HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 03/05/2015Fort Collins Utilities Energy Board Minutes
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Energy Board Chairperson City Council Liaison
Peter O’Neill, 288-4562 Ross Cunniff, 420-7398
Energy Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison
Phil Friedman, 493-2959 Lisa Rosintoski, 416-2432
Roll Call
Board Present Chairperson Peter O’Neil, Vice Chairperson Philip Friedman, Board Members Greg
Behm, Darrin Johnson, Michael Doss, Nick Michell, and Stacey Baumgarn.
Absent Margaret Moore, Peggy Plate
Staff Present Lisa Rosintoski, John Phelan, Paul Sizemore, Lucinda Smith, Cyril Vidergar, and
Katherine Martinez
Guests Paul Davis/Platte River Power Authority
Meeting Convened
Chairperson Peter O’Neill called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
Public Comment
None
Approval of February 5, 2015 Minutes
Vice Chairperson Philip Friedman complimented the accuracy and detail of the February meeting
minutes.
Vice Chairperson Philip Friedman moved to approve the minutes of the February 5, 2015
meeting. Board Member Greg Behm seconded the motion.
Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously.
Staff Reports
Climate Action Plan - City Council
Customer Connections Manager Lisa Rosintoski praised Environmental Services Director Lucinda
Smith for her Climate Action Plan (CAP) presentation at City Council on March 5, 2015, and
complimented Chairperson Peter O’Neill for his statements to Council. City Council members
unanimously approved the CAP framework. Energy Services Manager John Phelan also praised Ms.
Smith, who thanked the Energy Board for its involvement and support of the CAP.
Energy Policy Alignment Review with Climate Action Plan
(Attachments available upon request)
Energy Services Manager John Phelan summarized the agenda item materials and outlined
discussion objectives. He presented topics covered in the Energy Policy and Climate Action Plan
side by side for comparison, and pointed out a few subtopics that don’t exactly align: the Energy
Policy’s Energy Supply and Distribution (Reliability, Energy Distribution) and the CAP’s
Electricity Supply and Delivery (Shift Heating loads to Biofuels, Geothermal and Electrification).
Mr. Phelan discussed targets, objectives, and metrics in the draft Energy Policy, such as Built
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Environment/Improve Performance of New Building, and explained he’d like board members to
offer ideas.
• A board member inquired whether the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is
advancing quickly enough to match the City’s goals. Mr. Phelan stated recent code revisions
have been aggressive, such as with performance-based enforcement.
• A board member inquired about radon, and whether it’s possible to encourage energy
efficiency when discussing solutions to low-air-quality issues. For example, in the process
of selling their home, they needed to install a pipe and fan for radon mitigation, and the
contractor is more likely to install a fan that’s too large, and therefore less energy and cost
efficient because if they install a fan that turns out to be too small, they’d have to replace it
later. Mr. Phelan stated Utilities staff collaborates with the Building Department, and has
identified improvements in processes. A board member mentioned that super-sealed houses
meant to be energy efficient produced low-air-quality issues.
• A board member praised Mr. Phelan’s revisions to the draft Energy Policy to tighten the
language, and commented on clarifying the fact that goals will be incremental, such as on
the chart that shows improving the performance of existing buildings and processes: the
saving target for 2015 is 1.5%; for 2016, 1.75%; for 2017, 1.75%; for 2018 to 2019, 2.0%;
and for 2020, 2.5%.
• A board member inquired about whether Utilities’ energy efficiency programs run out of
money quickly. Mr. Phelan stated he had reported to the strategic financial planning
manager that one program that began in January was already running out of money this
month. Measures taken include reducing marketing, etc.
• A board member inquired about the baseline assumption for the chart Customer Annual
Efficiency Savings. Mr. Phelan stated it’s not related to a baseline, but rather customer
electricity use in that year. So for 2015, the goal is 1.5% less energy usage for the
community overall, translated into gigawatts (GWh): 22 gigawatt hours of savings.
• A board member inquired whether the Building Code for existing buildings needs to be
strengthened to meet goals. Mr. Phelan replied that they don’t. Rebates, incentives and other
programs will impact energy use.
Energy Supply and Distribution
The draft Energy Policy contains the following targets for resource diversity under the heading
Electric Supply Resources:
(1) Importance of increasing diversity in the fuel supply, (2) increase the overall amount of
renewable energy to a minimum of 20% by 2020, and (3) increase the amount of renewable
energy installed on the distribution system to provide a minimum of 2% of community
electricity requirements.
• A board member inquired about percentages of energy types currently used. Paul Davis of
Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) stated averages for all four owner-cities: 19% hydro,
70% coal, and 8% wind (which began last October). He commented that Fort Collins buys
more renewable energy than the other cities, so its percentages are different.
• A board member commented on language in the sentence about increasing energy diversity
and stated that if the goal is to reduce dependence on coal, the policy should state those
specific words.
• A board member suggested policy state the reasons for increasing energy diversity, such as
reliability, etc. And under the second bulleted sentence, state the sources specifically, such
as wind, solar, etc. Another board member stated that energy sources are identified on the
distribution system and there’s no need to be overly specific. A board member commented
that the third bulleted sentence should include a goal date as the others do.
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• A board member commented that the first bulleted sentence obviously alludes to coal; does
that mean we limit ourselves to 60% solar or 60% wind 20 years down the road? It’s an
appealing argument now due to potential risks related to fossil fuels, but could work against
renewable energy in the future.
