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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/13/2025 - ENERGY BOARD - AGENDA - Regular Meeting ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING March 13, 2025 – 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 FEBRUARY 13, 2024 MINUTES 4. [5:45] ELECTRIC VEHICLE READINESS ROADMAP UPDATE (45 Min, Discussion) Dashiell Bubar-Hall, Planner, Transit 5. [6:30] DISTRIBUTED UTILITY SCALE BATTERY STORAGE UPDATE (45 Min, Discussion) Zach Borton, Platte River Power Authority 6. [7:15] BOARD MEMBER REPORTS (5 min.) 7. [7:20] FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW (5 min.) 8. [7:25] ADJOURNMENT Participation for this Energy Board Meeting will be in person at 222 Laporte Ave. Participation is also available online via Teams. Click or copy/paste this link into your browser: fcgov.com/energy-board-regular-meeting Online Public Participation: The meeting will be available to join beginning at 5:15 pm, March 13, 2025. Participants should try to sign in prior to the 5:15 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 Teams Meeting to ensure all participants have an opportunity to address the Board or Commission. To participate: • Please note: You do not need a Microsoft account or the Teams App to join or participate in the meeting. • 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. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HOW TO JOIN A TEAMS MEETING WITHOUT A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT: You can join a Teams meeting anytime, from any device, whether or not you have a Teams account. If you don't have an account, follow these steps to join. 1. Select or copy/paste the following link: fcgov.com/energy-board-regular-meeting 2. That'll open a web page, where you'll see two choices: “Continue on this browser” and “Join on the Teams app”. You do not need to install the Teams app to join the meeting. 3. If you join the meeting on your browser, Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome will both work. Your browser may ask if it's okay for Teams to use your mic and camera. When you select Allow, you should always turn off your mic and/or video once you join the meeting. 4. When you're ready, select Join now. 5. Tip: Join the meeting up to 15 minutes before the meeting start time to test your setup, troubleshoot, or see how Teams works. Meeting organizers and participants won't be notified that you've joined the meeting until 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. ENERGY BOARD February 13, 2025 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Alan Braslau, Frederick Wegert, Wendell Stainsby, Scott Canonico (remote), Brian Smith, Jeremy Giovando, Marge Moore Board Members Absent: OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Jenny Becic, Brian Tholl, Travis Walker, Katherine Bailey, Kerri Ishmael, David Suckling, Katie Varney Members of the Public: George Weston MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Smith called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None. PUBLIC COMMENT APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the January 9, 2024, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. STAFF REPORTS Light & Power Operational Updates Travis Walker, Light & Power Director Mr. Walker displayed a copy of Light & Power’s organization chart and reviewed the different work groups within the department. He noted that Energy Services was recently moved from Customer Connections to Light & Power. Mr. Walker also briefly ran through the vacancies that are currently open or were recently filled, noting that some have been internal promotions and some from external sources, but he’s proud the way the department is beginning to grow and fill its positions, provide career development and progression, as well as tweak the org chart to figure out how groups can best work together. Mr. Walker also presented Light & Power’s mission, vision, and values: “People first-we exemplify the City’s Values. As a Utility, we contribute to the City’s Mission, ‘exceptional service for an exceptional community,’ and Vision-we foster and thriving and engaged community through our operational excellence and culture of innovation.” Mr. Walker expressed the importance of aligning these with the City’s Mission, Vision, Values to show we have and are working toward the same common goals. Mr. Smith asked if staff could clarify what L&P’s GIS staff do. Mr. Walker explained staff is currently ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING converting legacy data into modern platforms like ArcFM and ArcGIS, so that we can move away from programs like AutoCAD and Access Databases. He added that our Project Engineering team designs projects in-house, so once a new subdivision or infill project comes through, the PE team creates the design with ArcFM, and the GIS staff then converts that into the Utility’s mapping system. Energy Services Operational Updates Brian Tholl, Sr. Manager, Mechanical Engineer Mr. Tholl said Energy Services generally identifies their priorities in alignment with Our Climate Future’s Big Moves, specifically related to Big Moves. Staff’s work is primarily focused on Big Move 6 (Efficient Emissions Free Buildings) Big Move 12 (100% Renewable Electricity) and Big Move 13 (Electric Cars and Fleets). Mr. Tholl highlighted a few projects and collaboration efforts that are helping staff work toward their priorities, including various efficiency and conservation programs (building performance standards, “performance path to zero carbon” building code, etc.), state and local goals of 100% renewable energy, DER planning and grid flexibility, the EV Readiness Roadmap, and grant opportunities. Mr. Tholl also mentioned the Utilities Technology Assessment and Roadmap (UTAR). Which is a project helping to map and prioritize what technologies need to be rolled out, worked on first, and enhanced. This will include the Customer Information System upgrade (CIS), which includes a new online billing system that every Utilities customer will need to (re)enroll and set up an account. Board member Giovando asked if there is anything the Board can engage on in order to help promote this type of work. Mr. Tholl said continued engagement with Council with regards to Building Performance Standards (BPS) and acknowledging it as a long-term project. He also asked how these initiatives and projects, such as electrification, are being progress-tracked. Mr. Tholl explained initiatives that aren’t tied to one specific project are often tracked through other metrics. In the case of electrification, staff can look at year-over-year energy savings and the cost effectiveness if those savings, as well as common carbon savings metrics. He also noted that Mr. Authier will be presenting a portfolio of measurements and metrics used to track at an upcoming meeting. BUILDING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS UPDATE Katherine Bailey, Project Manager Ms. Bailey explained there has been some concerns about the potential negative impact of implementing a set of building performance standards (BPS). The BPS policy itself represents a structure or framework that already has various levers built into it, essentially to protect building owners from having to do the unachievable. Staff found that the structure wasn’t resonating so they wanted to bring attention to the specific levers that can actually change the structure. The three main policy levers are timeline, target requirement, and covered buildings. These are pathways that could reduce the impact on building owners or alter what that impact will look like. Ms. Bailey noted that BPS is already about a year delayed from the original adoption timeline, so if it were to be further delayed the 2030 goals of OCF are likely not going to happen. If the adoption timeline is pushed out, but the 2030 goal deadline remains, it puts too much pressure on building owners and as well as staff for the administrative work. While the original proposed maximum reduction cap is less aggressive than the State of Colorado’s, the technical committee felt like it was the most achievable in a short period of time. Staff is now offering to reduce that cap even further (by 5%). The last thing staff offered was altering the covered building list by either excluding small buildings (5,000-10,000 sqft) or excluding multifamily buildings (which is currently defined as three or more stories above grade). ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Board member Canonico said he was intrigued by the concept of the off ramps as maybe a way to address some of the concerns the building community, he wondered what the reaction was to those options. Mr. Bailey said there are a number of off ramps acting as safety nets, they are designed to protect building owners from having to do what’s unfeasible for them, whether it's technically economically unfeasible. She added that the structure itself can be altered too if those safety nets are deemed insufficient. Staff heard a request for a pilot of our Advanced Technical Support, or case studies. This would essentially be an on-site walkthrough of a number of buildings to see exactly what it would take for them to come into compliance, all the way through getting contractor bids. This allows staff to see (with today’s pricing) what its actually going to cost these buildings. Staff will be working with five buildings to take them from square one all the way through contractor quotes and then report those finding back to City Council in six months. Staff plans to look at a variety of buildings, such as municipal, multifamily, historic, as well as different property-use types (ex. Half retail, half multifamily). Board member Braslau commented that this is one thing that City Council actually has leverage to do something to advance us toward our local goals, and he wondered how they justified wanting to push back this timeline by asking for a pilot program. Ms. Bailey said that is also her question back to the Board; she believes the Board has a good read on the situation and staff has provided several case studies but ultimately they weren’t providing what Council wanted to see—so what else does Council want or need? What other asks are there, what feedback can staff provided, what story do they need to be telling? Board member Braslau said he believes they need to be challenged; Council declared a climate emergency but are now refusing to act on it. He noted that the more they put this off, the less relevant all of this will become. Board member Smith said from his