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HomeMy WebLinkAboutENERGY BOARD - MINUTES - 01/09/2025 ENERGY BOARD January 9, 2025 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Alan Braslau, Frederick Wegert, Wendell Stainsby, Scott Canonico, Brian Smith, Jeremy Giovando, Marge Moore (remote) Board Members Absent: OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, Brian Tholl, Leland Keller, Shannon Ash, Yvette Lewis- Molok (remote), Michael Authier Members of the Public: Alexander Thorstensen, George Weston, Rick Coen MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Loran called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None. PUBLIC COMMENT Rick Coen is a resident of Fort Collins since 1994 and has spent many years working in the solar industry. He said several panel owners within the Riverside Community Solar Garden have formed an Owner’s Committee. The committee is interested in continuing to promote solar gardens in Fort Collins beyond the Riverside project and Mr. Coen said they will continue to engage with the Energy Board. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the December 12, 2024, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. STAFF REPORTS Riverside Community Solar Garden Update Leland Keller, Mechanical Engineer III Mr. Keller said this presentation will go over the work the City is doing to repower the Riverside Community Solar Garden, principally, replacing the site inverter after its failure in August 2023. When the inverter failed, City staff found an error code that tells of an IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) gate drive fault. This potentially could result in some unidentified faults, such as a DC bus capacitor explosion or complete drive failure. While working with Schneider Electric to find out how Schneider could respond and support the inverter repairs, staff was made aware that the previous system owner had done work with a service contractor which was unapproved by the warranty contract, and as such voided the extended warranty on the system. Staff identified five criteria that would need to be balanced in order to repower the system: accelerate ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING timeline for repair to resume owner bill credits, minimize likelihood of future failure, minimize financial impact for owners associated with repairs, maximize lifetime of remaining existing equipment, and maximize the remaining O&M fund for potential future needs. Staff was faced with the prospect of either replacing the inverter with a similar central inverter that exposed the system to the risk of a central point of failure that we were experiencing), or staff would need to do some redesigning to help minimize the risk of a central point of failure. Ultimately, for the benefit of both the customers who own panels in the array and for the City, Staff wanted to get the system back online as soon as possible. The goal is to minimize future failure likelihoods and maximize the benefit of the rest of the equipment that's in production for the remaining lifetime of the project (the agreement with the owners runs through the 2040). Staff is now working to repower the system through a two-phase project. Phase 1 (Design), which will cover the new inverter design, a project management plan, and design review and acceptance. Phase 2 (Procurement and Construction) is composed of five tasks: planning & coordination, procurement, deconstruction, construction, and finally commissioning, testing, and closeout. Staff decided to pair these two phases together in a single RFP to maintain continuity, avoiding issues like a Phase 2 builder who doesn’t like the design from Phase 1. Mr. Keller said 10 or so vendors expressed interest in the project and came to the site walk ahead of final proposal presentations and ultimately, Namaste Solar was selected for the project. Staff selected a vendor at the end of the RFP process, and they will be installing Solis String Inverters. Ginlong-Solis is a BloombergNEF Tier1 inverter manufacturer and the 3rd largest inverter manufacturer globally. Instead of having one central inverter, the system will now have 10 string inverters, each of which has six independent outputs that can be optimized (60 points of optimization across the system as opposed to just one). These inverters also come with an extended warranty that will be in force for the remaining 15 years of the project (as it is currently outlined). Chairperson Smith asked how the cost compare with all the redundancies; he noted it is great risk management but wondered if it significantly increases the cost. Mr. Keller said the additional costs incurred with this design choice are with the costs of re-engineering, the differential and costs of inverters, and then the costs of the conductor replacements (now AC instead of DC). He estimated a ballpark the cost differential around $75k-100k over a central inverter design. Mr. Keller explained the option of a central inverter was crossed off the list early on because those type of inverters are not widely available now and are typically paired with a more customized build. The Phase 1 planning was closed out in September 2024, and Phase 2 remains on schedule with all parts delivered. Namaste and Utilities partnership is also on track. The Utility was able to save on the overall project budget by utilizing Light & Power Crews to remove the old inverter (which was donated to Yampa Valley Electric Association) and complete all the heavy trenching work. Namaste is reconfiguring the DC strings for optimal use of the new inverter inputs. Staff plans to commission the system in March 2025. Mr. Keller said staff has had to address, identify and grow through the challenges of this project in many different areas: operationally, technically, program stability, participant satisfaction social/political/policy, as well as regulatorily and financially. As Mr. Coen mentioned earlier, staff has been working closely with the Riverside Community Solar Garden’s owner advisory group, and the group has been an invaluable resource of talent and people who have a deep passion for community solar in Fort Collins. The owner’s group identified a list of issues and interests that they have in the process of the repowering project and for the life cycle of the system, and Mr. Keller pointed out that many of these things translate to how community solar can be run—what could be done differently if or when the City decides to stand up ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING another community solar garden. Board member Braslau said the panels have at least 15 years of life left in them, and what he’s seen as really important in this project is that there is still a huge demand for community solar and he hopes to see the City develop more opportunities as they work through and learn from this project. Board member Canonico added this has been a great exercise in what to do or not to do in the future and he is happy to see Staff taking note of these lessons. IQAP IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY Shannon Ash, Affordability Programs Manager The Income Qualified Assistance Plan (IQAP) is a reduced electric, water and/or