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POWER LIST: ENGINEERING

As an all-electric building, the Beaverton Public Safety Center checks quite a few boxes when it comes to energy efficiency.

The project was led by a unique utility partnership between the city of Beaverton and Portland General Electric, which piloted a batteries program for storing renewable energy. The 72,000-square-foot facility runs off of a 300-kilowatt solar array and a 250-kilowatt battery storage micro-grid.

The building doesn鈥檛 use any fossil fuels, and the solar array adds resiliency to the grid via a localized system.

The main idea behind the electrification movement, PAE associate Karina Hershberg said, is to move away from fossil fuels. Of all energy options, electricity is the only one that can do聽that and adds resiliency, she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a way for building and transportation to benefit from a larger system and decarbonization movement,鈥� she said.

A typical 24-hour facility built to Portland code would have energy use intensity (EUI) of 41.3. The Beaverton Public Safety Center, thanks in large part to its photovoltaic panels, has EUI of 6.5. If an event knocks out power to the area, the micro-grid will still be able to power the building. Layering a local solar array system on top of the larger centralized system adds resiliency to the network, Hershberg said.

As one of the first all-electric commercial buildings in the region, the project presented a challenge because the technology had not matured fully and there was a learning curve for manufacturers, contractors and designers working with it.

All-electric buildings open a pathway to zero-emission building operations, Hershberg said.

鈥淲e need to shift all (systems) over to the one path to have a fighting chance of decarbonization,鈥� she said.