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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/12/2023 - Energy Board - Agenda - Regular Meeting ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING January 12, 2023 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room Zoom – See Link Below 1. [5:30] CALL MEETING TO ORDER 2. [5:30] PUBLIC COMMENT 3. [5:35] APPROVAL OF DECEMBER 8, 2022 MINUTES 4. [5:45] INTRODUCTION TO PHILLIP AMAYA (Discussion, 30 min) Phillip Amaya, Deputy Director, Utilities Light & Power 5. [6:15] REVIEW 2023 PLANNING CALENDAR (Discussion, 30 min.) 6. [6:45] NEW BOARD MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS (Discussion, 30 min.) 7. [7:15] APPROVE 2022 ANNUAL REPORT (Decision, 15 min.) 8. [7:30] OFFICER ELECTIONS (Decision, 15 min.) Participation for this Energy Board Meeting will be in person in the Colorado Room at 222 Laporte Ave. You may also join online via Zoom, using this link: https://fcgov.zoom.us/j/96707441862 Online Public Participation: The meeting will be available to join beginning at 5:15 pm, January 12, 2023. Participants should try to sign in prior to the 5:30 pm meeting start time, if possible. For public comments, the Chair will ask participants to click the “Raise Hand” button to indicate you would like to speak at that time. Staff will moderate the Zoom session to ensure all participants have an opportunity to address the Board or Commission. To participate: • Use a laptop, computer, or internet-enabled smartphone. (Using earphones with a microphone will greatly improve your audio). • You need to have access to the internet. • Keep yourself on muted status. Masks Strongly Recommended in Indoor Public Spaces While there are currently no public health orders in place, Larimer County Public Health officials strongly recommend that well-fitting, high-quality masks are worn in crowded indoor spaces. For more information, please visit fcgov.com/covid ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 9. [7:45] BOARD MEMBER REPORTS (5 min.) 10. [7:50] FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW (5 min.) 11. [7:55] ADJOURNMENT ENERGY BOARD December 8, 2022 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Alan Braslau, Steve Tenbrink, Dan Gould, Marge Moore, Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Sidra Aghababian, John Fassler, Emilio Ramirez Board Members Absent: OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, Adam Bromley, Phillip Amaya, Rhonda Gatzke, Cyril Vidergar, Brian Tholl Members of the Public: Tom Loran MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Vice Chairperson Becker called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES Chairperson Tenbrink asked Mr. Bromley if Light and Power has any additional security measures (currently or planned) to protect substations after the incident in Moore County, North Carolina. Mr. Bromley said there is little the Utility can do from the range the substations were attacked, but the City would cooperate with all federal authorities (it is a federal crime). Mr. Bromley announced his last day with the City of Fort Collins will be January 5; he has accepted a position with the City of Loveland Electric as a Utility Division Manager. PUBLIC COMMENT None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the November 10, 2022, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. STAFF REPORTS (attachments available upon request) 2023/24 Budget Recap Adam Bromley, Director, Operations & Technology, Utilities Light & Power Mr. Bromley reminded the board of the budget offers that were not funded the last time the Board discussed budget, offers 2.10, 2.11, 2.22, 2.20, 2.21, 2.17, 1.10. He noted the only the change that occurred was to 2.20, which was for two full time Electrical Engineers. City Council asked staff what they can do with one engineer, and ultimately funded one of the two positions. Recruitment and hiring for the new engineer will start in 2023, and the position will be centered around Our Climate Future, including studies on distribution systems and DERMs (distributed energy resource management systems). ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Chairperson Tenbrink asked if reserves are healthy enough to fund all the offers being pulled from that funding source bucket. Mr. Bromley confirmed yes, they are. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE GRANT UPDATE Megan DeMasters, Senior Specialist, Environmental Sustainability (attachments available upon request) Staff applied for and received $200,000 from the EPA to implement a program focused on indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and resilience (home comfort). The purpose of the program is to identify residential air quality and energy use needs and update the City’s existing programs to develop an indoor environmental quality (IEQ) program with community members that meets the needs of everyone in the community. Two City Programs that contribute toward these goals are Healthy Homes and Epic Homes. Healthy Homes assessments are free and open to all Fort Collins community members, behavior change based, and provides low cost to no cost solutions. Epic Homes assessments cost $60 and there are some limitations based