BOMA/Chicago Unveils Plans for Commercial Office Building Smart Grid

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. 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.

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.