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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 08/08/2019ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING August 8, 2019 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave.; Colorado Room ENERGY BOARD MEETING |08/082019 ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Chairperson Nick Michell, Vice Chairperson Amanda Shores, Alan Braslau, Bill Becker, Dan Gould, Jeremy Giovando Board Members Absent: John Fassler, Stacey Baumgarn OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: John Phelan, Christie Fredrickson, Lindsay Ex, Cyril Vidergar, Pablo Bauleo, Brian Tholl, Wendell Stainsby, Tim McCollough Platte River Power Authority: Paul Davis, Joel Danforth, Pat Connors, Masood Ahmad Members of the Public: None MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Michell called the meeting to order at 5:33 pm PUBLIC COMMENT None APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the July 11, 2019 minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None STAFF REPORTS July 23 Council Work Session Debrief John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Lindsay Ex, Climate Program Manager Mr. Phelan said the work to update the Climate Action Plan, Energy Policy, and Road to Zero Waste planning processes will now be referred to as Our Climate Future. Chairperson Michell asked for clarification if Epic Loans are the on-bill financing program. Mr. Phelan said Epic is the collective grouping of the City’s single-family home efficiency efforts, the core of which is Efficiency Works Home. Mr. Phelan explained to fund Epic Loans, the Utility has existing resources from Light and Power reserves as well as grant funding and pending agreements with 10-year funds from a national commercial bank and 15-year funds from the Colorado Energy Office as well as national green bank. Mr. Phelan clarified there is no relationship between the utility customer and the third-party funding source. Board member Braslau asked when the loan program will go live. Mr. Phelan said the program is ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 08/082019 already live, but the Utility is not actively marketing the program until the additional funding agreements are finalized. Board member Giovando said he just went through the loan program and felt it was very easy. Ms. Ex said the City Council Read-Before Packet will include a copy of the draft resolution, “Acknowledging the Global Climate Emergency and Reaffirming the City’s Commitment to Climate Action” staff is presenting to City Council on August 20. UAP/IQAP Update (Packet Item Only – No Presentation) Crystal Shafii, Manager Public Engagement Board members inquired about the included graphics in the UAP/IQUAP memo, they wondered why some of the graphs only have three years represented. Mr. Phelan explained that some of the programs were run as individual items for one year and then were rolled up into larger bundled programs the next year. Chairperson Michell asked what percentage of the IQAP participants are renting their residence. Mr. Phelan said he would find out and report back to the Board. DEMAND RESPONSE UPDATE Pablo Bauleo, Senior Energy Services Engineer Joel Danforth, Platte River Power Authority (attachments available upon request) Mr. Bauleo said the Peak Partners program is really a grid management system composed of peak management, grid sales with Platte River, and renewable integration, as well as services such as Time of Day shifting, Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment promotion, and carbon management. IntelliSOURCE is a distributed resource management system that provides work orders, inventory management, an auto-enrollment portal, case management, command and control (shared with Platte River), telemetry, analytics, and forecasting. Bring Your Own Thermostat (BYOT) went live about three months ago. The program works with Nest and Honeywell for 130 devices each. Nest is fully subscribed, and staff is looking to reallocate funds to expand the program; Honeywell is about 30% subscribed. BYOT provides a door to a different customer segment group; such as a customer group with a higher PV penetration (13% as opposed to 5% of the original Peak Partner Thermostat participants). Chairperson Michell asked why the program only has room for 130 subscriptions per brand as opposed to open enrollment. Mr. Bauleo and Mr. Phelan said the BYOT portion of the program was not funded in the new round of budget offers, and so the program is sort of a pilot in the sense that the Utility is learning what it takes to work with third-party vendors and devices while understanding the benefits the City can collect from the partnership. They also said it’s an expensive program on a per unit cost. Chairperson Michell commented that the City is subsidizing Nest thermostats through the Efficiency Works online store but it’s unfortunate there isn’t funding to utilize the thermostats to the Utility’s benefit. Mr. Phelan said the driver behind the thermostat subsidy is the expected energy efficiency savings. Mr. Bauleo said he is working through integration, data transfer, automation, and validation with the thermostats. He’s trying to gain a sense of how they are performing and making sure the system works, as well as building up some event experience. Since the BYOT program went live, seven events have been dispatched (all cooling, since the program has only been live during summer months). ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 08/082019 Board members asked about loss of use of the device when a customer moves out. Mr. Bauleo said based on their contract they cannot reach out to the new homeowner, plus funding is a continuous challenge for this program, and the Utility pays Nest or Honeywell per customer. Peak Partners thermostat customers (original thermostat only, not Nest or Honeywell thermostats) can opt-into a pre-loaded heating and cooling schedule for Time of Day peak hours. Mr. Bauleo said the thermostat data they’ve collected between Summer 2018 (no ToD rates yet) and Summer 2019 so far, shows utility customers are responding to Time of Day, but more to come. Water Heater Customers have three options to shift their load: Aggressive, Default, or Basic. To prevent shifting water heater loads to on-peak hours, the Platte River’s demand response resource is unavailable during the hour preceding the on-peak period, and to allow the water heaters to “recharge,” there is also a blackout period for demand response the hour following the on-peak period. Board member Braslau asked what kind of savings would we see if all Utilities customers were on electric water heaters. Mr. Bauleo said they do not have that data at that time but agrees it is important data to have when trying to make policy decisions. Mr. Danforth reminded the Board the goal of the Demand Response Pilot is to integrate participating owner communities’ demand response into Platte River operations to provide wholesale system benefits. This includes Fort Collins’ Peak Partners program, which includes 1500 air conditioning units and 2000 water heaters. System benefits may include energy benefits, capacity benefits, ancillary services benefits, and distribution system benefits. Mr. Danforth said the 2018 report and audit of the pilot is complete, which was very data-intensive but ultimately helped identify errors, improve data streams, and update reporting. He said he could provide the Board a copy of that report if they are interested. The Pilot’s third amendment to the operating procedure was updated to include testing renewable Integration Operations (RIO). Mr. Danforth also said the IntelliSOURCE sublicense has been extended through July 2020, and he’s exploring options to include battery storage and other services. Mr. Danforth said RIO can be viewed as a look into the future; as more and more renewables are added onto the grid there will be a growing need for flexibility from existing loads on the grid. He said staff always keeps the customer’s comfort top-of-mind with regards to demand response, and they have been wondering if there is a way to do demand response in such a way that would minimize the effect on those customers (i.e. for periods of less than one hour). One possibility of this idea is to help offset the intermittent nature of renewable generation sub-hourly, and would that result in better alignment between DR and generation resources? Mr. Danforth displayed a graphic demonstrating the wind and solar generation profiles in 2018. He looks for the periods in which the generation drops off the fastest, because those are periods that can be targeted with demand response and typically last for a shorter time span than an hour. Chairperson Michell asked if there is any forecast for a solar deceleration event. Mr. Danforth said they do with limitations, but there is room for improvement. 227 events were analyzed in 2018, creating 15-minute RIO intervals, and they added up to 56.75 total hours. The DR resource capacity during the event intervals averaged 37% in non-summer months and 55% in summer months. The DR system would need to be fully automated with a renewable generation forecast to capture the RIO value scenarios The DR Pilot will conclude at the end of 2019, and Mr. Bauleo and Mr. Danforth are developing a plan to move forward. In 2020 they anticipate focusing on the thermostat resource, as Platte River will ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 08/082019 discontinue the water heater resource (but Fort Collins Utilities will continue with Time of Day and resume peak management). They will also be evaluating other demand response technologies, operating models, and programs. ENERGY EFFICIENCY PLANNING UPDATE Brian Tholl, Energy Services Supervisor Paul Davis, Platte River Power Authority (attachments available upon request) Mr. Tholl reminded the Board that the City of Fort Collins works with Platte River, as well as the cities of Estes Park, Longmont, and Loveland, on the Efficiency Works-branded common programs. These programs have been very successful, and Mr. Tholl said they’re looking forward to ramping up their collaboration with new products in the future. Generally, the four collaborating communities work on city- specific program administration, customer marketing, and community outreach events. Platte River typically handles program administration, rebates, savings analysis, evaluations, regional marketing, trainings, as well as trade ally and retailer management. Together, all collaborators work on customer service, funding, program planning and participation, innovations, and pilots. Additionally, they try to leverage dollars with gas rebates and incentives with Xcel Energy. Mr. Tholl said program management is tasked with balancing Energy Policy Goals, Customer Service Goals, and Financial and Cost Effectiveness Goals. Generally, staff tries to have an equitable portfolio of programs where businesses and residents can participate with a range of end-uses, while making sure the cost of saved energy is less than that of blended wholesale energy. The primary driver for the achievement is stated in the Energy Policy: Efficiency Portfolio savings of 2.5% of community electricity use in 2020. Energy Policy annual efficiency targets and achievements have steadily increased since 2010. In 2018, the common Efficiency Works programs (Business, Store, Marketplace, and Homes) accounted for 57% of the efficiency portfolio savings. Staff is working beyond incentive-based programs to help achieve energy savings goals by working with the building department on various projects, such as code compliance and adoption and benchmarking work (like building energy and water scoring). Mr. Tholl said they always strive to strike the balance between voluntary and policy driven programs. Chairperson Michell asked if code- and policy-based improvements are counted toward efficiency improvements. Mr. Phelan said those improvements are a component of modeled savings on a square-footage basis. Staff is currently working on projects that aim to meet customers where they are, with midstream retailer engagement, so that it is more convenient to purchase efficient products. They are also working on behavioral and stakeholder engagement with groups staff hasn’t previously engaged with, such as the real estate community. Chairperson Michell asked how the midstream retailer programs are going. Mr. Tholl said some of the programs are going very well and others need additional support to grow. The most successful midstream program is the LED lightbulb discount for the retailer. The newest midstream approach is the Efficiency Works online store, which allows customers to confirm they are Fort Collins Utilities customer and receive an instant coupon code to use at the retailer checkout. Overall Mr. Tholl said the