HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 02/14/2019ENERGY BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
February 14, 2019 – 5:30 pm
222 Laporte Ave.; Colorado Room
ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 02/14/2019 02/14/2019
ROLL CALL
Board Members Present: Chairperson Nick Michell (remotely), Vice Chairperson Amanda Shores, John
Fassler, Jeremy Giovando, Alan Braslau, Bill Becker, Dan Gould, Stacey Baumgarn, Krishna
Karnamadakala
Board Members Absent: none
OTHERS PRESENT
Staff Members Present: John Phelan, Christie Fredrickson, Tim McCollough, Cyril Vidergar, Crystal
Schafii
Platte River Power Authority: Paul Davis
Members of the Public: Bill Althouse, Rick Coen, Sue McFadden, Michael Murray
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER
Vice Chairperson Shores called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
Bill Althouse said he hopes someone with the City of Fort Collins or Platte River Power Authority will
consider consulting with someone with background and experience in Deployment Energy Systems. He
encouraged staff and Board members to research DERMs (Distributed Energy Resource Management)
and GridEdge. He believes these are the tools to help the City achieve renewable goals, as well as
achieving high reliability at a low cost.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the January 10, 2019
minutes. The minutes were approved as amended.
ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES
None
STAFF REPORTS
COLORADO SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION UPDATE
John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager
The Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association will be rebranding to Colorado Solar and Storage
Association (COSSA). Historically they have been focused on residential rooftop solar in the Denver
metro area but have hired a new director who is initiating conversations to become much more active on
a statewide basis.
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MICELLENEOUS STAFF REPORTS
Mr. Phelan distributed copies of the Income Qualified Assistance Program (IQAP) newsletter to the
Energy Board. Many board members were interested in receiving the newsletter regularly; Board support
staff will pass along board members’ contact information so they can be added to the distribution list.
Mr. Davis, Energy Solutions Manager with Platte River Power Authority, said Platte River recently signed
a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with GCL New Energy and DEPCOM Power for 20 MW of solar-
generated power and two megawatt-hours of battery storage. Starting in 2020, the project is expected to
deliver 52,000 MW-hours of solar generation per year, and the battery is contracted to run one full charge
cycle per day.
Chairperson Michell asked if this project is rate based or community solar, Mr. Davis said, like all
renewables in Platte River’s proposed wholesale rate design, it’s going to be an unbundled rate so the
individual cities can make their own rate or program decisions. Mr. Phelan said staff is still working on the
work plan to restructure the Green Energy Program so there is not a program design to share yet. Mr.
Davis added there will be more information available once Platte River’s wholesale rate design is
finalized.
EPIC LOAN PROGRAM & BLOOMBERG UPDATE
John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager
(attachments available upon request)
The EPIC Loan Program, which is not an acronym, but is rooted to the Energy Performance Improvement
Certificate, hopes to simultaneously find solutions and optimization for: Documenting beneficial well-being
and health outcomes through indoor air quality improvements from efficiency, implementing energy
efficiency at scale, addressing underserved LMI (Low Moderate Income) residents due to rental split-
incentive, effective implementation of on-bill financing, leveraging third party capital, demonstrating
public-private partnerships, and driving innovation in local government.
The Bloomberg Mayor’s challenge had nine winning cities, including two in Colorado: Fort Collins and
Denver; this creates a massive potential for nationwide impact. Mr. Phelan reviewed the key principles in
more detail of the Bloomberg project. Staff will work toward understanding the link between energy
inefficient housing and health by establishing a research program with CSU. They hope to integrate the
importance of health into energy efficiency programs and communications. To implement energy
efficiency at scale, the goal is to increase a single project outcome and savings, scaling by a factor of 2x,
3x, 4x (etc.), while maintaining the quality of work. Addressing LMI residents requires defining the values
of improved performance for all parties (property owners and tenants), identifying and engaging property
owners, and streamlining every step so that the process is made easy for property owners to participate.
Mr. Phelan noted that over 50% of the housing in Fort Collins is in rental, and that over 90% of LMI
residents are renters.
Vice Chairperson Shores asked what percentage of rentals in Fort Collins are occupied by students, and
staff said they don’t have a solid number assigned to that. Board member Fassler said it’s a challenge,
but it’s important to provide incentives and subsidies for efficiency retrofits for this demographic because
the costs can be high.
Effective implementing of on-bill financing requires coordination with City Staff in Billing, Finance, and
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Legal. Again, staff is working to streamline every step along the way to make it easy to participate.
Leveraging third-party capital is very important, rather than relying on reserves for extended periods of
time. Staff is designing an ongoing capital stack with grants, loans, and program-related investments.
They will also work to identify local, regional, and national partners to develop new financial tools. Board
member Braslau asked how this program works with the split incentive option for homeowners and
tenants. Mr. Phelan said we have the capability to split utility services between the tenant and owner, and
many landlords pay water and/or wastewater services, and the tenant pays for electricity. The loan
appears on the owner’s bill, and the savings are realized on the tenant’s electricity bill.
It is important in this program to demonstrate public-private partnerships with third-party capital providers,
implementation efficiency trade allies, loan administration partners, Colorado State University, local non-
profits, and the Colorado Energy Office. Finally, driving innovation in local government is the purpose of
the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge. Board member Gould asked if there are tax credits or incentives
available in conjunction with the program. Mr. Phelan said they are looking at some options that maybe
could be tax free, but that is yet to be determined.