wastewater rate that provides 25% off certain components of these services. Fort Collins Utilities partners with the Colorado Low-income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) to provide income-qualified customers automatic enrollment into IQAP (making 60% or less of the State median income). Customers must apply for LEAP to be eligible to participate in in IQAP, and they must reapply every year (applications are open November 1-April 30). LEAP is a federal program, and there are some customers in the community who may not be eligible for to participate in federal programs, so staff has also developed an alternate entry point for some of those customers. There are two groups staff has identified: those who receive housing choice vouches (section 8), and those who have undocumented immigrants living in their home. If you receive a housing choice voucher, heating is included within the cost of rent, so those customers are not able to apply for additional heating subsidies through LEAP. Additionally, LEAP only counts the number of US citizens living in a home when it is factoring the income threshold. For example, if there are two adults and two children living in a home, but only the children are considered US citizens, LEAP will count that as household of two, when really the income provided is sustaining a household of four. To overcome these barriers, staff is working with both Housing Catalyst in Fort Collins and the nonprofit La Familia in Fort Collins, to work with populations of people in both of those groups to get direct access into IQAP. While both those populations are still unable to receive LEAP benefits, there is still an opportunity to provide assistance through the City’s program. Customers can apply for LEAP assistance online or by paper application, and all customers will receive a letter of acceptance or denial. Ms. Ash explained that about 60% of online applications are denied for various reasons (missing documentation, skipped steps, etc.), and roughly 40% of paper applications are denied. Denials trigger a cure-period where the applicant has an opportunity to complete any missing steps or send in missing documentation. Staff does a lot of community outreach during the LEAP season, including bringing applications to people and having iPads available at events. IQAP started as a pilot program in 2018 that was initially designed to run one year, but then the COVID- 19 pandemic hit, and staff worked with Council to continue extending the program until it was formally approved in 2022. The rate reduction discount will be assessed every 2-5 years to make sure it’s keeping pace with the rate increases projected over the next several years. Board members wondered if there are any other alternate points of entry, such as families who qualify for free & reduced school lunch. Ms. Ash said staff is not currently using that program but she noted the City’s website https://getfoco.fcgov.com/, which is an online portal housing all the City’s discounted services and municipal benefits for income- eligible residents, uses the free and reduced program as a qualifying document to get access to many of ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING those programs and discounts (which does not include IQAP). Staff is working to bring all the programs together so it can be a true one-stop-shop in the future. Right now, LEAP does all the income verification, so that has removed that administrative step for City staff and ensures customers are not providing any information to the City that they don’t need to. IQAP saw more enrollment this year than in any previous year, and the program will have 172 brand new customers and 968 renewals for 2025 (so far). As of December, there were 2,034 customers enrolled in the program (including 2024 customers who had not renewed yet). If any customers do not renew their LEAP application, staff does a number of outreach contacts, but if they do not receive an approval, they are automatically reverted back to the full price rate. As of November 2024, IQAP has saved customers a combined total of over $436,000 (across all rate classes and enrollments), Ms. Ash noting that compared to the entire Utilities budget that number is fairly small but adds a significant value to the community at large. Utilities also has a Payment Assistance Fund program (PAF), which allows residential customers with a past-due electric or water bill to request a one-time payment to zero out their account. This program is available to both renters and homeowners, but account must be past-due, and the customer has to make 80% or less of the area median income. PAF can be applied for through a number of partner agencies, including Goodwill of Colorado, Catholic Charities, The Family Center/La Familia, Neighbor to Neighbor, and CSU (for CSU students and staff). Beginning January 1, 2025, Utilities is offering another new financial assistance program, the Utilities Emergency Fund (UEF). This Utilities staff-managed program has offers up to $500 per customer once per calendar year with a past-due electric or water bill. There are no income restrictions for this program, but the application can only be completed by the account holder/co-applicant. This program is funded by a stale-check fund, which is essentially money that Utilities has paid out to account holders who close their accounts. If that check doesn’t get cashed within a year it is returned to Utilities and put into the stale-check account and earmarked for affordability programs. Ms. Ash said Utilities receives somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000 a year from this account, so Council asked staff to spend down the money, thus the creation of UEF. The income qualification was removed for this fund because staff wanted it to be available to anyone who finds themselves in a difficult situation, such as unexpected bills for car repair or medical services, loss of hours at work, or being laid off. 2025 PLANNING CALENDAR REVIEW The Board reviewed their 2025 work plan and added additional ideas to their list of future topics to discuss. The Board’s Chair and Vice Chair will review the list each month during their planning meeting with Staff support to shape and plan their 2025 agenda items. APPROVE 2024 ANNUAL REPORT The Board reviewed the final draft of their 2024 Annual Report. Vice Chairperson Moore moved to approve the 2024 Annual Report. Board member Braslau seconded the motion. Discussion: ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING None Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously 7-0 BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Board member Braslau was in France over the holidays and he explained they now utilize country-wide time-of-use rates. While the rates are not as aggressive as Fort Collin’s Utilities, he thought it was interesting that the time-of-use windows are different and assigned to customers depending on where they are (regionally) within the country, but also within the city. He speculates this is designed to avoid snapback effect (the sudden increase in electricity usage that occurs immediately after a demand response event ends) ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 7:17 pm.