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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 09/14/2017Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Fort Collins Utilities Energy Board Minutes Thursday, September 14, 2017 Energy Board Chairperson City Council Liaison Pete O’Neill, 970-223-8703 Ross Cunniff, 970-420-7398 Energy Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison Nick Michell, 970-215-9235 Tim McCollough, 970-305-1069 Roll Call Board Present: Chairperson Pete O’Neill , Vice Chairperson Nick Michell, Greg Behm, Bill Becker, John Fassler, Stacey Baumgarn Late Arrivals: Margaret Moore Board Absent: Amanda Shores, Alan Braslau Others Present Staff: Tim McCollough, Christie Fredrickson, Kevin Gertig, Lindsay Ex, Sean Carpenter, Lance Smith PRPA: Paul Davis Members of the Public: Mark Houdashelt, Clifton Welter, Rick Coen Meeting Convened Chairperson Pete O’Neill called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Announcements and Agenda Changes None Public Comment Mark Houdashelt, Chair of Air Quality Advisory Board (AQAB), would like for the Energy Board to collaborate with the AQAB. He suggested a few areas they could potentially work together in: the Budgeting for Outcomes process, greenhouse gas emissions, transportation. He wondered if they should form a separate board or a subcommittee for GHG emissions and climate change. Chairperson O’Neill advised that the Energy Board is interested in coordinating and collaborating, and they should discuss with Staff Liaisons regarding getting on each other’s agenda. Approval of August 10, 2017 Board Meeting Minutes Amendments to the August 10, 2017 minutes were made by the Board Members and the minutes were accepted as amended. Staff Reports (attachments available upon request) Executive Director Update Kevin Gertig, Utilities Executive Director Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Mr. Gertig advised he will continue to use this presentation to focus on key initiatives in Light & Power and the Utility. As he explained, to be the safest workplace in America, it’s necessary to have metrics to back up the behavior. All managers in the Utility have completed the Leading a Culture of Safety course and every meeting now begins with a safety minute. Mr. Gertig is pleased with the changes so far, but he won’t be satisfied until the score is zero. Mr. Gertig is also pleased to report the hiring of a new Asset Manager, Coy Althoff. Mr. Althoff brings great experience from the public and private sector to the position. Mr. Gertig noted Broadband and the Climate Action Plan continue to be a focus in the Utility and staff will update the board if and when new information is available. Water storage continues to be a concern, as the City owns Halligan reservoir but does not own the water rights to it; this is a project over 10 years in the making. Tim McCollough was appointed to lead a renewable energy team composed of strong staff, including John Phelan and Colorado State University. Mr. Gertig recently visited the Drake Water Reclamation Facility, where they are preliminary testing with ultraviolet light disinfection. This is a project that has taken six BFO cycles, and they are going to be able to eliminate gaseous chlorine and gaseous Sulphur dioxide as a part of a regulatory compliance issue. Mr. Gertig reviewed the progress of several strategy map initiatives and measures for the Utility and specifically, Light and Power. He explained budget offers are filtered into several strategic objective categories, such as Safe Community, High Performing Government, Economic Health, etc. So far, Light and Power is on track with objective 3.8, “Maintain electric utility systems, services, infrastructure integrity, and stable, competitive rates. Objective 3.9 is “Encourage the development of reliable, high speed internet services throughout the community.” The broadband initiative is also on track, and staff is focused on the next three months leading into the vote. Objective 4.1, “Achieve Climate Action Plan (CAP) goals by reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs),” has some offers flagged for staff to follow up, but overall the objective’s initiatives are moving forward. Mr. Gertig is looking forward to capital planning & budgeting, as well as finalizing and implementing 2017/2018 work plans. Vice Chairperson Michell asked if the issue with water storage is that we have a lot of rights to water but nowhere to put it. Mr. Gertig advised yes that is one of the issues; Colorado has a use it or lose it policy. Board member Baumgarn said he appreciates reviewing the BFO process because it can be tricky and hard to remember between cycles. He recalled the safety budget offer from two cycles ago, and commented how cool it is to see it come to fruition. He commended Mr. Gertig for keeping the focus on safety. Chairperson O’Neill asked Mr. Gertig what he thought about the bonding of Light and Power for the broadband project; Mr. Gertig advised he is concerned, but staff has been closely examining the data with what is already known today and project that out for risk analysis. Quarterly Financial Report Lance Smith, Utility Strategic Finance Director Mr. Smith will review Light and Power’s year-to-date financials. There are two perspectives to consider: year over year, and relative to the budget. Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Year over year revenues to date are up in commercial sales and industrial charges for services, but are essentially flat in residential sales and green energy program sales. As these categories pertain to the budget, actual revenues in Light and Power are flat with the budget revenues. In a lapsing fund, if the money is not spent by the end of the year, the money goes back into reserves and will be re-appropriated by Council. Capital Appropriations are non-lapsing, so any funds for those projects are still set aside for that purpose. In the past, system renewal was funded from the system addition/replacement budget, but beginning in this budget cycle they were moved to Capital Improvement. Actual expenses through August are over budget in system addition/replacement, debt service, and PILOTs. Administrative services are exactly on budget, and Energy Services and Light & Power Operations are both under budget. Purchased Power Expenses is $1.5 million over budget because the community is using more energy than forecasted, but that also means revenues are higher than forecasted. Staff will be asking for $3.5 million from council in the annual budget “clean up” ordinance. Community renewables, like SP3, or rooftop community solar gardens, is currently under budget relative to the year, and that’s partially due to the programs not being fully implemented yet and some SP3 energy was calendarized to come online later this year. Vice Chairperson Michell wondered if purchased power was higher because we used more electricity, or because the City planned to purchase more renewables? Mr. McCollough said the projections were soft compared to actuals, and staff typically looks into the data annually and then weather-normalizes it. Mr. Fassler commented the purchased power data could be discouraging when considering how the City encourages reduction. Climate Action Plan Update Lindsay Ex, Environmental Program Manager (attachments available upon request) Ms. Ex’s presentation will briefly cover national, state, and local activities, focus on messaging and engagement; and highlight other efforts and next steps. President Trump’s declaration to pull out of the Paris agreement can’t actually take effect until November 4, 2020, and the implications won’t be clear for some time. Statewide efforts in Colorado are taking shape; Governor Hickenlooper’s executive order is exciting because though his vision is still being developed, but his goal is to find a way to get there together without significant legislative action. There are two organizations working together and with the Governor to figure out how to operationalize those efforts. The Compact of Colorado Communities is focused on building capacity and taking action in the climate space. Colorado Communities for Climate Action are focused on the policy side of climate action. Messaging and engagement local efforts are underway and staff has identified a strong need for focus. An RFP was released under a budget offer for CAP messaging and engagement, and staff selected a firm called PRR. Staff has been working with them for much of 2017, and PRR has been spending time trying to understand what Staff is doing around messaging and engagement, including the rebranding of CAP. In two statistically valid surveys, Staff found the community supports what the City is doing in the Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Climate Action space. In Environmental Service’s Community Survey (done every 5 years), only 46% of the respondents have never heard of the Climate Action Plan; however almost 80% of the respondents believe the City should invest in programs and create polices to address climate change. Ms. Ex noted that maybe it doesn’t actually matter if people know the City has a Climate Action Plan, what’s important is that they want the City to engage. In PRR’s survey, 81% of respondents support the City’s plans and efforts in Climate Action. PRR’s survey also found that those who did not previously know about the Climate Action Plan overwhelmingly supported the name “Climate Action Plan” for the project. Ms. Ex said all future marketing materials will include the title, Climate Action Plan. Going forward, the initial vision for the Climate Action Campaign is centered on focusing in the middle, making it easy to understand and participate, leveraging partnerships, and providing incentives. Staff is currently in the Validate stage of messaging and engagement, and in the coming months they will move to Define, Plan, and Summit, by looking at the successful metrics, barriers and influencers, and creating a plan. The Summit will address flaws and opportunities and use partnerships to recruit more partners. Chairperson O’Neill said Staff should use the board as a focus group to help with Summit planning, asks, and topics. Vice Chairperson Michell commented he has friends and neighbors who don’t seem to do