HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 9/11/2018 - Memorandum From Tim Mccollough, Lindsay Ex And John Phelan Re: 100% Renewable Electricity Goal - Draft ResolutionMEMORANDUM
DATE: September 5, 2018
TO: Mayor Troxell and City Councilmembers
THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
CAP Executive Team1
FROM: Tim McCollough, Deputy Director, Utilities Light & Power
Lindsay Ex, Climate Program Manager
John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager
RE: 100% Renewable Electricity Goal – Draft Resolution
Purpose: This memo provides the draft Resolution setting a community-wide 100% Renewable
Electricity (100RE) by 2030 goal (attached) and includes an updated list of public engagement efforts.
Resolution: The attached draft Resolution was developed by staff based on the following:
Platte River’s and Fort Collins’ operating principles to balance financial sustainability,
reliability, and environmental stewardship;
Discussions with Platte River on its draft Resource Diversification Policy and prior City
commitments, e.g., Energy Policy and Climate Action Goals; and
Resolutions submitted by Fort Collins Partners for Clean Energy (FCP4CE) and the Fort
Collins Chamber.
Updated Engagement Timeline
The following engagement opportunities are proposed to engage the public on the draft Resolution:
Completed:
o Fort Collins Sustainability Group (FCSG) and FCP4CE – July 5
o Fort Collins Chamber Local Legislative Affairs Committee (LLAC) – August 10
o Energy Board – August 23
Upcoming:
o Affordable Housing Board – September 6
o CEO Round Table – September 11
o FCSG and FCP4CE – September 11
o Energy Board – September 13
o Fort Collins Chamber LLAC – September 14
o Air Quality Advisory Board – September 17
o Economic Advisory Commission – September 19
o Natural Resources Advisory Board – September 19
Staff would also welcome visiting with additional stakeholder and community groups as identified.
Attachments: DRAFT 100% Renewable Electricity by 2030 Goal Resolution
1 Includes Deputy City Manager Jeff Mihelich; Utilities Executive Director Kevin Gertig; Chief Financial Officer
Mike Beckstead; Director of Planning, Development, and Transportation Laurie Kadrich; Chief Sustainability
Officer Jackie Kozak Thiel; and Environmental Services Director Lucinda Smith
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RESOLUTION 2018-xx
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY-WIDE 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GOAL
WHEREAS, the City of Fort Collins is one of four founding municipalities of the Platte
River Power Authority (Platte River), one of Colorado’s most successful examples of regional
utility authority collaboration, and one which provides Fort Collins with highly reliable
electricity at the lowest wholesale cost in the state; and
WHEREAS, Plate River’s operational principles include balancing financial
sustainability, reliability, and environmental stewardship, including a clean energy system that is
responsive to evolving markets and emerging technologies, as well as a diverse portfolio for
resilience; and
WHEREAS, on March 3, 2015, City Council adopted Resolution 2015-030, recognizing
the 2015 Climate Action Plan Framework (“2015 CAP Framework”), which contains a high-
level analysis of the strategies necessary to reduce Fort Collins’s community-wide greenhouse
gas emissions and established goals to reduce emissions to 20% below 2005 levels by 2020; and
additionally, established the goals of reducing emissions to 80% below 2005 levels by 2030 and
to be carbon neutral by 2050; and
WHEREAS, on December 15, 2015, City Council adopted Resolution 2015-115,
approving the 2015 Energy Policy, which includes a goal of achieving 20% renewable electricity
by 2020, with 2% from local installed distributed generation; and
WHEREAS, the 2015 Energy Policy identifies distributed energy resources, such as
conservation, efficiency, building codes, and solar as effective mechanisms to meet the
electricity needs of the community; and
WHEREAS, data and research collected by City staff indicate that in 2017, community-
wide electricity emissions represented 51% of greenhouse gas emissions; and
WHEREAS, in outlining the necessary steps, the 2015 CAP Framework 2030 community
carbon emissions were estimated to only be at 73% below 2005 levels, indicating the City’s need
to identify additional strategies and steps to meet the 2030 goals; and
WHEREAS, based on community input, Councilmembers directed staff at the July 3,
2018 meeting to engage the community in a dialogue about the assumptions that must be met to
achieve a community-wide 100% Renewable Electricity goal; and
WHEREAS, based on information received during this engagement, the 2015 CAP
Framework and the 2015 Energy Policy, the City Council makes the following findings
regarding pursuing community energy goals:
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Fort Collins Utilities, in collaboration with Platte River and other partners, is
ideally positioned to deliver residential and commercial energy services
