Bower install does not use .bowerrc in cwd.

install.js

var bower = require('bower');
var path = require('path');

var cwd = path.resolve(__dirname, 'project');

bower.commands.install([], {}, {
  cwd: cwd
})
.on('log', function(result) {
  console.log(result.id, result.message);
})
.on('end', function(results) {
  console.log('end', results);
})
.on('error', function(err) {
  console.log('error', err);
});

package.json

{
  "name": "bowertest",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "install.js",
  "scripts": {},
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "bower": "~1.3.3"
  }
}