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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Board - Minutes - 11/15/2023Page 1 11/15/23 Minutes Economic Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, November 15, 2023 – 4:00 PM 300 LaPorte Avenue, Council Information Center 1. CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Denny Coleman • Erin Gray • John Parks • Braulio Rojas • Richard Waal • Renee Walkup b. Board Members Absent – • Thierry Dossou • Mistene Nugent c. Staff Members Present – • Jillian Fresa, Economic Health Manager, Economic Health Office • John Phelan, Utilities • Phillip Amaya, Light & Power Director • Kendall Minor, Utilities Executive Director d. Guest(s) – • Bill Althouse, Energy Board 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Renee motions and Richard seconds to approve the October minutes. Motion carries unanimously 6-0. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Mulberry Memo • The board discussed minimizing the Mulberry project memo in the future to keep it to one page. The board approved the memo. b. 2024 Work Plan • The board agreed to keep Council priorities (TBD) as their top priorities. Other topics the board was interested in were the Economic Health Strategic Plan implementation, affordable housing, climate Page 2 11/15/23 Minutes and circular economy, water supply requirement, mulberry corridor, and Land Use Code phase 1 & 2. They agreed they should always be focusing on high inflation impact, talent attraction and retention, regionalism, and opportunities for local businesses. They also expressed interest in staying connected and having open dialog with the Mulberry Annexation Plan. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Energy Update • Did not give presentation. There to help answer questions. Questions • EAB is interested in learning more about plans (virtual powerplant, Peaker plant, etc.) for 2030 and when rawhide closes to maintain reliability as there is an economic impact to that decision. • There are a number of policy and regulatory procedures in process at same time including Our Climate Future and the electricity goal is part of that. Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) has a target of 100% non-carbon generation by 2030. There are multiple layers to reach those multiple goals that includes doubling the amount of wind, tripling the amount of solar, virtual power plants, and the addition of a natural gas Peaker plan. They must have enough resources in the mix for when the Rawhide coal plant shuts down and there is a lot of regional and local investment. We are currently forecasting a 5% electric rate increase every year for the next 7-8 years. • What is driving that 5% annual increase? • Number of factors; the shift to renewable resources by Platter River is a large chunk of that. The factors you see in inflation, supply chain and labor costs are affecting utilities as well. Transformer costs, investment in new systems like the virtual power plant is also driving that increase. We are going to have to make investments in the communication control systems to be able to make those new systems work. Platte River is working on what resources we need and when in order to meet the four communities’ energy requirements overtime to meet our carbon goals. A survey went out to the community and the results said as long as it is predictable they are okay with the increase. They’re going to defer their revenue humanization and use that to pay for their resources that will come online and essentially create rate scooting opportunity for the communities. That way we get to keep it at a stable rate. • What is the estimated costs of the Peaker plant? • The board approved moving ahead with exploring permitting and the detail of costs and numbers. I think they have order of magnitude costs on it. So, say $250 million and they have indicated that is already embedded in their proposed 5% per year increases. • How does the new Peaker plant differ from the existing units at rawhide and will they complement those older units. • They would be in addition to and complement. The unit Page 3 11/15/23 Minutes would be more modern, faster response, potential for running on renewable fuels sometime in the future should that become available. Platte River has one wholly owned coal plant, so when rawhide unit 1 closes, there’s not a diversity of plants to rely on that other larger utilities have. So if the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing you need something there. The virtual power plant is a piece of that but all the technology now, you’re not going to get through more than a day or part of the day with that. We are now making sure that we can secure a reliable power source for all of our customers that's going to be cheap, that's going to be reliable, that's also going to be as efficient as possible and with the lowest carbon emissions as possible that we can actually pursue. That is why we are looking at this as an option for all four communities. These generators are being building geared for renewable resources like hydrogen. • Has an economic analysis been done with fossil fuel? What other options have been discussed for federal funding for renewable technology? What is the timeline? What is the risk of Fort Collins not doing the Peaker plant immediately? Have other options been explored? • IRP will be completed next year so there is room for evaluation for additional alternatives. We’re looking to go ahead and start issuing some permits. If this is the solution that’s finalized, then we’ll already have a jump start on the actual permitting process which takes a very long time before any construction can start I think it’s a three to five year timeline before any construction. • Board expressed concern about greenhouse gas emissions we’re putting back in the atmosphere right now has consequences. Who knows when hydrogen will become available. We’re tied to those emissions then. • I think I recall hearing they wanted to have it operational by 2028 to test it fully before rawhide one closes down 2028/2029. They’ve sort of narrowed in on many of the scenarios that might work in this. I don’t think they have done an analysis with social costs like carbon yet, but it is in their plan. • They did a bunch of work in terms of looking at other types of technologies to meet that. You have to plan around worst- case scenario and model for extend periods of extraordinarily cold weather where the wind is not pulling and the sun is not shining for example Their flexibility and speed enhances the ability to incorporate more renewables because you’re able to match that. Yes, we are generating more carbon at the same time. Essentially get as far as you can as fast as you can on electricity without breaking the bank. There will still be some carbon in the mix and then go spend all your energy on those other ones that are going to be intractable and challenging problems over time. • How are we compared to other cities, towns, states? When could we be 100% renewable and have that fuel option as just a backup? Page 4 11/15/23 Minutes • Compared to other communities our goals and PRPA’s goals are amongst the most ambitions in the country. The exception are places that are inherently rich in renewable resources. But for areas that have been historically coal based, the transition that we are looking to make, we are head of most and our goal is much closer than most. To your second question, I don’t know, maybe another 10-15 years, 2040? Other communities are 15-20 years behind that. • As the community grows does it make it more difficult? • Not only communities growing but we are also electrifying heating sources, everything: vehicles, hot water etc. So not only growing in population but also in our loads over the same time frame that is built into modeling we see a lot of that growth. • Are the 300 installations of solar residential, commercial, or both? How can we get more people to install solar? • All types of solar, regardless of who owns it or where it is located. There are a couple factors. We are the only utility in the state that still has solar rebates. We are driving solar at adoption rates much higher than anyone else in Colorado. There is a big opportunity on commercial rooftops that is a future rate question and that is a big question mark for Platte River, what our future rate structures are going to look like and finding ways that we can make that more predictable on the solar side for larger commercial. We are doing everything we can to keep that pace up on the rate of solar installations. It works well on the residential side but a little slow on the commercial. • Is there a time estimate as to when nuclear technology might be ready to add to the mix? • Not really. It is progressing. Small batch nuclear is something that’s really under development as well as the 100 hour battery. • Is Fort Collins talking about requiring developers to install solar or as solar singles start to become available requiring that? How can the board be involved in the process? • We are seeing a number, for the first time, of entire developments having solar on every roof top. One of the grants we have already received from the DOE out of the bipartisan infrastructure law was for developing advanced new construction codes. We have a target of zero carbon building code by 2030. For the first time we will be amongst perhaps the first in the country to have a true performance based code for energy and starting that with the code that’ll be adopted about a year from now. For the new construction side that’ll capture that part of the equation. For existing buildings, we are working on a building performance standards proposal. It will go before Council in the first quarter. It will be a challenging conversation so that is an example of how perhaps this board can be involved directly in helping our Council understand from your perspectives on how that might play out in our community. Page 5 11/15/23 Minutes 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 9. STAFF REPORTS 10. OTHER BUSINESS a. Council Calendar • Jillian invited Calvin, who is working on the building performance standards to come speak in December. • The Board will have a new liaison from City Council next year. 11. ADJOURNMENT a. (6:00) Minutes approved by a vote of the Board/Commission on 01/17/23