San Francisco's First Hybrid Electric Building

Leave it to one of our world's great, green cities to introduce the first hybrid electric building. And why not hybrid electric buildings?  Given the advances in battery technology, adding solar to glass in commercial buildings, efficiency measures and the advances around reduced energy use for multi-level complexes, this follows cars into the new millennium of powering our needs.

Those landlords in major cities who have invested heavily in sustainable office space have seen higher rental and occupancy rates and increased value on sale.  Cutting utility costs brings immediate jumps in cash flow and long-term fixed rates on supplies.  Both bring great business benefits...to owners and tenants.

Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) announced that it has been selected to transform San Francisco's distinguished skyscraper, One Maritime Plaza, into the City's first Hybrid Electric Building® using Tesla Powerpack batteries. The groundbreaking technology upgrade will lower costs, increase grid and building resiliency, and reduce the building's demand for electricity from the sources that most negatively impact the environment.

Building owner Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing hired SF-based Advanced Microgrid Solutions, to design, build and operate the project. The 500 kilowatt/1,000 kilowatt-hour indoor battery system will provide One Maritime Plaza with the ability to store clean energy and control demand from the electric grid. The technology enables the building to shift from grid to battery power to conserve electricity in the same way a hybrid-electric car conserves gasoline.

The energy storage system at One Maritime Plaza will reduce the building's peak energy demand by as much as twenty percent. In California, peaker plants – power plants that run only when there is a high demand for electricity – account for approximately fifteen percent of the state's power fleet. These plants are by design the least efficient fossil generators and, when they do run, produce more air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than any other type of fossil generation.

"As a San Francisco-based company, we are thrilled to partner with Morgan Stanley to bring best-in-class storage and software technology to the City," said Susan Kennedy, chief executive officer of AMS. "Hybrid Electric Buildings® allow forward-looking companies like Morgan Stanley to help build tomorrow's energy grid."

AMS and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) are in discussions to apply battery-enabled bill savings from the first year of operation of the One Maritime Plaza installation toward other potential storage projects contemplated by the agency.

"For a 100% greenhouse gas-free electric utility like the SFPUC, battery storage offers an unparalleled way to bolster the electricity resilience of critical facilities around the City," said Barbara Hale, Assistant General Manager for Power at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. "We look forward to collaborating with One Maritime Plaza and Advanced Microgrid Solutions so we can begin to pilot battery storage solutions with key SFPUC customers."

The project is expected to be completed by January 1, 2018.

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