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    Commercial Property Executive: Are Microgrids the Answer to Commercial Real Estate’s Power Struggle?

    July 25, 2024
    A new story in the industry journal Commercial Property Executive by author Gail Kalinoski asks if microgrids can serve a mission-critical on-site power need for office and warehouse facilities.
    Image credit Grupo Bimbo
    66a25267edd9fc8dac84ffb2 Grupo Bimbo

    The commercial real estate industry has endured a rough time over the past four years in the wake of the office shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic but it seems to be poised for a bit of a rebound.

    The energy side of CRE, however, has always been robust and problematic. Commercial properties covering some 16 billion square feet of floor space also consume close to 250 billion kWh of energy annually, accounting for nearly 20% of U.S. energy consumption, according to federal and private research data. As in other business sectors, many CRE leaders want their energy to be resiliency and more sustainable.

    The nation’s CRE facilities also are prone to the same grid power vulnerabilities and costs as any other large-scale customer. A new story in the industry journal Commercial Property Executive by author Gail Kalinoski asks if microgrids can serve a mission-critical on-site power need for office and warehouse facilities.

    The story looks at projects such as the work done by GreenStruxure with Bimbo Bakeries USA, installing microgrids at six California facilities. The Commercial Property Executive article also quotes Microgrid Knowledge advisory board members such as Jana Gerber, president of North America Microgrids for Schneider Electric, advocacy group Think Microgrid’s Executive Director Cameron Brooks and Enchanted Rock Chief Commercial Officer Allan Schurr.

    Kalinoski’s piece for Commercial Property Executive points out the accelerating momentum for microgrids in the commercial and industrial sectors, with 50% of systems beginning operations in the last five years, rising from 329 counted in 2017 to nearly 700 in the past two years, according to research firm JLL.

    Much of that distributed energy and microgrid growth has happened in California and Texas, whether extreme weather events have strained and damaged the utility power grids. Dallas will be host to the 2025 Microgrid Knowledge Conference happening April 15-17 at the Sheraton Dallas.

    Read the complete Commercial Property Executive article here.

     

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

    For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023. 

    I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future. 

    Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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    Rendering of Dallas-Fort Worth Airport electric Central Utility Plant project. Image credit DFW Airport.
    Hotel Marcel PV. Photo credit Bruce Becker
    Image credit Greenenergy

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