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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 02/09/2023 ENERGY BOARD February 9, 2023 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Bill Althouse, Marge Moore, Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Vanessa Paul, Brian Smith, Thomas Loran Board Members Absent: Alan Braslau, Steve Tenbrink OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, Phillip Amaya, Kendall Minor, Brian Tholl, Rhonda Gatzke, Cyril Vidergar Members of the Public: Daiva Glazzard MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Vice Chairperson Becker called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None. PUBLIC COMMENT Daiva Glazzard is a consultant for Polestar Village, which is a development proposal currently in front of the planning board. The vision for this community is to be inclusive of and create sacred spaces for yoga and meditation, a walkable Village Center, common areas for cooking, dining, and gathering, a large Community Garden and smaller individual gardens, play areas, open space, and natural areas, walking and biking trails, pickleball and volleyball courts, sustainably built, energy-efficient buildings, privately- owned single family dwellings, townhomes, condos, collaboratively owned apartments and rentals, live/work, micro, and age-in-place units, and to have elder housing, elder care, and preschool. Mr. Glazzard noted that the vison and values of the community support many of the goals of the Our Climate Future Plan as well as other regional goals. He hopes the Energy Board will consider supporting their development proposal. Vice Chairperson Becker thanked Mr. Glazzard for bringing this item to the Board’s attention but advised that without direction from staff or City Council, this item may be outside the Energy Board’s purview. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the January 12, 2023, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. STAFF REPORTS Executive Director’s Update Kendall Minor, Utilities Executive Director Mr. Minor introduced himself to the Board’s new members. Mr. Minor has been with the Utility one year this month, and he recapped a few things the Utility has accomplished with the Energy Board’s support in ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING the last year, including off-cycle appropriations for the Meter Data Management System (MDMS) and more transformers. He noted that last year marked a year of transition, especially within City and Utility leadership. The Utility will need new technology upgrades, and Mr. Minor said he is challenging staff to consider how we will partner with partner organizations (Platte River, CSU, etc.) and internal work groups (Energy Services) and think about what the overall impact will be on the system from operational, optimization, and stability standpoints. Board member Loran asked Mr. Minor what his vision and strategy is for managing all the distributed energy resources (DER). Mr. Minor said the Utility has a DER team, and they talk about the integration and long-term plans, but we also need to be considerate of the Utility’s aging infrastructure in these plans. This will put the Utility in a place of resilience. Mr. Loran also said Platte River is projecting an electric usage growth of 1% over the next 10 years, and he thinks that is really low based on the electrification goals the City and Platte River are trying to achieve. Mr. Minor said the load growth in the City over the last 10-15 years has been flat, and even with the addition of things like heat pumps, most homes in Fort Collins are aging and are going to have energy loss, and that is where the 1% increase is coming from. The technology is not bad, but it’s still evolving at this time. Board members wondered if 1% is too conservative with the evolution of technology, and Mr. Minor reminded the Board that it is a projection. Board member Althouse Board member Althouse Made a Request for Information. He would like to see the cost for the City to exit its contract with Platte River, because they are planning to spend a significant amount of the four partner city’s money, and rate payers have little visibility in that. He would like to see financials showing all individual line items, like how much does Platte River pay Xcel pay for ancillary services, and the contract value of Platte River vendors or consultants. Mr. Althouse also asked Mr. Minor to provide all the information that Mr. Minor requested at the Platte River Board meeting regarding the consultants who told Platte River that 100 renewable is impossible and that a new fossil plant must be built. Mr. Vidergar advised the City is on the hook for many more years in a bonding agreement with Platte River, and Mr. Althouse said he would still like to see the requested information. Light & Power Operational Update Phillip Amaya, Deputy Director, Utilities Light & Power Mr. Amaya said his priority while leading the Electric Utility is that every resident has safe, affordable, and reliable power, even in the worst of circumstances. He said staff is excited to partner with the Energy Board and utilize them to help the Utility meet its goals and drive its initiatives. In technology updates, Light and Power (L&P), MDMS Upgrade just kicked off. Staff is also evaluating the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, due to its age. The Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) is also going to be upgraded; the system looks at the entire grid and monitors it for instabilities. Staff is also developing a Cable Testing System with partial discharge testing, which will make this process safe and strategic. The City is changing course on the Overland Substation Disaster Recovery Site, more to come on this project. Mr. Amaya has identified some gaps in Planning Studies, so there will be the addition of the Urban Spatial Load Growth, a DER Impact Penetration, as well as a 5, 10, 20 Year Plans for Engineering, Operations, and Financial Planning. Additionally, staff is also working on a Joint Trench Agreement, leveraging grant writers through contracted companies (StanTec and Tetra Tech), and focusing heavily on grid modernization (as Mr. Minor alluded to earlier). ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Operationally, L&P is looking to create and fill a dedicated Safety Position which will help ensure L&P has a robust focus on Safety. The training field (partnering with Poudre Fire) is still in design. A locate GPS System was also recently acquired, which will help to know exactly where these utilities are located underground. Additionally, the Utility is looking at adding intelligent perimeter surveillance and cameras at all Substations to enhance security. Finally, staff is working on ensuring the infrastructure maintenance programs are innovative and intuitive with what is really going on underground—the Engineering team has created a modification to repair old vaults with low-cost replacements that we can find today (the Vault the Utility has used for decades is no longer being manufactured). Board members expressed interest in regular metric updates for Our Climate Future and Platte River carbon goals to have a solid idea of the progress being made. Staff advised that some numbers are not updated on a frequent cadence (some are annual), but numbers can certainly be highlighted when these topics are being presented. Ms. Paul requested actionable steps on how the board can support the City’s and Staff’s initiatives and goals. OUR CLIMATE FUTURE 2023/24 NEXT MOVES PLAN Brian Tholl, Energy Services Supervisor Mr. Tholl reviewed the goals of the Our Climate Future Plan (OCF), and highlighted a metric staff is now tracking, gas reduction goal (10% cumulative reduction by 2030 of community natural gas use). Board member Giovando said on one hand, we have goals for reducing usage, but on the other hand budgetary issues continue to push goals farther down the road, he noted examples within building codes and LEED certifying the Police Training Facility. He said it feels like we will never meet the goals if we continue to kick them down the road and cite budget constraints. The 2030 Pathways in OFC are nested under the plan’s Big Moves and Goals. These key pathways are categorized groups (by sector strategy) of next moves that guide the City toward quantifiable reductions in greenhouse gas and/or waste between now and 2030. The pathways also contain defined implementation mechanisms and City roles. Each emissions category (electricity, buildings, transportation, industry, waste, and land use), each have identifiable actions to reach a portion of the carbon reduction goals, which staff has forecasted up to a 71% reduction by 2030. The last 10% will require additional action from the community and its leadership. Board members expressed interest in hearing an updated presentation on carbon inventory and the process in which that data is collected and used. Board member Giovando asked if these numbers factor in budgetary restraints, are these the maximum reductions we can expect. Mr. Tholl said there are many assumptions, all of which are reasonable and achievable and based on next moves. For example, the forecast for efficiency over the next 9 years is flatlined; so the forecast is reasonable but not overly aspirational. Mr. Tholl reviewed an OCF Action Roadmap for City Council and highlighted the actions relating to buildings over the next several years. In 2023, staff is developing Building Performance Standards as well as home energy listing requirements. In 2024 staff plans to ask Council to adopt the Building Performance Standards as well as the home listing requirements. in 2025 staff plans to ask Council to adopt the Energy code and begin the home energy listing requirements. By 2026, staff will start building performance standards for large buildings. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Board member Loran pointed out that electricity use (the move toward electrification) could be perceived to be in conflict with the plan’s reduction goals (even though that expectation is not part of the goal, it is confusing), as the City incentivizes electric utility appliances in home (heat pumps, electric water heaters, etc.). Mr. Tholl said the City is promoting dual fuel solutions to bridge that gap. In 2023 and into 2024, several next moves will be set into motion. Under Big Move 6 (Efficient, Emissions Free Buildings), the following projects and initiatives are underway: enhance ongoing Efficiency and Conservation programs, develop building performance standards (BPS), develop a Performance Path to Zero Carbon building code, re-launch Epic Homes with a focus on heat pumps and electrification, plan and implement mobile home efficiency demonstrations, create a sustainable business program RFP and relaunch, and obtain federal funding deployment strategies. Under Big Move 12 (100% Renewable Energy and Grid Flexibility): enhance ongoing solar, storage, grid flexibility programs, create an RFP for distributed Energy Resources Management system (DERMs), the implementation and associated program planning for IEEE 2030.5, and DER Planning and Programs with Platte River and other cities. In Big Move 13 (Electric Cars and Fleets): launch an EV demonstration with Rolling Energy Resources (RER), and further define and develop Utilities EV policies. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Board member Moore said she heard recently that Vestas figured out a way to recycle wind turbines. Board member Althouse said he thoroughly reads a lot of grants, and there are many that are open right now that he hopes Utilities Staff will consider. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW The February Work Session will be a meet and greet for staff and Board members. March will include a financial update presentation, an update from Connexion, as well an update on the efficiency works homes rebate. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:00 pm.