program is going well, but in order to grow, the online store requires a level of digital engagement that the Utility doesn’t currently have. Mr. Tholl explained 70% of the online store’s sales are driven by email blasts, but the Utility doesn’t have a lot of emails because the communications are limited to those already participating in the Efficiency Works-Homes program. In order to grow the store’s sales, the Utility would need to develop a very robust digital engagement strategy. The behavioral efficiency and engagement program, also known as home energy reports, will be ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 08/082019 revamped very soon. Mr. Tholl said the reports have driven a lot of change and success, but the program has become a little stale. Some paper reports will still be distributed but there will be a strategy to target customers who have a higher potential to save. There will be an online portal and staff plans to introduce an aspect of gamification, along with the ability to promote other products such as Connexion, the upcoming Broadband Utility. Mr. Tholl said they will also have an option to receive high bill alerts via text and email, similar to a cellular provider’s high data usage alerts. Board member Braslau asked if Xcel gas usage will be integrated to the reporting. Mr. Tholl said Xcel also selected the same vendor, so it could be a possibility to implement in the future. Chairperson Michell asked about the gamification on the website. Mr. Tholl said gamification is an engagement tool, though it is proven to not drive efficiency behaviors. He said they aren’t looking to drive energy saving behaviors with gamification, but rather view it as part of a holistic approach to engaging with the customer. Later this year, after some work to increase engagement and training, the Utility plans to launch a tool to help local real estate agents sell efficient homes in Fort Collins. The Utility can provide a document to real estate agents, which outlines efficiency improvements done to a home, for the agent use as part of their sales pitch. Customers who have gone through the Efficiency Works-Homes program and completed the upgrades will generate a certificate with a Department of Energy score (1 through 10); the score is specific to assets within the home or property, and not behaviors of the occupant. Additionally, the software database component should be compatible with the Multiple Listing Service. Chairperson Michell asked if the score on the document is a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score, and Mr. Tholl said it is analogous to a HERS score. Mr. Tholl said staff has been working with a group of 13 real estate agents to get their feedback on the document and the process and the response has been positive. Board member Gould said it seems to him that real estate stakeholders here should be aware of energy audit and disclosure ordinances in some communities that require the generation and dissemination of such information. DRAFT 2020 WORK PLAN Energy Board Discussion (attachments available upon request) Chairperson Michell asked the Board what key items they would like to see listed in the work plan for the 2020 Energy Board to consider. He added that unlike 2019, 2020 is a budget planning year for the City, so that should be included in next year’s plan. Mr. Phelan said the allocation of funds to the different outcome areas happens early in the budgeting process and is a key step in that’s often underappreciated. For example, Light & Power funds can only be used for Utility functions, but L&P funds are split into two different outcome areas: Environmental Health and Safe Community. L&P Operations and purchased power funds are in Safe Community, while Energy Services are in Environmental Health; the allocation of those funds is what ultimately determines how much funding is available for the offers and programs within those two outcome areas. The Board discussed the implementation and execution of City-adopted plans, such as City Plan and the Transportation Master Plan. Board member Gould wondered if their work plan could include a clearer definition of the Board’s role and voice with regards to transportation and the impact it has on the community. He referenced the home energy reporting sent to Utility customers and said something similar may be useful to help to residents identify mobility behaviors, patterns, and actions they could take to reduce their transportation carbon footprint. He also said City Plan references plans to make mobility around Fort Collins easier, and it would be great to include that information in the same reporting. Chairperson Michell agreed, and said he really liked the idea of behavioral reporting, but also the idea of ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 08/082019 including information about how to get around Fort Collins with one car or no car at all. The Board compiled a list of additional items they would like Chairperson Michell to include in the 2020 Work Plan: • Budget • Transportation • Future Distribution Utility/Sustainable Finances (Protecting L&P Assets) • Permitting and development costs for distributed energy resources, including EVs and Solar (cost of services) • Future wind and solar projects • Carbon pathways/scenarios analysis (Energy Policy, CAP) • Community Solar Project • Storage and associated business models BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Chairperson Michell talked to the Transportation Board about metro districts, and they discussed ideas they could pitch to encourage car-less transportation within the districts, such as bike trails with more direct routes to downtown. Board member Braslau said the City was hosting concurrently a meeting regarding the rezoning of the old Hughes Stadium property. He has received texting feedback that it is being held in open-house format and is a bit confusing for participants. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW Tim McCollough will cover for Mr. Phelan as the Board’s staff liaison next month. Mr. Phelan said 2020 Electric Rates will go to council in October, so Mr. Smith and Mr. Reuscher will bring to the Energy Board in September and they will be looking for a recommendation. Platte River’s IRP Public Listening session is coming up in October. The Connexion Launch Party is to be held August 29 at The Lincoln Center. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:29 pm.