BOMA/NY's Energy Action Day puts Con Ed incentives in the spotlight; Keynote speaker was Schimmenti of Con Ed

Calling the new Con Edison-NYSERDA Demand Management Program (DMP) "a once in a generation opportunity," executives from both organizations kicked off BOMA/NY's annual Energy Action Day seminar on May 2nd by diving into the details of how the audience of 165, and the commercial real estate industry in general, could qualify and implement such an opportunity at their properties. Case studies of installations at Verizon's West St. facility and the 3.8 million s/f 55 Water St.—and the additional millions they could save because of DMP—were shared with the audience. Boston Properties rounded out the seminar with a DMP implementation overview from the owner's perspective. Keynote speaker Robert Schimmenti, vice president of engineering & planning at Con Edison, offered timely insight on the energy conservation and generation market overall, noting that the utility was shifting its traditional emphasis on generation, distribution and operations to a more resilient, customer-focused approach, enabled by technology. He pointed to post-Superstorm Sandy technology benefits, which now enable utility workers to more accurately pinpoint areas affected by emergencies—Con Ed will no longer have to shut down entire sections of the grid, as it had to do in Lower Manhattan during the devastating storm. The DMP offers quicker payback times based on increasing incentives. Benefits for typical retrofits include: * Thermal and battery storage will increase from $600 per kW to $2,600 and $2,100 per kW respectively. * Chiller/HVAC/BMS/Controls, which already get $.16 kWh for upgrades can now qualify for an addition $1,250 per kW. * Lighting, also incentivized at $.16 per kWh can achieve and additional $800 per kW. Bonus incentives are available for large-scale projects of 500 kW or greater, and all projects must be installed and operational by June 1st, 2016. Energy Action Day sponsors included ABM, AKF, Code Green, the Con Edison Green Team, Cushman & Wakefield, Donnelly Mechanical, Luthin Associates, Inc., NYSERDA and Trane.