on housing type. Epic Homes focuses on technical/structural upgrades and there are various costs associated with the upgrades. Both programs have objectives that are closely related and both programs have barriers that make it difficult for all community members to access them and are limited in meeting community members needs for home safety, comfort, and efficiency. Staff’s vision for the program is for all Fort Collins community members have a healthy, energy efficient, and resilient home environment. Ms. Lujan noted that resiliency equates to home comfort in situations such as extreme weather. The grant funding will be split up amongst Pilot implementation (6%), Community Engagement (10%), Personnel (37%), and workshops and other resources (47%). Staff put together three focus groups (31 participants). They partnered with six organizations to recruit the participants, and recruitment was focused on low to moderate income community members, community members with English as their second language, older adults, and renters. One focus group was dedicated to Spanish speaking participants. Staff asked the focus group to consider the program values: accessible & practical, proven, and trusted. They asked the groups which of the values is the most important, and are there are any values to add, or do they make sense as-is. Participants feedback included the program should be accessible and trusted, and practical. Participants also felt if the program is trusted it will also be proven. Staff formed a working group to design an updated program plan that can be piloted beginning in March 2023. Per participant feedback, the program should be centered around the values identified: practical, accessible, and trusted. The Healthy Homes Assessment process will be used as a starting place. Initially, staff is working toward intentional engagement in the neighborhoods the program will be piloted. Then the community member(s) will be connected to City staff to schedule an assessment with a trained volunteer. Once the assessment is completed, the community member receives a report with 3-5 low or no cost recommendations and a healthy homes gift bag to include an all-natural cleaner, a cleaning cloth, a radon test kit, a reusable grocery bag, and possibly a fire extinguisher or a floor mat. Staff does a follow up visit or call after the assessment and an additional follow up one month after that. With the intentionality of reaching more homes, more resources can be provided to all housing types. Program eligible participants include all focus group participants as well as community members who live in the following neighborhoods: Waterfield (Bull Run Townhomes), Hickory Village, Buffalo Run, Tres ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Colonias (Alta Vista, Andersonville, Buckingham), and North College Mobile Home Park. Vice Chairperson Becker said in light of the focus group feedback around the Trusted value, are the program volunteers thoroughly trained since they are not necessarily experts in this field. Ms. DeMasters said prior to completing assessments on their own, all volunteers are trained on the process, then they shadow an assessment, and then they lead an assessment with a trained chaperone. Chairperson Tenbrink asked if staff is having success recruiting program volunteers. Ms. Lujan said yes, historically they have been very lucky with high turnout and don’t expect to have any issues with this recruitment cycle. Board member Aghababian asked how staff will approach any concerns about the City’s U+2 ordinance, because participants may not want people from the City in their home. Ms. Lujan said the program is not an enforcement program, so staff is not looking for compliance violations. She added she hopes to make that clear through all the community connections. DRAFT 2022 ANNUAL REPORT (attachments available upon request) Board members reviewed and added points to the 2022 Draft Annual Report. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Vice Chairperson Becker attended the Grid Edge Innovation Summit, put on by research group, Wood McKenzie. The conference focused on insights to commercialize distributed energy and electrification at scale, and held discussions about modernizing the grid in a time of massive electrification, ownership models for EV charging infrastructure, deploying infrastructure capital through everything-as-a-service, grid insecurity and customer resilience offerings, decarbonizing heat: from heat pumps to district energy DERMS, sensors and AI: advanced monitoring and control solutions for utilities, fragmentation and integrations of EV charging networks, the rapidly changing microgrid technology landscape, grid- interactive and efficient buildings, and virtual power plants: project landscape and regulatory outlook. Board member Braslau attended a recent Transportation Board meeting where the bus driver shortage was discussed. He was disappointed to hear how behind the City is in rectifying this issue, even if it is at least in part a symptom of an industry-wide issue. Less available routes directly impacts transit availability which will affect our ability to reach our Climate Action Plan goals. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW Four new Board members will join the Energy Board in January. The Board will spend some time with brief introductions among themselves. Light & Power’s new director, Phillip Amaya, will also be introducing himself to the Board. The Board will also approve the 2022 Annual Report. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 7:10 pm. ENERGY BOARD 2023 AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR Established: October 25, 2022 Updated: 12/8/2022 Meeting Dates Agenda Topics/Action Work Plan Alignment January 12 • Introduction to Phillip Amaya • Approve 2022 Annual Report (Decision) • 2023 Planning Calendar including work sessions • Officer Elections (Decision) • New Board Member Intros February 9 • Staff Reports o ED Updates o L&P/ES Operational Updates o Quarterly Financial Report • Our Climate Future 23/24 Next Moves plan & Energy Services priorities February 23 (Work Session) • New Board member introduction/Staff Meet & Greet March 9 • Efficiency Works Homes Rebate relaunch (Brian / Glenn) • Transformer Load shape analysis – Electric heat (Brian) • Connexion Update (TBD - Brian & Chad) April 13 • Staff Reports o Distributed Energy Resources Management System procurement update o Federal and state funding update April 27 (Work Session) • May 11 • Building Energy Code Strategy development update (Brad) • 2022 Energy Services results June 8 • Staff Reports o ED Updates o L&P/ES Operational Updates o Quarterly Financial Report o Legislative summary June 22 (Work Session) • July 13 • August 10 • August 24 (Work Session) • September 14 • Building Performance Standards – Stakeholder group update October 12 • Draft 2024 Work Plan • 2024 Utility Rates & Fees October 26 (Work Session) • November 9 • Approve 2024 Work Plan (Decision) December 14 • Draft 2023 Annual Report (Discussion) Potential discussion topics Future Agenda Items • Federal and state funding (inflation reduction act, infrastructure investment and jobs act, other) • EV Monitoring & Management (Pablo) • Building Performance Standards Policies • Electrification and capacity fees • PRPA Updates o Revised resource forecasts o Communication plans • Connexion Update w/ Brian/Chad • Updated solar business models • Reconsider tier component of time-of-day rates • Home energy score real estate listing policies Possible Work session topics ENERGY BOARD 2022 Annual Report January 12, 2023 2022 ANNUAL REPORT Page 1 ENERGY BOARD MEMBERS The following Fort Collins residents served on the board in 2022: 1. Sidra Aghababian 2. William Becker (Vice Chairperson, elected in January 2022) 3. Alan Braslau 4. Dan Gould 5. Jeremy Giovando 6. John Fassler 7. Marge Moore 8. Emilio Ramirez 9. Steve Tenbrink (Chairperson, elected in January 2022) ACTIVITY The Energy Board held: • 11 Regular Meetings • 2 Work Sessions • 1 Memo to City Council FORMAL ACTIONS The Board took the following actions in 2022 at the meetings noted: • The Energy Board supported the adoption of the Code package to update from the current 2018 codes to the 2021 I-Codes including local amendments; however, as expressed in the Energy Board’s October 27, 2021, memo to City Council, the Board felt the building code updates and EV requirements were not sufficient or in alignment with the goals of the City’s Our Climate Future Plan. (January 13) • The Energy Board supported a proposal to borrow from L&P Reserves to support Connexion’s funding needs. (February 10) • The Energy Board supported bringing a proposed third-party capital agreement renewal to the Electric Utility Enterprise Board for approval. (February 10) • The Energy Board supported approval of a new Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Platte River Power Authority for technical support services. (April 14) • The Energy Board supported an off-cycle appropriation of Light & Power reserves that would fund vendor support of a major version upgrade of the Utilities Meter Data Management System (MDMS). (April 14) • The Energy Board supported an off-cycle appropriation of Light & Power reserves to procure enough distribution transformers so that L&P can support new construction and necessary ENERGY BOARD 2022 Annual Report 2022 ANNUAL REPORT Page 2 replacements through 2024, as well as an off-cycle appropriation of L&P reserves to begin the procurement process for two (2) substation transformers that will be used to complete the construction of a new substation that serves Northeast Fort Collins. (April 14) • The Energy Board supported the proposed changes to 2023 electric utility rates and fees, provided City Council also adopts the Income Qualified Assistance Program to support the rate increase. (October 13) • The Energy Board supported the recognition of the “shall consider” requirements of PURPA under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act related to grid flexibility and electric vehicle charging standards and recommends that Council hold a public hearing and make a determination considering such standards. (November 10) 2022 WORK PLAN OBJECTIVES and RELATED ACTIVITIES In addition to the highlighted issues and the formal actions taken, the Board discussed or received presentations on topics related to the work plan objectives and related issues. Listed below are the activities for 2022 under each of the six work plan objectives. 