Getting an Energy Rebate, the Whole Foods way

The natural/organic food retailer worked closely with Sacramento Municipal Utility District last year to earn a substantial incentive for a remodeled store that includes a CO₂ cascade system. The company’s San Francisco-based global energy coordinator, Aaron Daly, sat down with Accelerate America to talk about all things natural refrigerants and what solutions “make sense” to them.

Whole Foods Market has been among the most active food retailers in the U.S. when it comes to testing and evaluating natural refrigerant systems.

Starting in 2009 with secondary CO₂ and cascade CO₂ refrigeration systems, the iconic natural and organic foods retailer, based in Austin, Texas, installed its first all-CO₂ transcritical system in a store in New York, in 2013.

The company followed up with two more transcritical stores in Berkeley and San Jose, California. In May, Whole Foods also opened a store in Dublin, California, that uses an ammonia/CO₂ cascade system, just the second installed in a U.S. supermarket.

On top of that, Whole Foods is testing 30 propane-based self-contained refrigerated units in roughly 20 locations.

Daly, who is responsible for energy efficiency improvements and incentive programs throughout the chain’s 12 operating regions said of the company’s NR sampling strategy.

“We don’t have enough data to say yet. That’s why we are testing different designs to find the sweet spot.”

To help defray the costs of these natural refrigerant systems, Whole Foods applies to utilities for energy-efficiency rebate incentives - not solely for the refrigeration systems themselves but for the store as a whole.

The Brooklyn store, for example, received support from NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) while the other transcritical stores’ requests are pending.

Retrofitting an existing store

An example of a Whole Foods store with a natural refrigerant system (a CO₂ cascade system) that received a substantial rebate for its overall energy efficiency is one located in Sacramento, which, unlike most stores with CO₂ refrigeration, was an existing store that was retrofit with the systems as well as other energy-saving components, in 2014.

The project was put together by Whole Foods in consultation with PECI (acquired last fall by CLEAResult), an energy consulting firm; Source Refrigeration, a contractor; and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD).

“This is a compelling example of how utilities and supermarkets can work together toward a common goal driven by energy efficiency but also achieving multiple goals,” Daly said.

SMUD, Daly added, was “an active partner with us” both in the scrutiny it gave the project as well as in the incentive it granted.

“That provided a level of certainty to operations and executives (at Whole Foods) who are not necessarily down in the weeds with this. Having a third party putting their money behind it goes a long way to building confidence in the project.”

A food retailer doesn’t necessarily need an intermediary like PECI to work with a utility, but its expertise can be helpful. “We lacked the engineering staff to turn out the models the utility was asking for,” he said. “PECI understood what SMUD needed.”

Preliminary analysis of ‘holistic’ approach at Sacramento store

Energy savings of more than 30% for the remodeled building
Rebate totaling about 10% of the cost of the remodel
SMUD still conducting post-retrofit walk through to validate store operating to standards
CO₂ cascade system contributed about 20% of the energy savings in the Sacramento store
Other features include LED lighting, solar film on front windows and a new rooftop unit that replaced an air-conditioning rack
Putting doors on display cases lessened load on MT compressors, in turn allowing the system to reduce HP on the new LT CO₂ compressors by 85% compared to the previous model
Natural gas system replaced heat reclaim, saving on electricity demanded by compressor

The rebate was significant not only because of the amount – which Daly described as “huge” – but because of SMUD’s flexible approach to the project.

Most utilities need to document that the energy savings fits within a state’s regulatory framework, and prefer to see prescriptive projects like LED lighting that call for a designated rebate.

By contrast, SMUD was willing to try something more innovative, looking at the energy savings produced by the entire retrofit, with contributions from various sources, including the CO₂ cascade system.

“SMUD is definitely at the forefront of utilities pursuing a holistic approach,” said Daly.

In addition to reducing energy consumption, Whole Foods cut the Sacramento store’s carbon footprint by reducing its use of R404A, which has an exceptionally high global warming potential of 3,900.

For retailers seeking custom utility incentives for a retrofit project involving a natural refrigerant system, Daly recommended doing “robust modeling and working with an OEM to demonstrate that the energy savings are real.”

Daly is now working with a major utility on developing prescriptive rebates for stores with self-contained freezer or cooler cases using propane (R290) as the refrigerant. Such rebates don’t currently exist, he said, adding that once this utility approves the rebate, others will follow suit.

Whole Foods’ Energy Partner

Accelerate America asked Kelsy Houston, associate product manager for CLEAResult, to talk about the project from the perspective of an energy management consultant.

Accelerate America: How did CLEAResult help Whole Foods secure energy rebates for the Sacramento store?

Kelsy Houston: The rebates offered for this project were through a whole building energy reduction program requiring a reduction of at least 30%. CLEAResult provided consultative and managerial support on the analysis of the project as a whole, for all project measures including the retrofit of the existing hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) based direct-expansion (DX) system, to a low-temperature cascade refrigeration system. CLEAResult worked with the contractor to ensure the new refrigeration system produced energy savings within the requirements of the energy reduction program, and CLEAResult facilitated the rebate payment from the utility to Whole Foods.

AA: What role does CLEAResult typically play with supermarkets and other users of commercial/industrial refrigeration?

Houston: CLEAResult creates and manages numerous utility energy efficiency programs across the U.S. in the commercial sector focusing on, or including, refrigeration. As program administrators, CLEAResult’s goal is to help the utility implement the most cost effective energy-efficiency program for its customers, in this case supermarkets or large commercial buildings. As energy advisors, CLEAResult supports the evaluation of new technologies and calculates energy savings for retrofits and new construction applications. We also work to incentivise and engage contractors and end users along the way.

Download Issue 6 of Accelerate America here