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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 11/12/2020 ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING November 12, 2020 – 5:30 pm Remote – Zoom Meeting ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Amanda Shores. Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Dan Gould, Alan Braslau, Marge Moore, Steve Tenbrink, Sue McFaddin, John Fassler Board Members Absent: OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: John Phelan, Christie Fredrickson, Tim McCollough, Theresa Connor, Leland Keller, Cyril Vidergar Platte River Power Authority: Paul Davis, Trista Fugate Members of the Public: Rick Coen, Rich Stave, Nick Michell MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Shores called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm PUBLIC COMMENT None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the October 8, 2020 minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES The Energy Board will continue to meet remotely, pursuant to Ordinance No. 79, 2020. Staff reports will be shifted to later in the meeting due to a Staff conflict. UTILITIES & PFA TRAINING FACILITY IGA Travis Walker, Director, Electric Field Services Mr. Walker reminded the Board that a few years ago there was a budget offer for a Light & Power training field, which the Board was in support of. Unfortunately, that offer was not funded in the 2019/20 Budget, but that turned out to be a bright spot because a new opportunity has come up with Poudre Fire Authority (PFA). The opportunity arose to check into Poudre Fire Authority’s existing training facility on West Vine, which has some vacant space. PFA has a training need for underground and confined space facilities, trenches and trench rescues, as well as high elements such as power poles and high voltage lines. The partnership is mutually beneficial because it eliminates the need for Utilities to purchase any land. PFA is working with Utilities to develop the construction drawings, surveys, and any excavation and installation work that is necessary for the project. The two entities have begun exploring a phased ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING approach to adding joint training facilities, with the first phase to be undertaken in 2021 on CSU-owned land with a long-term lease held by PFA. PFA’s cost is expected to be minimal, and Utilities has both existing and future offers in the City’s budgeting process to cover their portion of the expenses (approximately $110,000 per year in both 2021 and 2022). A Memorandum of Understanding is currently in the works, and staff is working with legal teams from both Utilities and PFA to outline what each entity is responsible for, and language that gives Utilities an out should the long-term lease with CSU come to an end. Board member Becker said he can’t see a downside, and wondered if there is a one? Mr. Walker said he does not see one, the cooperative partnership is exciting for both agencies. Chairperson Shores asked what happens if funding is approved in 2021 but not 2022. Mr. Walker said it would still be a win because they can still get a lot of the basic set up and infrastructure out there. Board member Braslau moved the Energy Board support the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a cooperative training center between Poudre Fire Authority and Fort Collins Utilities. Board member Tenbrink seconded the motion. Discussion: Chairperson Shores asked if there are consequences if the funding were to fall through with PFA. Mr. McCollough said there is a loss risk in the recovery of assets that Utilities has placed on the property; certain assets are replaceable or removeable, but staff is continuing to work through an exit clause, but currently staff hasn’t identified any major showstoppers. Vote on the Motion: It passed unanimously, 9-0 UTILITIES FALL CODE UPDATE Tim McCollough, Deputy Director, Utilities Light & Power Along with the City, Utilities seeks to keep all code current, so every six months staff works on a code- cleanup package. Items in a code-cleanup package are designed to be non-controversial, not significant, and do not incur any cost changes. In this package, there are two sections of code that impact the Electric Utility. Chapter 26 covers right-of-entry, which dictates Utilities rights to enter private property to access infrastructure. This update includes language clarification to continue to allow Utilities to operate and administer the systems that provide various services for water, wastewater, stormwater, electric and broadband. The update also increases emphasis for Utilities personnel to have clear, safe, and reliable access to Utilities equipment and facilities, and adds language to allow recourse if entry is not granted. Additionally, the update clarifies the rights and authorizations of property owners and representatives to permit Utilities to trim limbs, branches, shrubs, or other vegetation as necessary to avoid interference with Utilities equipment. Secondly, Mr. McCollough explained that City Council acts as the Utility Electric Enterprise Board at times, and the updates in Section 26-392(a) includes language clarification to explicitly name the officer roles of City Council on the Enterprise Board. The Mayor acts as the Board President, Mayor Pro Tem as the Board Vice President, Financial Officer as Board Treasurer, and City Clerk as Board Secretary. These officers will have the same authority to execute the Enterprise’s ordinances, debt obligations and other instruments as they have when acting in their City offices under applicable law. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Chairperson Shores asked whose obligation vegetation management is. Mr. McCollough said vegetation is the responsibility of the property owner (not the renting tenant), but this language update gives Utilities authorization to clear as needed around Utilities equipment and infrastructure. Mr. Vidergar echoed Mr. McCollough, the City has codes outlining a condition of service as maintaining the property in order to deliver service. Board member Braslau asked if the Utility is allowed to suspend service in an emergent or dangerous situation for right of access. Mr. McCollough said yes, the Utility will shut off service to protect life or property and does so in an emergency basis. Board member Tenbrink asked if any of the Enterprise Board meetings are public. Mr. McCollough said they are all open session, except when they meet under executive session. Board member Gould asked if Proposition 117 (Require Voter Approval of Certain New Enterprises Exempt from TABOR Initiative) will impact the Enterprise Boards. Mr. Vidergar said he does not have insight at this moment; as he understood it, that ballot measure was concentrated on State and Home- Rule enterprises, as opposed to municipal, but he will look into it and get back to the Board. Board member Tenbrink moved the Energy Board recommend City Council approve the Utilities 2020 Fall Code Updates. Board member Gould seconded the motion. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously, 9-0. RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY SOLAR COUNCIL ITEM Leland Keller, Energy Services Engineer In the Community Solar Project acquisition from Clean Energy Collective (CEC), Utilities will manage program elements (such as enrollment, tracking, billing credits, and customer service), project elements (O&M fund management), and physical plant operations, maintenance, security, and insurance for the site. The customers enrolled in the program will manage individual insurance for their panels, and account maintenance and notifications. The Utility is relaunching the program because the original Power Purchase Agreement is no longer in force, so Utilities must legally reestablish the relationship and agreement with the customer. Current owners in the program are customers who have purchased panels from CEC or Fort Collins Utilities, and they will be reenrolled in the program as participants so that they are able to receive credits for energy generated by the share of the array that they own. The new participation agreement is largely based on the original agreement with CEC. Utilities will provide holistic support, web-based reporting on the array’s performance, and the customer will have to provide insurance for the modules that they own in the array. Because Fort Collins Utilities is a municipal organization, they are not able to insure assets that they do not own, but the customer will be able to insure them as the owner. The City will continue to provide umbrella insurance for the whole array. Participating customers will continue to receive bill credits under the current council adopted rates, and they will be required to sign the Continuing Customer Agreement by the end of 2020. The rules and agreement for re-enrollment were emailed or mailed by US Mail to all customers, and if the customer is unresponsive their bill credit benefits will be terminated after 1/1/2021. Board member Tenbrink wondered if the array is fully subscribed. Mr. Keller said yes, it has been fully ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING subscribed since before construction was complete, and there is currently a waitlist of 27 people for this program or future similar programs. Board member Becker asked what would happen if there were a damaging hailstorm and one of the customer owners did not have insurance on the panel. He wondered what recourse the Utility would have in a situation like that. Mr. Keller said the Utility needs to continue to manage the project under commercially reasonable standards, so they would need to pursue repair and compensation from the customer or their insurance first. The way the rules are written, it is the customer’s responsibility to support that financial obligation. Board members wondered if it is possible to contract a third-party insurer to insure the array and build that cost into the customer’s subscription. It sounds complicated to get an insurance policy on 2-3 panels, let alone coordinate all the different insurance companies in the wake of a major event. Mr. Keller said in his experience with homeowner’s insurance, the policy should cover assets belonging to the homeowner, even if they are not located in or on the customer’s home or property. Board member McFaddin wondered why the deferred maintenance was not valued before the City acquired the project, specifically the cost to replace an inverter. Mr. Keller said the City has an extended warranty on the inverter that is currently five years old, with an additional five years remaining. Mr. Phelan added there is no actual deferred maintenance on the site. Namaste Solar will be completing inspections on the modules, the panels, the balance of system. There are questions around the precise cost of inverter replacement and staff is seeking bids to further understand that. The City has a five-year runway to plan for any adjustments that might need to be made in the O&M fund. Board member Moore said she just did a brief search with two insurance companies and was not able to find policy language that would support insuring something like a solar array that is not located on the homeowner property. She hopes Staff will do additional research before requiring customers to insure their own panels. The Board held a discussion about the importance of finding a third-party insurer for the privately owned panels. Board member Fassler said as an owner, he read through the contract and found it very difficult to read and understand due to the language used. The objective should be transparency to owners, and insurance and O&M costs need to be clearly disclosed. Board member Becker moved the Energy Board recommend City Council approve the Riverside Community Solar Program Ordinance (No. 141, 2020) on the second reading; however, the Board would like Staff to address their concerns around insurance and proactively address the owners regarding potential O&M costs. Chairperson Shores seconded the motion. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously, 9-0. STAFF REPORTS Executive Director’s Update Theresa Connor, Interim Utilities Executive Director The Deputy City Manager vacancy had 170 candidates apply, which was narrowed to five finalists. The City hopes to have someone start around the first of the year, and then work to hire a new Utilities Executive Director. Ms. Connor plans to go back to her operations role in the Water Utility. The Water Utility and other City Departments have had many other interim directors right now, so there has been a ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING lot of staff shuffling this year. The Utility is continuing to focus on their services, ensuring reliability and high quality. The new billing system will also be rolling out in the first quarter of 2021. It has been a complex, but essential process and staff has been working very hard. Connexion is still in process of build out and though the weather has slowed down some construction, crews and contractors are making progress. Other strategic initiatives in progress include Our Climate Future, DER Strategic Planning, and the Light & Power Technology Roadmap (additional updates on these items are planned for December 2020 and early 2021). Board member McFaddin asked how the City will recruit for the new Executive Director. Ms. Connor said they will use a recruitment firm, likely the same firm used for the Deputy City Manager recruitment. Board member Braslau said he is very disappointed with what he’s seen from Connexion this year. He believes what he has mostly heard are excuses and thinks the marketing strategies being used are going against many of the values that were originally