Municipal Utility Territory
Burbank runs on its own municipal utility, which means the solar rules here are different from every SCE city around it. Keen Energy designs and builds commercial solar systems around Burbank Water and Power's actual rate structure and interconnection process, from the Media District to the Airport District.
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Burbank packs an unusual amount of commercial energy demand into 17 square miles. Production support facilities, post-production houses, corporate offices, big-box retail at the Empire Center, and light industrial buildings near Hollywood Burbank Airport all run heavy daytime loads - exactly the consumption profile where solar panels for business perform best. And because the city owns its utility, the economics work differently here than in neighboring SCE territory.
Utility Territory Guide
Most of Southern California buys power from Southern California Edison under rules written by the California Public Utilities Commission. Burbank does not. BWP is a municipal utility - the city council sets its rates and its solar compensation rules. That changes three things about how a commercial solar project pencils out here.
Under BWP's Solar Net Billing program, which took effect January 1, 2026, electricity you export to the grid is credited at BWP's avoided cost of energy rather than the full retail rate. Systems permitted before that date stay grandfathered under the older net metering rules. The design implication is the same one NEM 3.0 created for SCE businesses: exports are worth less than the power you use on site, so the system should be sized around your building's actual daytime consumption, not around maximum roof coverage. For businesses with heavy daytime loads - which describes most of commercial Burbank - that discipline barely dents the return.
Alongside the billing change, BWP proposes supporting solar systems up to 5 MW and removing size limits tied to your prior annual energy use (per BWP). If your facility is electrifying - adding EV charging, heat pumps, or new production equipment - you can build for where your load is going, not just where it has been. Keen Energy builds commercial systems from 50kW to 5+MW, so the full range BWP supports is on the table.
California's AB 2143 requires prevailing wage on commercial solar projects that interconnect under an investor-owned utility's net metering tariffs. Because BWP is a municipal utility, projects interconnecting with BWP generally fall outside that requirement - a meaningful cost variable, since avoiding AB 2143 triggers can save 10-15% on commercial solar costs. We confirm how the rules apply to your specific project during the assessment, and where prevailing wage does apply, Keen is DIR-registered and compliant.
The short version: Burbank's rules reward systems engineered around real consumption data. That is how we design everything anyway. Send us a recent BWP bill and we will show you the math, not marketing promises.
Local Process
Burbank's process runs through two local agencies, and they have to be worked in the right order. Solar interconnection starts with BWP, permits run through the City of Burbank's Building and Safety Division within Community Development, and the two hand off to each other at defined points. As a full-service EPC contractor, we manage the entire chain so you have one point of contact.
BWP reviews and approves the proposed system before the city issues the building permit. We prepare the interconnection application with single-line diagrams and equipment specifications so this step moves once, not twice.
Permits go through Burbank's Building and Safety Division via the Burbank Online Permits portal. Structural calculations, electrical plans, and fire code setbacks are our engineering scope - stamped, submitted, and tracked by our team.
Our in-house C-10 electrical crews - state-certified Journeymen and Apprentices - build the system, then we schedule the city building inspection. No subcontracted electrical work between you and a passed inspection.
After the building inspector signs off, BWP performs its own field visit to install the performance meter and run safety tests before the system goes live. We coordinate the visit and commission the system once BWP clears it.
Burbank's commercial building stock varies block by block, and so does the right system design. Here is how we think about the city's main business districts.
Home to the major studios and the ecosystem around them: post-production houses, prop and equipment shops, office campuses, and production support buildings. These facilities run editing bays, server rooms, and stage-support HVAC through exactly the hours solar produces. Rooftop systems paired with battery storage can also shave the demand spikes that production schedules create.
The area around Hollywood Burbank Airport holds the city's largest roofs: the Empire Center power retail complex, distribution and light industrial buildings, and hotels. Big flat roofs plus long daytime operating hours make this Burbank's strongest territory for warehouse solar and retail solar.
The San Fernando Boulevard corridor and Burbank Town Center mix retail, restaurants, offices, and multifamily housing. Mixed-use and multifamily buildings are a Keen specialty - see our VNEM apartment projects in Vista and San Clemente for how shared-meter solar works on multi-tenant properties.
The boutique retail corridor along Magnolia Boulevard between Hollywood Way and Screenland Drive runs on smaller commercial buildings. Sub-100kW systems still qualify for the full 30% federal credit without the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements that attach to systems over 1 MW, which keeps the economics clean for independent owners.
Post-production, VFX, and equipment facilities run climate-controlled spaces and compute loads all day. Solar offsets that consumption directly, and battery storage manages the demand charges that can make up 30-70% of a commercial bill.
Media company offices and professional buildings across the Media District and downtown carry weekday daytime loads that map almost perfectly onto solar production curves - the profile where on-site consumption preserves returns under net billing.
From the Empire Center to Magnolia Boulevard storefronts, retail buildings combine usable roof area with long open hours. Our retail solar solutions cover rooftop and carport configurations.
Distribution and light industrial buildings near the airport offer the best roof-to-load ratios in the city. See how we approach solar for warehouses, including ballasted and Solar Strap ballastless mounting like our 793kW La Verne installation.
Fabrication shops and manufacturers serving the entertainment and aerospace supply chains run energy-intensive equipment on daytime schedules. Our manufacturing solar page covers how we design for industrial load profiles.
Medical facilities and apartment communities run around the clock. Our 600kW senior living project with 250kWh of battery storage shows what solar plus storage looks like on multi-building residential campuses.
Storage Strategy
When exported power earns less than retail, the value of storing your own solar goes up. A battery lets you hold midday production and use it during expensive evening hours instead of exporting it at avoided cost - the same logic that makes storage more compelling for SCE businesses under NEM 3.0. Batteries also cut demand charges through peak shaving and can back up critical loads, which matters for facilities that cannot afford to go dark mid-production.
We treat storage as a financial decision, not just backup - and it is explicitly optional. If the math on your BWP rate schedule does not support a battery, we will tell you that. As a Tesla Energy Certified Installer for Powerwall 3 and Megapack, we can scale storage from small commercial to large systems when it does pencil. Learn more about our battery storage services or the $0-upfront PPA options that can include storage.
We analyze your facility, interval usage data, and BWP rate schedule to size a system around your actual daytime consumption under Solar Net Billing.
Engineering built for your roof and load profile - Tier-1 equipment with 25-year manufacturer warranties, designed for 30-year+ serviceability.
In-house C-10 crews build it, we run city permitting and BWP interconnection through meter set, and our O&M services keep it producing after energization.
Send us a recent BWP bill and we will model your system under Solar Net Billing - production, offset, payback, and whether storage pencils. No cost. No obligation. Just clear numbers on what solar can do for your business.
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