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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 03/12/2020 ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING March 12, 2020 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave.; Colorado Room ENERGY BOARD MEETING |03/12/2020 ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Bill Becker, Dan Gould, Alan Braslau, John Fassler, Marge Moore, Sue McFaddin, Steve Tenbrink Board Members Absent: Amanda Shores, Jeremy Giovando OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: John Phelan, Adam Bromley Platte River Power Authority: Members of the Public: None MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Board member Braslau (acting Chair) called the meeting to order at 5:31 pm PUBLIC COMMENT None APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the February 13, 2020 minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES Three new members were appointed to the Board by City Council in February, Marge Moore, Steve Tenbrink, and Sue McFaddin. Each board member took a moment to briefly introduce themselves, but additional introductions are scheduled for later in the agenda. STAFF REPORTS Legislative Update John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Mr. Phelan reviewed a few bills currently proposed for Colorado State Legislature. A new bill (no number assigned yet), titled Energy Assistance Opt Out Round Up, is a funding source for Energy Outreach Colorado for low income energy assistance programs. It would require utilities across the state to round up bills to the nearest dollar to provide a consistent funding stream. The alternative would be for utilities to self-certify their own low-income energy assistance programs. INTRODUCTION TO UTILTIES Light & Power Operations Update Adam Bromley, Operations & Technology Director ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 03/12/2020 Mr. Bromley explained that the City of Fort Collins Light & Power is the distribution utility that takes the power from the generation and transmission provider, Platte River Power Authority, and distributes that energy through the network to homes and businesses throughout the community. In 1968, City Council made the decision that there would be no new overhead construction, and that all new energy infrastructure needed to be underground. Then in the 1980s, staff made the decision to proactively underground all the existing overhead infrastructure. Mr. Bromley also highlighted the Art in Public Places program, which helps design mural wraps for transformers and switches. Mr. Bromley explained that Light and Power recently went through a reorganization. Tim McCollough is the Deputy Director over Light and Power, and he has three directors who report to him: Operations & Technology Director (Adam Bromley), Electric Field Services Director (Travis Walker), and Electrical Engineering Director (Kraig Bader). Board members inquired where Energy Services is (Mr. Phelan’s division), and Mr. Phelan explained Energy Services is part of Customer Connections department, not Light & Power. Energy Services works closely with both Light & Power and Customer Connections, and their work is regularly integrated. Mr. Bromley explained some of the key metrics Light & Power uses to benchmark against other utilities. SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) measures how long, averaged across all customers, the system was without power over the last year. CAIDI (Customer Average Interruption Duration Index) measures how long on average it takes to restore service to a customer experiencing an outage. Mr. Bromley said the Utility is currently trending higher than they would like in this category (69.6 minutes), and much of that is due to the type and cause of the outages. Recently there have been a lot of cable failures and dig-ins. Mr. Phelan asked if it was true that with an underground system, outages are much less likely to occur, but when there is one it can take longer to repair. Mr. Bromley said that can be true, but one of the other benefits of our underground system is that it is all looped, so it is possible to identify and isolate the outage equipment and restore power everywhere around it. SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) measures how many times in a year the average customer is without power. The top two causes for unplanned outages in Fort Collins are equipment failures and dig-ins. Over the last year, there were 37 outages related to dig-ins, but in the last five years there were only 74 dig-in related outages, so more than half of those outages occurred in the last year. Mr. Bromley said these dig- ins are largely related to City-contracted employees working with Connexion who are struggling with much of the City’s underground infrastructure (both Electric and Water). Mr. Bromley said as long as this construction continues, staff expects dig-ins will continue to happen. Looking ahead in 2020, Light & Power has several projects planned, including Geographic Information System (GIS) and Graphic Work Design (GWD), upgrading the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system to 64 bit system, ADMS (Advanced Distribution Management System), converting several Microsoft access databases to Maximo, the remodel and combination of the Supervisory Control Operations (SCO) and Network Operations Center (NOC) at the Utilities Service Center, and many others. Board member Tenbrink asked what percentage