perspective, staff has done everything right. He added that this has been done before across many jurisdictions, there are enough case studies, the data is there. Since we know many building owners don’t think about how much energy their building uses, Board member Smith suggested facilitating a peer-to-peer conversation with building owners who have already made these upgrades and seen the benefits. Ms. Bailey agreed, that maybe having the data isn’t speaking the same volumes that a true conversation can. Board member Canonico agreed, having testimonials from other building owners might be a good way to move things off the line. Board member Giovando said the reality is there will probably need to be a mixture of solutions because some owners may need education, some may benefit more from a peer interaction, and some may need incentives/penalties to motivate them. GRANT FUNDING UPDATE Kerri Ishmael, Senior Analyst, Grants Admin Ms. Ishmael said she’s here tonight to help the Board understand how the City is set up to apply for and receive government funding and the interconnected energy-related projects. There are two types, or buckets, of funding that the City receives, formula funding and competitive funding. Formula funding is a continuous source of funding allocated toward operational and infrastructure needs using a systemic set of criteria. The City’s public transportation system, Transfort, receives a significant amount of formula funds through the Federal Transit Administration which supports the operation of the City’s transit system. Transfort staff work closely with the FTA to work on grants administration, ensuring ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING compliance to ensure Transfort is always in tune with current federal regulation. Despite the funding received, there are still gaps in funding, and that’s where competitive funding comes into play. Unlike formula funding, competitive funds are one-time pursuits of federal and state grants for operational and infrastructure needs. Ms. Ishmael noted that most departments don’t have dedicated staff available to pursue grant funding, and applying for these opportunities often takes two to three months. If awarded, the real work begins in terms of ensuring compliance throughout the lifetime of the project, which are often multi-year commitments. Ms. Ishmael highlighted a few of Utilities’ energy-related grant projects that are in progress and ongoing. Energy Services received a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) for $900,000 to develop a zero- carbon code structure for inclusion in the IECC. Operation Services received a grant from the DOE for $206,000 to replace the fluorescent lighting system with an LED system at a City recreation facility. Recreation and Operation services received a $2 million grant from Colorado DOLA (Department of Local Affairs) to build a Southeast Community Center in partnership with Poudre River Library as a LEED Gold, net zero facility. This proposal includes roof mounted solar, which aligns with the Governor’s priority of 100% renewable energy by 2040. In addition to Utilities, Transfort, Operation Services, and FC Moves also have several ongoing energy- related grant projects pertaining to electric vehicles and the electricity grid. Transfort received a $9.8 million grant (FTA & FHWA) to electrify their fleet of busses. Operation Services (in partnership with Transfort and Utilities) received a DOT grant for $1.1 million for the implementation of a smart grid Electric Vehicle Charge Management System (EV CMS) to support the City’s fleet of electric vehicles, including Transfort’s busses. Operation Services also received a CDPHE grant for $910k to convert City light- and heavy-duty fossil fuel vehicles to BEV and CNG vehicles. FC Moves, Operation Services, and Utilities received a $50,000 grant from the Colorado Energy Office to update the City’s EV Readiness Roadmap. FC Moves also received at $150,000 grant from the COE to improve community access to electric bikes for underserved community members. Awarded grants that are rolling out in 2025 include $4.5 million from DOE supporting commercial building owners in implementation measures to meet updated building energy codes, and $11.7 million from DOT for the implementation of the smart grid EV charge management solution developed in collaboration with Panasonic, along with charging infrastructure at 29 locations to support City’s fleet of vehicles. Ms. Ishmael noted there are a lot of things in flux with the new presidential administration, but staff has been maintaining good communication with the Department of Transportation and the project is currently moving forward. Ms. Ishmael discussed a few programs that the City is considering: Public Building Electrification program (from COE supporting updating HVAC systems), Geothermal Energy Grant Program (from COE for planning, design, & infrastructure), Community Clean Transportation Assistance Program (from CDOT), and COE Large Building Decarbonization Program. There are many funding opportunities out there that may or may not be a good fit to support a City project or program, but the challenge often lies within staff’s limited capacity. There is some inherent risk as well, if staff is expected to become a subject matter expert in non-compliance (in addition to their regular job duties), especially if they were to fall out of compliance, which can lead to de-obligation of grant funds, or worse, recoupment of funds. Non-compliance also builds poor rapport with the funding agency which can affect future award considerations. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Board member Canonico noted that Ms. Ishmael showed the Board roughly $25 million in grant funding projects tonight, and he wondered if allocating a single staff member to managing all these programs is adequate. Ms. Ishmael said other municipalities often have one or two people for each department (transportation and utilities), so it would not be unheard of to have additional support. Chairperson Smith agreed that there should be more dedicated staff for grant administration, and he noted that the return on investment seems like it would be significant. Chairperson Smith moved the Board send a memo to City Council encouraging them to add grant administrators to pursue state and federal funding that benefit our community. Board member Wegert seconded the motion. Discussion: Board members discussed the importance of not only identifying grant opportunities but being able to see the project through to completion, ensuring compliance along the way. They also discussed the ability to pursue more opportunities if there is more staff supported allocated to this effort. Ms. Ishmael agreed and noted there's a lot that goes into an application and there's a lot that goes into managing it on the post- award side. Mr. Tholl agreed and noted that tonight’s presentation doesn’t cover grants that were not awarded, such as the GRIP grant, which staff poured hundreds of hours into. To support the proposed memo, Chairperson Smith is interested to know how much funding has historically been available on the federal and state level compared to the percentage the City is awarded, as well as the total investment. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously, 7-0 EFFICIENCY WORKS UPDATES David Suckling, Energy Services Engineer Katie Varney, Project Manager Ms. Varney will be covering the Epic Homes Program, which is a program through Fort Collins Utilities, in partnership with Efficiency Works Homes, that helps customers enjoy more comfortable, healthy and energy-efficient homes. The goal of the Epic Homes program is for more efficient, comfortable and healthy living for both homeowners and renters in our community. There are five components to Epic Homes, three of which are part of Efficiency Works (a partnership with Platte River Power Authority). The five components are: Advising and Assessments (EW), Income Qualified Assistance (EW), Retrofit Rebates (EW), On Bill Financing, and Home Energy Certificate. Ms. Varney highlighted a few changes within the EW residential programs. Starting in July 2024, air conditioner rebates were removed, and the Utility is trying to put focus on heat pump technology for cooling needs. The Utility also added their first panel rebate, which is for a 200-amp panel paired with a heat pump upgrade. Additionally, two rebate bonuses were added: a bundling bonus to try and incentivize electrification (customers who do both an envelope measure and a heat pump within six months receive a $500 bonus), and a rental bonus, which is for eligible rental properties in the community and provides three times the standard rebate amount. The Efficiency Works Store relaunched last August with a renewed focus on education and is the hub for all instant rebates. The Utility has also been trying to make many of the existing rebates more accessible, so in January several rebates were updated. These include expanded window rebates, a gradual shift for midstream offerings on heat pump water heaters, radon fan process upgrades (no longer need an EW contractor), and an expansion to panel eligibility criteria ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING (beyond being paired with heat pumps). To facilitate uptake, in 2023 staff implemented a triple rebate for homes going all-electric through the program; that rebated ended that same year at the beginning of October. With a chart, Ms. Varney showed that even without that bonus there has been a consistent uptick in 2024. There has also been an increase in the amount of cold climate heat pumps that are being adopted as well. Staff has been working on spreading awareness within the community about our electrification goals, what electrification means, what a heat pump is, but also what does all this mean for a community. Last year, staff several led home electrification tours for people to come out and tour all-electric homes, talk to the homeowners and energy advisors about what that journey looks like and what the experience is like. Additionally, staff revamped the Utility’s electrification web page, which has everything from general basics on electrification to more detailed information, such as distinctions between a panel and a service upgrade. Ms. Varney also emphasized the CARE/Income Qualified pathway to electrification. Over the last five years, between coordinated efforts from the City and efficiency works, we've been able to very dramatically increase the number of customers served, our disproportionately impacted community members. She