know about the City’s programs, and so how does the City get better about getting information out to the Community? Ms. Ex advised Staff is really going to hone in on the focus of the program, measure before and after, and find out what worked and what didn’t. The EV Readiness roadmap was funded with a budget offer, and the majority of work in the planning process will happen in 2018. The focus areas include infrastructure, outreach, education and incentives, policies, codes, permitting, rates, charging issues, leading by example, and roles in both the public and private sectors. Vice Chairperson Michell asked about the focus areas of the EV readiness roadmap, and Ms. Ex said the budget offer identified a suite of options to focus on, and they will also continue to coordinate with Drive Electric Colorado and the City of Loveland. Climate Economy Sean Carpenter, Climate Economy Advisor (attachments available upon request) The primary purpose of Climate Economy is to engage external expertise in developing innovating public private partnerships (PPPs) and related projects to support achievement of CAP objectives. Mr. Carpenter’s position was created in the 2016 mid-cycle budget offer, and was initially established as a contractual position. He was hired in October 2016 and Natural Capitalism Solutions (based out of Boulder, CO) was hired as support and to provide external connections. Mr. Carpenter’s position was extended to two years, and he has 13 months remaining. The City is currently projecting it will take approximately $265 million to meet the 2030 Climate Action Plan goals. Board member Moore asked if that $265 million included retrofitting buildings and Mr. Carpenter confirmed it does. The key focuses of the Climate Action Plan are buildings, transportation, Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 energy supply, and waste reduction. In order to maintain a superior quality of life in Fort Collins, we need to leverage PPPs. PPPs can advance clean energy, provide sustainable jobs, advance equity objectives, use a triple helix approach, foster a link to the City as platform recommendations, and can utilize the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance. These will bring in talent and leadership to the community. Additionally, there are currently three times more clean energy jobs than oil and gas jobs in northern Colorado. The fastest growing job is a solar panel installer. Mr. Carpenter ultimately hopes to identify and leverage the tools the private sector already has to help Fort Collins reach their goals; such as Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE), CSU Green Revolving Fund (GRF), Efficiency Loan Programs (Clean Energy Credit Union), Crowd Funding (e.g. community funded), and environment impact bonds. Vice Chairperson Michell asks how Mr. Carpenter currently works with existing programs, like Efficiency Works. Mr. Carpenter advised he works with Efficiency Works daily and they frequently collaborate. He also works closely with John Phelan and Energy Services. He said he relies closely on those relationships for the technical expertise, and he brings financial expertise to the relationship. Approve 2018 Work Plan Board member Behm moved to accept the 2018 Energy Board Work Plan as presented. Board member Moore seconded the motion. Discussion: Board member Baumgarn wondered if the responsibilities outlined for Staff in the work plan is too much. Mr. McCollough advised he hasn’t vetted it with all staff yet. Vice Chairperson Michell said the plan contains everything they are interested in, and it is less about what the board is committed to do and more a comprehensive list of areas the board is interested in. Vote on the Motion: It passed unanimously, 7-0, with two absent Board Member Reports Vice Chairperson Michell volunteered with grid alternatives. Board member Baumgarn advised Colorado State University’s emissions went down because they were more renewable energy resources available. He said this is encouraging news and the credit really goes to Colorado Utilities for incorporating more renewables into the generation mix (about 2% more). Chairperson O’Neill is slowly upgrading his house into a smart home, open HAB (home automation bus), through an intranet of things (as opposed to internet of things), so he does need to subscribe to an intermediary service like Nest. He ultimately intends to connect to Light & Power demand respond systems . Future Agenda Review October agenda items include several rate specific topics; Small Cell Attachments will also be discussed, the moratorium was passed but it will expire in December. Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Energy Board Minutes September 14, 2017 Board member Baumgarn inquired about BFO planning and asked if the board could start previewing offers earlier next year. He felt by waiting until the offers are written it became too late to have much engagement with the process. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. Approved by the Energy Board on October 12, 2017 ________________________________ ______________ Board Secretary, Christie Fredrickson Date 10/18/2017