communicated to the public to approve a municipal broadband service. There is also a lost opportunity to prioritize service to students and teachers, even though Connexion has worked with PSD on a few, yet insufficient number of special cases. The population wants the service, and not excuses. Ms. Connor said she will take that feedback to the Broadband team. She noted the construction teams have distributed their construction work partially due to utility locates, which means they need to piece the puzzle together in some situations which obviously takes longer to get service implemented. Mr. Phelan said there is a Connexion update at the Council work session on November 24. Board member Moore asked if construction issues have been resolved. Her gas line was mistakenly cut in the spring and she knows she is not alone with some of the construction issues community members have been experiencing. Board member Braslau said he has had a hole in his alleyway resulting from the boring that has remained unfilled for six months. Ms. Connor construction quality and attention to detail is top-of-mind for leadership. Board member McFaddin said her Homeowners Association works with Touchstone Management; she would really like Connexion service in her neighborhood, but notes that Touchstone advised homeowners not to take service while construction service and landscaping repair is questionable. Metro Districts John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager This project has been handed to the Planning Department and being led by Cameron Gloss while the Economic Health team is focused on local economic recovery. They are heading back to Council on November 24, and planning to restart the conversation where Josh Birks and his team left off. Board member McFaddin said Mr. Gloss held a meeting with developers recently, and he referenced the PiCA proposal on Metro District minimum requirements. She is looking forward to seeing progress on the trajectory of the project. ELECTRIFICATION PLANNING John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager The scope and roles of electrification in the City includes residential natural gas use, as well as liquid fuels for electric vehicles and fleets. The City’s role varies by department; Utilities can provide incentive ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING programs, the distribution system, codes and standards, as well as education. Planning, Development, and Transportation can also provide codes and standards (building codes and zoning), the charging infrastructure, and planning. Operations Services will primarily focus on the City’s fleet of vehicles. The State and Federal governments’ role includes vehicle standards and tax policy. The framework of this process is divided into New Buildings and Existing buildings, and then broken into categories of Policy, Technical, and Program. For new builds, staff can use Our Climate Future, 2021 Energy Codes, Utilities Electric Service Standards, and DER Strategic Planning to help identify and create policy decisions. Similarly, OCF and DER Strategic planning can help form policy for existing buildings through retrofit standards and incentives. For both new and existing buildings, the technical scope looks at, space conditioning, water heating, cooking, electric vehicles, and flexibility. Programs for new buildings will include custom incentives for using Efficiency Works Business (e.g. for a developer, linking to metro districts). Existing buildings have Epic Home incentives, but staff will review and revise as needed (ex. Transitioning away from natural gas incentives). There are a few projects coming up, including a Peak Partners grid-integrated water heater demonstration as well as a consultant project to develop electrification solutions matrix based on home type, age, equipment locations, and conversion types. Platte River is also working on their electric vehicle charging pilot. The Board would like to spend more time on this topic, potentially at a future work session. Board member Becker said he thinks staff should put a lot of energy into educating the public because we have spent a lot of our lives being told gas appliances (etc.) are better. He also noted that in the past Mr. McCollough explained that electrification would likely shift the Utility to a winter peak (as opposed to summer), and he wondered if Platte River has factored that into their Integrated Resource Plan analysis yet. Mr. Phelan said it will shift the direction but does not believe they’ve factored that into the analysis yet. Board member McFaddin asked if the City has a timeframe for eliminating natural gas from new construction. Mr. Phelan said they does not have a timeline yet, but they are looking ahead to that through codes and other discussions. Board member Moore noted that many home cooks and chefs prefer to cook with gas stoves, she wondered if home builders will struggle if they can’t offer that option to home buyers. Mr. Phelan said several builders think it is a hurdle they can overcome with some education, but the City will most likely focus on water and space heating first. APPROVE 2021 WORK PLAN Ahead of tonight’s meeting, Board members submitted changes to Chairperson Shore’s draft of the 2021 Work Plan. Board members discussed the work plan and made additional amendments as a group. Board member Braslau moved to adopt the 2020 Work Plan with the Board’s suggested changes. Vice Chairperson Giovando seconded the motion. Vote on the Motion: It passed unanimously, 9-0. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Board member Becker said he attended a webinar from the Clean Coalition about the power blackouts in California summer. He thought it was interesting because they presented several analyses which debunked many of the initial reports about why the blackouts occurred. Board member Gould said there is a large renovation happening to an 11-story affordable housing structure called DMA Plaza. It is nearing completion and wondered if the Board should be following along with the project and their funding sources. Mr. Phelan said staff has some contacts with the project and may be able to arrange a case study for a future meeting. Chairperson Shores has been extremely strapped for time recently due to her new job. Officer elections will happen at the Board’s December meeting. Vice Chairperson Giovando said he is also not interested in the duties of Chairperson next year, but he would be okay in the Vice Chairperson role. Board member Becker said the leadership roles are very demanding and he appreciates all who have volunteered their time. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW Officer elections will happen in December, and the Board will be drafting their 2020 Annual Report. There will also be DER Strategic Planning and OCF update presentations. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:26.