called attention to the Mobile Home Park outreach program (which the Board heard about in 2024) was very successful in providing targeted efficiency upgrades to a historically underserved; population; participation increased from 27 in 2023 to 71 in 2024. Looking ahead, the priorities for the Epic Homes program in 2025 are: improving the Income Qualified CARE pathway, increasing engagement with rentals, building awareness of smart electrification and heat pumps and their impact on climate, increasing utilization of post-assessment advising to make informed decisions on bids using the new HP calculator tool (in development tool looking at economics in order to aid decision making there), and supporting efforts to educate workforce on Mobile Home Park-specific considerations. Chairperson Smith is wondering if participation in the income qualified program has increased because the number of income qualified people has increased overall or is it also because of staff’s marketing and outreach efforts. Ms. Varney explained it isn’t necessarily reflective of the general population, but rather the City’s program implementation, which she attributes to Glenn Pease’s efforts in collaboration with Neighborhood Services to engage directly with those communities and their members, spreading the word of the program. Board member Braslau added that he suspects many people who are qualified for opportunities like this don’t have the time or bandwidth to really think about it. Board member Braslau suggested adding additional education resources for service providers (on the Efficiency Works website), because often times consumers will reach out to service providers and they will bid out whatever equipment they have on hand, as opposed to what the consumer may most benefit from (in an efficiency perspective). Ms. Varney said that is a great point, while Efficiency Works has done a great job with service provider trainings, it remains difficult to engage with some contractors around the benefit of Efficiency Works. Mr. Tholl agreed and added that staff certainly have a role in workforce development and leveraging trade partners and contractors to have scalable outreach. He noted that there is also a trade-ally incentive for contractors installing heat pumps. Mr. Suckling reintroduced the Board to Efficiency Works Business, which is Fort Collins Utilities’ approach to support energy and water efficiency for local businesses. The program is in partnership with Platte River Power Authority (and its owner municipalities) and houses all services and incentives, making it ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING easier than ever for local businesses to save money and reduce their use. EWB offers businesses rebate opportunities through lighting, food service, grocery, office including residential appliances, cooling, envelope, variable frequency drives, and custom programs, such as level 2 charging equipment incentives. Lighting rebate collection has been declining, which could be due to most buildings have completed this swap, or because staff has reached the limit on building owners who want to make the change. Because of the decline, staff has been searching for new ways to make up that programming by building capacity in the retro commissioning program (RCx). RCx has three tiers: Performance Plus, RCx light, and RCx full. The Performance Plus tier is an advanced RTU maintenance program, so instead of the contractor going up on the roof and just changing filters, they check the belt tensions, they clean the fins, they comb out the fins if there's hail damage, they make sure the economizer actually operates properly. RCx light and full are traditional retro commissioning, and whether a customer receives light or full depends on the sophistication of their building and the systems in the building. Other programs within EWB include multi-family, mid-stream cooling (where the cooling actually happens), and energy assessments and advisement. Mr. Suckling noted that one of the problems with the RTU market, is that when one fails, they need an immediate replacement. Distributors are now starting to stock higher efficiency equipment. There are also incentives for sales to sell more efficient equipment because there isn’t a 100% passthrough requirement. New for 2025 is a Building Performance Standard Survey, which shows the customer what they need to do to bring their building to compliance. This will cover all the state-covered buildings until Fort Collins gets its own BPS program. There is also an electrification incentive (for process loads only), as Platte River is hoping to build a base load that run 24/7 (rather than intermittent). Additionally, there’s an EV Fleet Study. For example, if a company has a fleet of 50 vehicles that they want to electrify, somebody will come in and help them model how much more capacity they're going to need, how to most efficiently charge those (or when to charge them) and how to operate that fleet. The City has an Integrated Design Assistance Program (IDAP), which provides technical assistance and financial incentives to help architects, engineering professionals, and building owners optimize energy and demand savings and reduce operating costs in eligible new construction and existing building major renovation projects. Staff