1. Our Climate Future a. Our Climate Future Updates (February 10, April 14, September 8) b. Update on 2021 Annual Energy Audit. Energy Policy now integrated into Our Climate Future (June 9) 2. Implementing the Energy Policy and Climate Action Plan (Our Climate Future) a. (Please refer to Objective #1) 3. Cost of Service and Rate Structures a. Budget update (March 10, July 14, September 8, December 8) b. Rates and fees presentation and the impact of an inflationary environment (October 13) 4. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion a. Presentation of Shared Energy Systems net metering offering for apartments and multi-family structures. (November 10) b. Presentation of Environmental Justice Air Quality Grant promoting a safe home environment. (April 14, December 8) c. Presentation on IQAP structure and funding. (June 23, October 13) 5. Engaging Beyond the Energy Board on Related Topics a. PRPA initiatives: i. PRPA efforts to join a regional market. (March 10) ii. Solar Storage RFP (March 10) ENERGY BOARD 2022 Annual Report 2022 ANNUAL REPORT Page 3 iii. New Drake Transmission Line utility tower upgrade plans by PRPA (July 14) 6. Protecting Light & Power Assets & Customers a. Covered budget, rate and operations topics (October 13) b. New equipment purchases, implication of long lead times in a rising-cost environment (transformers, etc.) (April 14) c. Discussed reserve funding management and raised concerns about using reserves for loans for non-L&P needs (Connexion). The Board drafted a memo to City Council about this matter (February 10) 7. Ongoing Responsibilities a. Ongoing discussions and motions regarding electrification including Electric Vehicle (EV) charging, Residential Solar Panel size limitations (120% rule), Epic Homes Program b. Engaged with Platte River Power Authority for continuing advancement of the City’s energy, climate, and air pollution goals, including a 100% renewable resource mix by 2030. i. Solar Storage plans of PRPA (March 10) c. Other items that are brought before the board. 8. Occasional or Impromptu Discussions: a. Electrification b. Connexion/Broadband Service (February 10) c. Equity issues involving IQAP and other initiatives (June 23, October 13 d. Began process of the “shall consider” requirements of PURPA under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (November 10) CONDUCTING ENERGY BOARD OFFICER ELECTIONS A Chair’s Script Election Process Put officer election item on upcoming agenda 01 Officer elections first item on agenda 02 Officers assume roles immediately following election 03 01 -Pre-election matters ◦At the meeting before the Election or Prior to the date of the Election … ◦put upcoming Election item on the agenda referencing the Election of Officers to remind members. ◦Remind board members to read the bylaws re: positions. ◦Art II. Sec. 3: Election of the chairperson and vice -chairperson shall be by simple majority of the members present. ◦Art II. Sec. 4: The chairperson shall preside at all regular and special meetings of the Board, including executive sessions, and shall, subject to these Bylaws, decide all points of procedure unless otherwise directed by a majority of the Board members present and voting on the matter. ◦Art II. Sec. 5: The vice-chairperson shall assume the duties and responsibilities of the chairperson in the event the chairperson is absent or for any reason is unable to preside over the meeting. 02 -Election Process; A. Nominations ◦Officer Nominations will be done from the floor. Current Chair: ◦Call meeting to order, after roll call, open the floor for Chair and Vice -Chair nominations. ◦Recognizes member making the nomination: “__(name)__ would you please state your name for the record and your nomination?” Member: ◦“My name is __(name)___ and I would like to nominate __(name)__ for __(position)__” Current Chair: Ask for nominee’s consent to the nomination. ◦If nominee gives consent, Chair announces: “__(name)__ has been nominated for the position of __(position)__”. ◦If nominee does not consent, Chair announces: “The nomination of “__(name)__ has not been accepted.” ◦Are there further nominations? (Continue until there are no other nominations.) 02 –Election Process; B. i. Voting ◦If there is only one nomination and/or no additional nominations… ◦Chair declares the nominations closed. ◦Chair calls to confirm Nominations and votes, as follows: ◦“May I have a second motion to nominate __(name)__ as the new __(position)__?” ◦“Any discussion?” ◦“All those in favor/opposed?” ◦Motion carried by a vote of ____ to ___. Passes/Fails. 02 –Election Process; B. ii. Voting ◦If there are multiple nominations… ◦Chair takes a vote on each nomination in the order made. ◦After tallying the ayes and nays, Chair announces vote outcome and calls to confirm results. ◦“_(name)_ has received the majority of the votes. ◦May I have a motion and a second to accept the results of the vote?” ◦“Any discussion?” ◦“All those in favor/opposed?” ◦Motion carried by a vote of ____ to ___. Passes/Fails. 03 –Post-Election Commencement of Duties ◦Upon conclusion of the vote confirmation motion… ◦New Chairperson takes over the meeting and proceeds to the next agenda item