Net Positive Resilient All-Electric Affordable Housing at the Corona Station Residence in Petaluma

To address California's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the statewide housing crisis, innovations are needed to rethink the design and construction of affordable housing within California. The purpose of the California Energy Commission Next EPIC Challenge is to create an affordable, zero-emissions, mixed-use development. The Electric Power Research Institute and the project team designed a zero net energy, affordable multifamily mixed-use community called Meridian at Corona Station in Petaluma, California, using community engagement strategies and innovative electrification, electric vehicle charging, a renewable microgrid, an alternative standby interconnection, and nature-based/non-energy solutions.

Building energy modeling estimates an impactful energy and emissions performance of improved building energy efficiency with reduced energy use intensity and greenhouse gas intensity. The building design is modeled to achieve a 90-percent reduction in operational carbon emissions and approximately a 40-percent reduction in embodied carbon. From a cost analysis, the project is designed to eliminate the energy burden for residential tenants. The project includes 100-percent affordable housing and 25-percent supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. The project’s approach aims to create a feasible and scalable multifamily housing design that promotes clean energy distributed energy resources deployment with a renewable microgrid of solar and battery storage that can power the entire community for 95 percent of the year with a unidirectional standby connection with the utility for the remainder of the year. The project also features a scalable community engagement approach and nature-based/non-energy related design features that highlight the community’s and the city of Petaluma’s needs and priorities. The next steps include the construction, occupation, analysis of results, and knowledge transfer of Meridian at Corona Station’s best practices to field demonstrate a mixed-use development design and approach that reduces building emissions while mitigating climate change and positively impacting communities.