is now using site energy as the metric to determine saving to align with the goal of electrification. Mr. Suckling explained that heat pumps are roughly 300% efficient, while gas furnaces are 80-90% efficient. That differential equates to about a 400% difference in efficiency right now, while electricity is about four times the price of gas. While owners will incur additional capital costs, they should be able to heat their building for about the same amount of utility cost, so adding incentives for the change can hopefully drive toward electrification. Staff is also working on developing a Carbon Reduction Program, but Mr. Suckling noted they are having a little trouble getting it off the ground because the amount of needed incentives isn’t really lining up with cost to install new equipment. There is also a deep retrofit program that is in the initiation phase, which Mr. Suckling said should be simpler to interact with than IDAP. This program is based on energy modeling and must pull energy efficiency savings from at least two of the following three: enclosure, regulated loads, and plug loads. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Mr. Tholl said he received an email from a community stakeholder related to a community initiative called the Large Methane User fee. Mr. Tholl said if there is interest from the Board, there are a few ways to learn more about it. One way would be to task a Board member to engage with the groups to learn more about the initiative, and then report back to the Board at a future meeting. Staff could also do an extremely high-level presentation of the basics, but Mr. Tholl emphasized that this is not a City initiative, so staff is not involved in any way. The Board discussed possibly following up on this topic between now and their April work session. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW The Board will hear a presentation regarding community solar at their February 27 work session. In March, there will be presentations about the EV readiness roadmap and an update about distributed utility scale battery storage. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:12 pm. Electric Vehicles Readiness Roadmap Update 3/13/2025 Dashiell Bubar-Hall FC Moves Why Electric Vehicles •Electric vehicles are not the highest priority, but they play a role •GHG emission reductions •Sustainability goals •Long-term reduction for cost of vehicle ownership 2 •Electric vehicles are here to stay (for now) •Increasing market share •More models and vehicles types available •Increased affordability •20% of new vehicles purchases locally Types of Electric Vehicles 3 Lifetime GHG Emissions 4 Energy Production Profiles and GHG emissions 5 Energy Production Profiles and GHG emissions 6 Local Energy Profile: Platte River Power Authority 7EVRR Vision Statement Fort Collins will promote the community’s adoption of electric vehicles through equitable access to charging infrastructure, engaging outreach and education, innovative policy approaches, and leading by example. 8EVRR Goal Areas •Mobility: Support the electrification of shared transportation options in Fort Collins, including carshare, rideshare, shared micromobility, and transit, to ensure equitable access and foster a sustainable, interconnected transportation system. •Equity: Engage disproportionately impacted communities to develop suitable EV-related outreach, projects, and incentives that increase awareness and access to electrified transportation options. •Environmental: Reduce local contributions to climate and air pollution from transportation sources through increased adoption of electrified transportation options. •Utility/ Grid Infrastructure: Identify the need for additional level 2 and 3 public charging infrastructure throughout the city and support the installation of needed infrastructure and corresponding utility improvements. •Residential Charging: Increase access to charging infrastructure for rental properties and multi-family units, prioritizing the most affordable housing stock. •Policy: Review and update existing City policies related to electric vehicles, electric transportation devices, and charging infrastructure. Recommend additional policies to facilitate increased adoption and access to alternative electrified transportation options. Electric Vehicle Readiness Roadmap •EVRR Format •Introduction •Vision and goals •EV overview •Vehicle types •Charger types •EV Market Assessment •Local trends and projections •Readiness Strategies •Recommended strategies •Added points of emphasis with the update •Equity •Evenhanded portrayal •Electric transportation options (e-bikes, e- scooters, carshare) 9 Types of Chargers 10 •84% of EV owners can reliably charge at home •27% of Non-EV Owners could reliably charge at home if they had an EV •Primary barriers to EV adoption were purchase price, charging availability, and battery performance in cold weather •Expanding public charging was the highest priority by a large margin •Renters were more likely to report not being able to charge at home than homeowners. •Multifamily residents were less likely to purchase an EV and cited access to charging as the main barrier 11EVRR Community Questionnaire Race/Ethnicity Census Questionnaire 4/24 Middle Eastern/North African and White 78%74.92% African and African