The Golden State currently has the most solar capacity installed in the country, along with an ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. In keeping with this goal, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has updated the Building Energy Efficiency Standards to promote clean energy adoption statewide. As of January 1, 2023, the California Energy Code requires installing solar power and battery storage for new commercial builds.
Here’s what you need to know about the new requirements, and how PowerFlex can help you fulfill them.
Standards For New Commercial Buildings Have Changed
According to California’s updated Building Energy Efficiency Standards, all newly-constructed commercial buildings (with very select exceptions) must have a solar photovoltaic (PV) array and a battery energy storage system (BESS). This requirement applies to:
Hotels
Office buildings
Clinics
Restaurants
Medical buildings
Retail centers
Grocery stores
Convention centers
Schools
Theaters
Auditoriums
Industrial Warehouse and Manufacturing Factories
The requirement depends on several key facility and locational-based characteristics:
Solar: The minimum required solar will depend on your building type, size, and CA climate zone.
Storage: The minimum required storage (energy and power) will depend both on your minimum required solar system size and a coefficient determined by your applicable CA climate zone.
For example, a 175,000 sq ft single story big box retail store in Fresno, CA would be required to install ~500 kW-DC of solar and a 250 kW/2hr battery storage system* under the new rule.
Here is a great summary from the WSJ: Americans built up about $2.1 trillion in excess savings during the pandemic and its immediate aftermath, a cushion for household budgets and a boost for consumer spending. Since August 2021, they’ve drawn down about $1.9 trillion of that. “This implies that there is less than $190 billion of excess savings remaining in the aggregate economy. Should the recent pace of drawdowns persist—for example, at average rates from the past three, six or 12 months—aggregate excess savings would likely be depleted in the third quarter of 2023,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco economists Hamza Abdelrahman and Luiz Oliveira write in a blog post.
The dwindling pandemic savings during 2023 makes me wonder if that is correlated with the dwindling industrial demand that started at the beginning in 2023 and continues here in Los Angeles. Tenant demand for warehouses has fallen sharply this year. Buyer demand has been dampened by the interest rate increases. If the pandemic savings do run out this year then I wonder if consumer spending will follow. If that is the case and consumer spending accounts for about ⅔ of GDP then a slowdown could materialize.
Here are the top 25 Los Angeles area craft beer breweries ranked by barrels produced in 2022. When in DTLA I prefer Highland Park Brewery for their great beers and space. Boomtown Brewery also has a good space and brews.
In the City of Los Angeles, an M2 or M3 industrial zone is required to operate a brewery or distillery. Those zones are not always easy to find.
The Los Angeles City Council’s recent adoption of the DTLA 2040 Community Plan Update (DTLA 2040) was a major milestone in a nearly decadelong process to create a long-range land use plan and guiding policy document that will advance Downtown’s vibrancy and growth through the year 2040.
Drafted by city staff with input from many stakeholders, DTLA 2040 doubles the area in Downtown where housing can be built, eliminates parking requirements and implements the city’s new zoning code for the very first time.
DTLA 2040 includes updates to the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) to make adaptive reuse even more effective in its goal of unlocking greater opportunities for creating housing, promoting sustainable development and preserving historic buildings. DTLA 2040s updates include removing minimum and average unit size requirements and allowing buildings built as recently as 10 years prior to conversion to be eligible for the provisions of ARO. The updates also allow basements and rooftop features to be used and not count against how much can be built on a site.
Commercial kitchen cooking and prep areaRefrigerated coolerFreezer for storage of frozen foodsRacked dry storage area that is 23 foot high Wash room, scullery with dual sinks and floor drains