Currently, EPIC Loans are up and running, but the City hasn’t done a lot of promotion yet due to lack of
capital. Efficiency Works-Homes is the foundation of the delivery of these services. The opportunity of this
program is to show the replicability and transferability to Platte River, the Colorado Energy Office,
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Chairperson Michell asked how staff will differentiate the incoming funding. Mr. Phelan said its part of the
design process; it is a vexing challenge but not uncommon in the finance industry, so there are some
software solutions available to them.
BATTERY STORAGE PILOT & TOUR
John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager
(attachments available upon request)
Objectives of the Distributed Battery Storage Pilot are broken up into four categories: Technical (Battery,
Monitoring System, Communications, and Controls), Operational (Dispatchability, DE Control Integration),
Utility Use Cases, and Customer Use Cases), Programmatic (Market Readiness, Benefit/Cost, and
Incentive Sizing), and Policy (Carbon Benefits, Customer Benefits, and Community Benefits).
This pilot was allotted $200,000 in the 2017-18 budget cycle but did not receive additional funding in the
2019-20 cycle. The project will demonstrate installation, monitoring and control of a single commercial-
scale battery, located in utility-owned building (at 222 Laporte). It also tests the utility perspective of
monitoring and control of distributed asset(s), as well as the integration with existing Intellisource (a
platform used for demand response monitoring and control). Additionally, the pilot studies behavior of
residential customers with batteries responding to Time of Day rate structure. In the future, the City can
also collaborate with Platte River on demonstrating a residential-scale battery installation.
In 2017, the pilot design, evaluation, and tactical plans were completed. In 2018, the commercial design
development, procurement, and installation at the UAB were completed, as well as workshops on control
capabilities. Looking ahead in 2019, commercial system installation will take place within Quarter 1, and
in Quarter 2 the commercial battery will be commissioned. Staff will also begin testing use case with
Spirae’s Wave Control platform.
Board member Becker asked if the building is charged a regular commercial rate and what the demand
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charge is per kilowatt. Mr. Phelan said all City buildings are treated the same as a City of Fort Collins
commercial customer, and the UAB is on the GS50 rate. There is an energy charge, a facility demand
charge, and a coincident peak charge.
There are physical constraints to storage uses. At the UAB, existing electrical configuration eliminates
certain uses that may be likely for commercial users making a similar investment: serving as backup
power to emergency loads during a grid-down scenario, and isolated microgrid operation (the solar
cannot be used to charge the battery isolated from the grid, due to the wiring configuration and circuits
supported by the existing ATS).
Following the presentation, the Energy Board took a brief tour of the battery storage room, located inside
the Utilities Administration Building at 222 Laporte Avenue.
2019 BOARD PRIORITES
Mr. Phelan presented a list recapping what he thought the Board had expressed interest in prioritizing for
the 2019 meeting year. He categorized topics that are in progress, topics that are pending, the Energy
Policy and CAP updates, and the future distribution utility/long-term financial strategies. He asked the
Board for feedback and prioritization on the list presented.
Board member Baumgarn asked what the deadline or cycle is for updating the Energy Policy. Mr. Phelan
said it is typically updated on a five-year cycle. Mr. McCollough added that all the City’s utilities are
working to update their Capital Improvement Plans, and he suggested adding it to the “Pending” category
of the Board’s list.
Board member Braslau said discussion around demand management is missing, Mr. Phelan added it to
the Energy Policy/CAP discussion category. Mr. McCollough added that a portion of that will be covered
under the discussion with Platte River’s Integrated Resource Plan.
Vice Chairperson Shores said it would be helpful to have collaborative, joint meeting with the
Transportation Board. Chairperson Michell agreed, with a compelling agenda, a joint meeting with the
Transportation board would be useful since there are several intersecting topics between the boards.
Board member Braslau reminded the Board that there will be a Super Board meeting at the end of April
concerned with the Built Environment with a showing of a film The Greenest Building.
Chairperson Michell added that as the board has discussed before, he hopes some of the Board’s
members (or City staff) will present educational items covering their personal areas of expertise. Board
member Braslau said the educational items would be suitable for the Board’s scheduled work sessions.
BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
Board member Braslau said after last month’s presentation on the Police Regional Training Center he
and Susan McFaddin met with City staff to explain our concerns that were taken into account in the final
proposed ordinance. He then attended the City Council meeting and spoke in support of staff’s request
for a partial waiver of LEED Gold certification, and the ordinance was approved by Council.
Board member Baumgarn mentioned two conferences/symposiums scheduled in April (COSEIA, Energy
Transitions Symposium). Mr. McCollough said the City may be able to contribute registration costs; staff
will be in touch with interested Board members. Mr. Baumgarn also mentioned that Colorado State
University is hosting a Lunch & Learn on April 4, celebrating 10 Years of Solar on the CSU campus.
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FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW
Mr. Phelan will assume the role of the Board’s staff liaison beginning in March.
Board member Fassler will host a brief workshop on the Passif House standard at the Board’s April
workshop.
In March, the Board is scheduled to attend a tour of Rawhide Energy Station. At the regular meeting on
March 14, Mr. Smith’s Quarterly Financial Report will be delivered as a Board Packet item only, but Mr.
Smith will be present at the beginning of the meeting for questions.
ADJOURNMENT
The Energy Board adjourned at 7:34 pm