Managing Energy in Multifamily Housing - Two Innovative Technology Pilots

Date: 9/30/25 11:00 am - 12:00 pm PT

ProspectSV is a part of two California Energy Commission-funded technology demonstration projects, which include work on opening up electrical capacity in older multifamily housing developments. These projects will demonstrate Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s controls and open source software implemented with plug-in batteries for smart panels at low-income multi-family apartment complexes in Humboldt, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties. The goal of these demonstrations is to open up electrical capacity constraints of older, retrofitted buildings to electrify them. Learn how to address challenges in electrifying older buildings, as well as both our plans and use case outlines for the projects.

Speakers: 

• Rongxin Yin, Technology Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

• David Kaneda, Principal and Thought Leader, IDeAs Consulting

• Kimberly Beltran, Technical Programs Manager, Sonoma Clean Power

• Sean Armstrong, Managing Principal, Redwood Energy

• Ilse Villacorta, Senior Project Manager, ProspectSV

11th Annual EPIC Symposium

The California Energy Commission, in collaboration with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, and San Diego Gas & Electric Company will host the 11th annual Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Symposium on Tuesday, October 7, in the California Natural Resources Agency building in Sacramento.

Join the dialogue and discover the latest technologies, innovations, and research in the EPIC portfolio. The symposium will feature panel discussions with clean energy leaders, policy makers, researchers, and entrepreneurs focused on energy equity and affordability, battery safety, next-generation vehicle charging, large building decarbonization, and more!

Join us for Happy Hour at Barebottle Beer Garden in Salesforce Park. Catch up with like minded friends and colleagues in the clean tech industry. The first drink is on us. We hope to see you there!

Date: Thursday, October 9th, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Location: Barebottle Beer Garden at SF Park, 425 Mission St. San Francisco, CA, 94104

Suggested $10 donation is welcome to keep fun events like this going.

Happily provided by: ProspectSV, Effecterra, Alter Engineers, IDeAs Consulting Inc, AIASF COTE, and Flow Environmental Systems

Cost-Effective Electrification and Power Backup Strategies for Older Multifamily Buildings

A major challenge in California’s effort to eliminate carbon emissions by 2045, is fully electrifying the almost 90% of an estimated 13.5 M existing residences currently using natural gas. Apartments are 29% of California housing, and >50% of housing built annually in California since 2009. Older multifamily housing buildings are often undersized for current decarbonization goals. Units built in the 1970s-2000s often provided only 60A service at each unit, meaning the currently needed minimum 100A service is rarely in place. Most states will face a similar challenge. There is a retrofit problem with these buildings. Current electrical design consistently oversized service for anticipated use. It’s problematic to further upsize services to meet increased loads and code requirements as units are electrified. Converting natural gas furnaces, clothes dryers, and boilers to heat pump technology, gas stovetops and ranges to induction, and even adding an EV charger, represent large but additional intermittent loads to a residence. The current approach of outsized electrical service upgrades would only further exacerbate the problem and result in unnecessarily high costs.

This session will highlight a better solution: combining available capacity for routine tenant needs, with available additional capacity for occasional needs, at less than the cost of the conventional approach. Low-income communities with tenants who are vulnerable under power loss is a clear case for accessible, low-cost power backup approaches. This approach enables participation in cost savings opportunities and the possibility of reducing the burden of power safety shut offs. Panelists will highlight two unique multifamily demonstration projects in Humboldt and Sonoma County.

Panelists:

Doug Davenport, CEO, ProspectSV

David Kaneda, Principal and Thought Leader, IDeAs Consulting

Sean Armstrong, Managing Principal, Redwood Energy