of power lines still remain overhead. Mr. Bromley said the City Manager’s office recently made it a priority to complete remaining overhead conversions by 2022, and he estimated it to be less than a percent. New overhead conversions mainly come from annexations into the City. Energy Services Update ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 03/12/2020 John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Mr. Phelan said in 2003 the City created the Electric Energy Supply Policy, which was the first time they had a policy related to energy as distribution utility. By 2005, the City hit close to 9000 MWh saved or avoided and Mr. Phelan expects 2019 will be around 40,000 MWh savings (the numbers are still being finalized). Mr. Phelan reviewed the City’s Energy Policy, which reflects Fort Collins’ values of reliability, affordability, safety, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, pollution prevention, environmental stewardship and energy independence. It is aligned with the Climate Action Plan (CAP), goals of 20% carbon reduction below 2005 levels by 2020, 80% by 2030, and carbon neutral by 2050. The completion of the Roundhouse Project should enable the City to reach their 2020 goals. The City and Energy Services has many tools to meet their goals, including policy tools, programs, pricing tools, research, infrastructure, as well as technology and communications. Our Climate Future (OCF) is one of the policy tools the City uses to seek equitable solutions to achieve energy, zero waste, and climate goals. OCF is currently composed of three plans: Climate Action Plan (CAP), Energy Policy, and Road to Zero Waste Plan. As the work continues to shape the ideas and goals of OCF, there number of plans may reduce since there is some overlap between the work and goals of each plan. Energy Services hosts a variety programs such as Efficiency Works, Peak Partners, Energy Code, Renewable programs (rooftop solar, etc.), pricing programs (Time of Day, etc.), and innovation programs (battery storage and electric vehicles). Mr. Phelan reviewed EPIC Homes, which is the umbrella of programs designed to create a comprehensive portfolio for single-family home performance. EPIC Homes begins with Efficiency Works Homes, which helps owners and tenants get a home efficiency assessment and connect them participating contractors and financing, and ultimately awards the home with an efficiency certificate they can provide as part of their listing when selling or renting the home. Board member Gould asked if EPIC is an acronym for something? Mr. Phelan said initially, it was an acronym for Energy Performance Improvement Certificate, but as the City began work on the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge staff and customers started referring to it as EPIC out of ease. Mr. Phelan said in his opinion, utilities are entering a space where customers are explicitly part of the system. He believes we should view customers as a part of the solution rather than a problem to be solved. NEW BOARD MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS AND NETWORKING Board member Braslau said the Board is composed of many outspoken voices, but they are all respectful of each other. Board member Becker agreed and said each board member has a different perspective influenced by their own background and education which makes for great conversation and well-rounded decision making. BOARD PRIORITIES AND 2020 PLANNING Board member McFaddin requested reports on a few items: 2021 IEC Codes, the proposal for a Colorado Green Bank, and hoping the board can release a statement regarding Platte River’s Integrated Resource Plan. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 03/12/2020 Board members are also curious about Time of Day price structures and how the affect lower-income home occupants who spend much of the day in the house. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Board member Becker went to Platte River’s IRP public session hosted in Loveland. He said the format was interesting as the attendees were divided into smaller groups and given a synopsis of four scenarios and they were tasked to discuss them from various points of view, such as reliability and cost. He felt that many of the statements were misleading or intentionally trying to filter participants away from some of the scenarios. Board members discussed their frustration with the process and wondered if City staff was feeling the same sense of being led in a certain direction. Mr. Phelan said Platte River is likely in very uncomfortable territory in terms of what they are trying to model and reminded the Board that in the past the IRP has been resource adequacy based. He said Staff has not been any more involved in the process than the Board has, and in many cases, they have probably been less involved. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW Items planned for April include an update from Connexion and Lance Smith on finances (both packet items only), an update from Platte River on the IRP, a budget review, the Green Energy Program 2021 redesign. Board member Gould wondered if the Board could discuss transportation and fuel consumption under the larger umbrella of community mobility; in his time with the Energy Board they have not been able to connect or meet with the Transportation Board. Board member Becker requested an update on the permitting process for Solar. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:40 pm.