The latest upgrade to the Park Place mixed-use campus in Irvine is taking place behind the scenes, and in clean-energy jargon, behind the meter.
The 2.1-million-square-foot campus near John Wayne Airport, which holds one of the largest collections of office buildings in Orange County, in addition to a retail center, apartments, condo towers and a collection of new development, announced this month it’s installing a cutting-edge energy storage system on its grounds.
The project, overseen by Millbrae-based renewable energy company Stem Inc., will add a 1.3-megawatt battery-powered indoor energy system to the complex, which is run by Irvine-based LBA Realty.
Park Place, upon the installation’s completion at year-end, will house the largest indoor energy storage system in the country, according to Stem, which was founded in 2009 and has reportedly raised more than $110 million in venture funding.
The project will deliver automated electricity savings to Park Place, in addition to providing on-call demand reduction to help Southern California Edison balance the energy grid during peak times, such as last week’s heat wave, Stem officials said.
A system of its size provides roughly enough energy to supply power to 1,300 homes. That’s about the number of apartments and condos that have been built on the 105-acre campus.
The storage system type is described in industry parlance as being “behind-the-meter,” meaning it is built for a single facility, allowing property owners to participate in grid support.
The system “will automate energy cost savings without impacting tenants’ comfort or operations,” Stem said in a news release. It “calls on the batteries to store power when energy costs are low, then rapidly deploy it to avoid expensive peaks or respond to strains on the local power grid.”
The project’s cost wasn’t disclosed. Electricity costs at other offices where similar programs have been enacted are projected to drop at least 10%.
The installation of the “smart building technologies (will) increase sustainability, strengthen the local power grid, and reduce costs for our tenants,” said LBA principal and Chief Operating Officer Perry Schonfeld in a statement.
Storage City
The Park Place deployment is the second big energy storage deal announced in OC’s office market since late last year.
In October, Irvine Company announced a similar deal for nearly two dozen of its highest profile offices in the Irvine Spectrum and John Wayne Airport area that encompass close to 7 million square feet.
That program, which is being done in conjunction with Advanced Microgrid Solutions, a San Francisco-based renewable energy company, is resulting in the Newport Beach-based landlord’s buildings being turned into what it calls “hybrid electric buildings.”
Irvine Co.’s program is projected to cut Southern California Electric’s daily electricity demand by 10 megawatts, or roughly enough energy to power 10,000 homes.
The first phase of the installation, which began late last year, will cost Advanced Microgrid, also known as AMS, an estimated $30 million.
Irvine Co. properties in line to get the energy system upgrades are Jamboree Center, Von Karman Towers, the MacArthur Court office campuses, and the 200 Spectrum Center tower that opened a few months ago.
The landlord’s first hybrid-electric building, at 20 Pacifica in the Spectrum, has been operating for five months, Irvine Co. officials said last week.
“This week, the battery system is being used to offset demand created by the high temperatures,” Irvine Co. officials said then.
The landlord said it’s “in the planning and permit stages on three more office buildings in Irvine,” and that it plans to convert an additional 16 buildings in the city starting in the fourth quarter.
It’s using energy storage systems built by Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors Inc.; Stem Inc. said it uses batteries from Samsung and Panasonic, plus Powerpack battery systems procured from Tesla.
The local AMS and Stem projects result from a new Southern California Edison program designed to help relieve grid congestion in the West Los Angeles Basin region through a variety of means, including energy storage. They’re designed in part to replace energy lost from the closure of the San Onofre nuclear power plant in San Clemente.
Park Place Redo
The Park Place energy program is the latest notable change at the Irvine campus off the San Diego (I-405) Freeway at Jamboree Road.
LBA Realty bought a bulk of the office buildings there in a series of transactions in 2009 and 2010.
The low- and midrise offices, along with the retail center at the property, have gotten a reported $40 million-plus worth of upgrades since LBA took ownership.
The campus now is largely full, having drawn big office tenants like Western Digital Corp., whose headquarters is there.
Development under way includes an AC Hotels by Marriott being built by Woodbine Development Corp. in Dallas, and an apartment complex being built by Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group.
LBA sold a minority interest in a portion of the campus last year to Principal Real Estate Investors, a Des Moines, Iowa-based institutional investor. The reported $370 million deal was for a 45% stake in LBA’s remaining holdings in the campus and was one of the largest local transactions in recent years.