American/Black 1.40%0.34% American Indian/Alaska Native 0.80%0.34% Asian/Asian American 0.80%2.03% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 0.20%0.34% Hispanic/Latinx/Spanish Origin 12.40%12.20% Prefer to self-identify NA 2.37% Decline to specify NA 7.46% Total Respondents NA 295 Fort Collins Electric Vehicle Snapshot Vehicles •Number of EVs on the road: 5248 (2025 Q1) •Percentage of new vehicle purchases •Fort Collins area: 25%-30% (end of 2024) •Statewide: 25.3% (2024 Q3) •#1 State for market share of new EVs Chargers •147 Public Level 2 ports •6 Public Level 3 ports 12 13Barriers to Charging Infrastructure •Cost of installation •Networking Costs •Impact Fees •Capacity Fees •3 Phase 480V Service •Ongoing maintenance costs •Site variability/suitability •Lack of ROI •Charging Providers avoiding Fort Collins •Unclear funding future 14EVRR Strategy Recommendation Areas Outreach and Education Regional and Partner Coordination Policy Incentives Infrastructure Leading by Example Emerging Technology Equity •Outreach and Education •Educate local businesses about workplace charging •Regional and Partner Coordination •Encourage EV ride-hailing and car sharing •Policy •Monitor and refine current policy (ex. building code) •Incentives •Income-qualified vehicle purchase rebate 15EVRR Strategy Examples •Infrastructure •Expand City-owned public charging stations •Leading by example •Employee incentives for sustainable forms of transportation •Emerging Technology •Battery Recycling •Equity •Inclusive EV programing For More Information, Visit THANK YOU! Dashiell Bubar-Hall dbubar-hall@fcgov.com Distributed energy storage project update Zach Borton, DER service manager Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability Why energy storage? The energy challenge Electricity supply and demand constantly fluctuate, and as we transition to a noncarbon future with increasing electrification and intermittent generation, maintaining balance becomes more challenging. Without energy storage, these imbalances can contribute to inefficiencies and possible grid instability. Energy storage is an important component in a more sustainable, reliable, and efficient energy future. Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability Platte River requires extensive storage capacity across various durations and locations for an optimal noncarbon future. Platte River’s energy storage need •Energy storage is going to play a crucial role in how we deliver and manage energy for the owner communities in the future. •Long-duration storage, when commercially available, will help bridge extended periods when renewable energy production is low. •Utility-scale storage will be paired with renewable generation to optimize supply timing or be deployed for transmission support to manage congestion. •Distributed and customer-sited storage will help balance load as electrification and distributed solar reshape demand and energy profiles. •Long-duration storage •Utility-scale storage •Distributed storage •Customer-sited storage enrolled in the virtual power plant (VPP) Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability Distributed storage project timeline RESOURCE DIVERSIFICATION POLICY Energy storage is recognized as an enabling technology, with the understanding that both price and performance must improve. Bids included storage interconnected within transmission and distribution systems. VENDOR SELECTION AND DEVELOPMENT Collaboration on use cases, storage locations and a preferred vendor. Signed master terms development, with land leases in progress. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Once land leases finalize, the permitting, interconnection, and construction will begin. SOLAR AND STORAGE RFP 2018 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability This project provides a sandbox for future DERs •Enables greater renewable integration by managing load fluctuations from intermittent sources, ensuring grid reliability and resilience •Efficient operations from strategically sited projects and stacking use cases to maximize savings across the distribution and transmission system •Adaptable assets that flex with changing system demands and can defer future infrastructure needs Distribution-Tied Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability A connected energy future Strength in networks! •Stronger together: A coordinated network enhances efficiency and resilience •Optimized energy storage: Collective planning ensures scalability and flexibility for the future •Shared resources, shared savings: Collaborative efforts reduce costs and maximize benefits •A unified approach: Long-term success of distributed resources depends on continued collaboration and strategic planning Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability Technical support •Continued distribution system perspective on storage locations and use cases that can maximize storage value Land lease approval •Land leases for the storage sites with owner communities requires city council and town board approval Future support and participation in the VPP •Continued collaboration and engagement in the virtual power plant to enhance grid flexibility and operational efficiency Where do we go from here? Reliability Environmental responsibility Financial sustainability Questions