Electric Distribution
• A board member commented that they liked the goal of 5% in the statement “Increase the
available dispatch capacity of the demand response system to 5%.”
Transportation and Land Use
• FC Moves Program Manager Paul Sizemore commented that the draft Energy Policy up to
this point does a good job of pointing to other policy documents and boards related to those
specific issues. Since transportation, parking, and land use issues are related to other City
boards and policy documents, he expressed the need for caution about being too specific
with metrics that are better left up to the Transportation Master Plan and transportation
policy documents that are undergoing revisions to align with new goals. Mr. Phelan
expressed agreement and pointed out the list of related policies.
Development, Redevelopment, and Parking
• Mr. Sizemore mentioned this topic would need to involve the City’s Transportation and
Parking boards, and suggested using caution to avoid setting a metric for the development
review process. Mr. Phelan mentioned there are other policy documents that guide these
issues.
• Ms. Smith commented that determining how to set a metric is a challenging issue, due to
unknowns such as figuring out what to compare it to, and how to set parameters. For
example, staff was asked to calculate an urban footprint for the Foothills Mall. A board
member inquired whether to factor in Fort Collins residents driving 15 miles to The
Promenade Shops at Centerra because that kind of modern outdoor mall doesn’t exist here
yet while the Foothills Mall is undergoing renovations.
• Board members and staff agreed further development and discussion is needed on some of
the policy’s topics, including Multimodal Transportation, and Fuel-Efficient & Electric
Vehicles. Staff stated April and May board meetings could be used for further discussion,
with the City Council scheduled for June. Board members expressed the desire to avoid
scheduling the presentation any later than June.
Legislative Policy Review
Legislative Policy Manager Dan Weinheimer distributed a list of legislative bills to the Energy
Board, and explained the City takes a position on and advocates for legislation based on its
Legislative Policy Agenda. Mr. Weinheimer mentioned 600 to 700 bills are introduced each
session. The Senate is controlled by Republicans and the House is controlled by Democrats. Due to
election season approaching, some bills are intended mostly to make a point rather than have a
realistic chance of becoming law. A few bills related to energy fall under that category, such as
Senate Bill 15-44 (killed in the House) and SB15-46 Renewable Energy Standard Adjust REAs
Distributed Gen (will die quickly). A lot of alcohol-related bills came through the assembly,
regarding licensing and types of businesses; as well as marijuana-related bills, including focus on
medicinal marijuana; bills on guns and concealed carry permits advocated by citizens who want to
remove oversight on who can obtain concealed carry permits.
On the energy front, HB-1230 Innovative Industry Workforce Development Program and Bill 1236
Tax Credit for Improving Energy Efficiency.
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Next week, several City Council members will accompany Mr. Weinheimer to Washington, D.C. to
participate in the National League of Cities conference. They will meet with Department of Energy
representatives, as well as national leaders and our congressional delegation, to create relationships
and inform them of Fort Collins’ Climate Action Plan.
Discussion Highlights
• A board member inquired how likely bills listed as “not on calendar” are to get on the
calendar. Mr. Weinheimer replied that the phrase means the bill could be going on the
calendar or not, and additionally the phrase “postponed indefinitely” means the bill is dead
for the year.
• A board member inquired what bills the board should be concerned about, so that they can
alert City Council of the need to advocate for or against certain legislation. Mr. Weinheimer
replied that there’s nothing in the energy category that causes concern at this time, and that
the period between sessions, from June to November, is a good time to draft bills and
discuss issues with legislative staff. The session ends in early May, and the City will host its
annual event with legislators in June to discuss the session.
2014 Energy Policy Results and Annual Report
(Attachments available upon request)
Energy Services Manager John Phelan summarized the highlights in the presentation, including
Reliability (Utilities has experienced more outages in the past year due to aging underground
infrastructure, which highlights the importance of an asset management program); Energy Portfolio
Savings; Local Solar (more than doubled); Per Capita Electricity Use (total electricity use of
community, business and residential, divided by population) has decreased by 13.3% from the 2005
baseline. Other categories were Demand Response (maximum reduction from the demand response
system was 3.5 MW in 2014); Rate Comparison; and Efficiency Portfolio Details (Home Energy
Reports, 51,400 participants)(“consumer products” indicates appliance rebates).
Discussion Highlights
• A board number inquired how results of home energy reports were measured. Mr. Phelan
explained during the first three years, staff evaluated one test group of participants and one
test group of nonparticipants; we now have a model based on three years of data, which is in
turn based on season, household, etc. One question is how long we can use the model. Mr.
Phelan commented that once residents stop receiving the report, it takes about 18 months for
them to bounce back up to the amount of energy they used before receiving the report.
• A board member commented on receiving water reports he believes are inaccurate; he’s
categorized as using 20 times more water than the most efficient user. Customer service
wasn’t able to provide a good answer. Mr. Phelan replied that customer services
representatives are not able to access the level of detail needed in this case, and will ask a
water conversation specialist on staff to evaluate the usage; he shared that he experienced a
similar situation and was able to resolve it. Staff assured board members they’re working on
making corrections to prevent similar incidents.
Mr. Phelan commented that Utilities increased the amount of money available for solar rebates in
2015 and decreased the rebate amount to spread the pool of money further. The intent is to have a
more continuous program throughout the year, but the City is financially constrained on dollars
available for the program and the cost of solar energy is high. Mr. Phelan will present an
abbreviated report next month to finish discussing the remaining categories in the draft Energy
Policy.
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