystems. Guests may include commercial building operators discussing approaches to meet BPSs, utility program managers discussing programs that benefit customers, policymakers attempting to develop measurable performance standards, etc.
Tier 2: Utility-specific Analysis
Utility-specific BPS analysis: After participation in Tier 1, participants wishing to conduct further analysis on questions specific to their service territory can use this option to dig deeper. Scope is based on needs, but could include utility-specific BPS compliance pathway analysis, operational impact of mass customer BPS compliance, etc.
Deliverables
Tier 1
- Generalized modeling report and data: Techno-economic analysis and value-grounded cost-benefit assessment of options for BPS compliance including aspects of a combination of efficiency, electrification, flexibility, and renewables at the participating utility’s regional level. Regional models help to develop a deeper analytical understanding of other utilities’ approaches and allow more organic learning across utilities.
- Quarterly market and industry webcasts: Webinars from BPS ecosystem stakeholders.
Tier 2
- Utility impact analysis report and data: Specifics based on scope but could include modified dataset formulating a customized compliance narrative, describing likely pathways for the building, along with resultant demand impacts, energy use, and GHG savings.
Price of Project
- Tier 1: $70,000 per utility. Pricing can be split over two calendar years. This project qualifies for the use of Self-Directed Funds (SDF).
- Tier 2: To be determined based on specific participating utilities’ requirements.
Project Status and Schedule
This project is intended to launch in April 2024. The project duration is expected to be 24 months for Tier 1 participants, with an additional 12 months for Tier 2 participants, subject to each utility’s schedule.
Who Should Join
Utilities looking to understand the impacts of emerging BPSs on their operations and develop programs to support their customers.
Contact Information
For more information, contact the EPRI Customer Assistance Center at 800.313.3774 (askepri@epri.com).
Technical Contacts
Mazen Daher at (650) 208-1078 (mdaher@epri.com)