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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 12/08/2022 ENERGY BOARD December 8, 2022 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Alan Braslau, Steve Tenbrink, Dan Gould, Marge Moore, Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Sidra Aghababian, John Fassler, Emilio Ramirez Board Members Absent: OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, Adam Bromley, Phillip Amaya, Rhonda Gatzke, Cyril Vidergar, Brian Tholl Members of the Public: Tom Loran MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Tenbrink called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES Chairperson Tenbrink asked Mr. Bromley if Light and Power has any additional security measures (currently or planned) to protect substations learning from the incident in Moore County, North Carolina. Mr. Bromley said there is little the Utility can do to protect from the range the substations were attacked, but the City would cooperate with all federal authorities (it is a federal crime to attack the electric infrastructure). Mr. Bromley announced his last day with the City of Fort Collins will be January 5 for he has accepted a position with the City of Loveland Electric as a Utility Division Manager. PUBLIC COMMENT Newly appointed Board Member, Tom Loran, whose term begins in January 2023, presented himself to the Board. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the November 10, 2022, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. STAFF REPORTS (attachments available upon request) 2023/24 Budget Recap Adam Bromley, Director, Operations & Technology, Utilities Light & Power Mr. Bromley reminded the board of the budget offers that were not funded the last time the Board discussed budget, offers 2.10, 2.11, 2.22, 2.20, 2.21, 2.17, 1.10. He noted the only the change that occurred was to 2.20, which was for two full time Electrical Engineers. City Council asked staff what they can do with one engineer, and ultimately funded one of the two positions. Recruitment and hiring for the new engineer will start in 2023, and the position will be centered around Our Climate Future, including ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING studies on distribution systems and DERMs (distributed energy resource management systems). Chairperson Tenbrink asked if reserves are healthy enough to fund all the offers being pulled from that funding source bucket. Mr. Bromley confirmed yes, they are. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE GRANT UPDATE Megan DeMasters, Senior Specialist, Environmental Sustainability (attachments available upon request) Staff applied for and received $200,000 from the EPA to implement a program focused on indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and resilience (home comfort). The purpose of the program is to identify residential air quality and energy use needs and update the City’s existing programs to develop an indoor environmental quality (IEQ) program with community members that meets the needs of everyone in the community. Two City Programs that contribute toward these goals are Healthy Homes and Epic Homes. Healthy Homes assessments are free and open to all Fort Collins community members, behavior change based, and provides low cost to no cost solutions. Epic Homes assessments cost $60 and there are some limitations based on housing type. Epic Homes focuses on technical/structural upgrades and there are various costs associated with the upgrades. Both programs have objectives that are closely related and both programs have barriers that make it difficult for all community members to access them and are limited in meeting community members needs for home safety, comfort, and efficiency. Staff’s vision for the program is for all Fort Collins community members have a healthy, energy efficient, and resilient home environment. Ms. Lujan noted that resiliency equates to home comfort in situations such as extreme weather. The grant funding will be split up amongst Pilot implementation (6%), Community Engagement (10%), Personnel (37%), and workshops and other resources (47%). Staff put together three focus groups (31 participants). They partnered with six organizations to recruit the participants, and recruitment was focused on low to moderate income community members, community members with English as their second language, older adults, and renters. One focus group was dedicated to Spanish speaking participants. Staff asked the focus group to consider the program values: accessible & practical, proven, and trusted. They asked the groups which of the values is the most important, and are there are any values to add, or do they make sense as-is. Participants feedback included the program should be accessible and trusted, and practical. Participants also felt if the program is trusted it will also be proven. Staff formed a working group to design an updated program plan that can be piloted beginning in March 2023. Per participant feedback, the program should be centered around the values identified: practical, accessible, and trusted. The Healthy Homes Assessment process will be used as a starting place. Initially, staff is working toward intentional engagement in the neighborhoods the program will be piloted. Then the community member(s) will be connected to City staff to schedule an assessment with a trained volunteer. Once the assessment is completed, the community member receives a report with 3-5 low or no cost recommendations and a healthy homes gift bag to include an all-natural cleaner, a cleaning cloth, a radon test kit, a reusable grocery bag, and possibly a fire extinguisher or a floor mat. Staff does a follow up visit or call after the assessment and an additional follow up one month after that. With the intentionality of reaching more homes, more resources can be provided to all housing types. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Program eligible participants include all focus group participants as well as community members who live in the following neighborhoods: Waterfield (Bull Run Townhomes), Hickory Village, Buffalo Run, Tres Colonias (Alta Vista, Andersonville, Buckingham), and North College Mobile Home Park. Vice Chairperson Becker said in light of the focus group feedback around the Trusted value, are the program volunteers thoroughly trained since they are not necessarily experts in this field. Ms. DeMasters said prior to completing assessments on their own, all volunteers are trained on the process, then they shadow an assessment, and then they lead an assessment with a trained chaperone. Chairperson Tenbrink asked if staff is having success recruiting program volunteers. Ms. Lujan said yes, historically they have been very lucky with high turnout and don’t expect to have any issues with this recruitment cycle. Board member Aghababian asked how staff will approach any concerns about the City’s U+2 ordinance, because participants may not want people from the City in their home. Ms. Lujan said the program is not an enforcement program, so staff is not looking for compliance violations. She added she hopes to make that clear through all the community connections. DRAFT 2022 ANNUAL REPORT (attachments available upon request) Board members reviewed and added points to the 2022 Draft Annual Report. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Vice Chairperson Becker attended the Grid Edge Innovation Summit, put on by research group, Wood McKenzie. The conference focused on insights to commercialize distributed energy and electrification at scale, and held discussions about modernizing the grid in a time of massive electrification, ownership models for EV charging infrastructure, deploying infrastructure capital through everything-as-a-service, grid insecurity and customer resilience offerings, decarbonizing heat: from heat pumps to district energy DERMS, sensors and AI: advanced monitoring and control solutions for utilities, fragmentation and integrations of EV charging networks, the rapidly changing microgrid technology landscape, grid- interactive and efficient buildings, and virtual power plants: project landscape and regulatory outlook. Board member Braslau attended a recent Transportation Board meeting where the bus driver shortage was discussed. He was disappointed to hear how behind the City is in rectifying this issue, even if it is at least in part a symptom of an industry-wide issue. Less available routes directly impacts transit availability which will affect our ability to reach our Climate Action Plan goals. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW Four new Board members will join the Energy Board in January. The Board will spend some time with brief introductions among themselves. Light & Power’s new director, Phillip Amaya, will also be introducing himself to the Board. The Board will also approve the 2022 Annual Report. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 7:10 pm.