programs;
converting natural gas and petroleum energy sources to electric sources for home
heating and transportation could be increasingly important strategies to meeting
community climate goals, and the emissions reduction success of these efforts is
dependent upon a clean electricity supply;
reliable and affordable electricity for residents and businesses, especially
vulnerable populations, and predictable and gradually changing rates, are
important to attract and retain local businesses and spur economic health, and so
are vital to our community’s success in a highly competitive and increasingly
global marketplace;
Platte River has a history of aligning procurement of resources when the timing
and cost effectiveness is right, and in 2018 has demonstrated that it can purchase
renewable electricity at scale at a cost that is commensurate to power generated
from some fossil fuels on an energy basis;
studies, such as one published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences in 2017, suggest that significantly higher percentages (up to 80%) of
renewable electricity could be achieved in the U.S. grid in both a cost-effective
and reliable manner;
the transformation of energy technologies and systems to achieve flexibility
through innovation is expected to evolve rapidly in the United States and in the
world over the next several decades including grid management systems,
distributed generation performance, active end user device management systems,
and rate structures to facilitate systems integration;
electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure and delivery system
investments will need to be increased and must become integrated;
technologies associated with all types of electricity storage, including batteries,
could continue to develop rapidly in terms of capacity, life-expectancy, and
affordability presenting the opportunity to utilize storage alongside renewable
electricity sources by 2030; and
participation in a regional electricity market is an important means by which to
meet expected needs for transmission, integration, and balancing of future
renewable electric resources associated with the City’s goals; and
WHEREAS, in 2018, Platte River began updating its Integrated Resource Plan, and has
committed to evaluate a 100% renewable electricity scenario in addition to analyzing new
resource options, a revised baseline, organized energy market impacts, a regional economic
model to capture the impacts of electric rate changes and a formalized action plan defining and
addressing renewable targets, and, subject to annual appropriation by City Council, the
Integrated Resource Plan will be aligned with the proposed update to the Fort Collins 2015 CAP
Framework and Energy Policy; and
WHEREAS, in light of the foregoing, the Council desires to establish a community-wide
goal for renewable energy use, as set forth below.
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NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT
COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and
findings contained in the recitals set forth above.
Section 2. That the Council hereby expresses its intent to achieve a 100% renewable
electricity supply to the City from Platte River by 2030, while continuing to balance the three
principles of financial sustainability, reliability, and environmental stewardship for Fort Collins
Utilities, Platte River, and our customers.
Section 3. For the purposes of this Resolution, renewable electricity includes non-
fossil fuel sources, including electricity derived from wind, solar, hydroelectricity and
geothermal sources and other means that may become available that do not add greenhouses
gases to the atmosphere; and
Section 4. That the Council hereby expresses its support for the inclusion of these
goals into Platte River’s Resource Diversification Policy and in Platte River’s update to its
Integrated Resource Plan, and Platte River’s related efforts such as its pursuit to join an
organized energy market.
Section 5. That the economic health of the area depends on universal access to clean,
affordable, and reliable energy resources, and that the Council hereby expresses that new
information regarding cost-effectiveness or achievability may emerge between 2018 and 2030,
and that this goal should be reviewed periodically, and at least no less frequently than at the time
Platte River is considering and adopting updates to its Integrated Resource Plan, to promote and
support efforts to achieve 100% renewable electricity as a cost-effective, reliable, and impactful
strategy to achieve Fort Collins greenhouse gas goals.
Section 6. That the City government must lead by example in this area by working
with Platte River and establishing a 100% renewable electricity portfolio for its own operations
before 2030.
Section 7. That the City government must play an important role to build
partnerships, inspire community action, and promote involvement by all segments of the
community (local businesses, governments, utilities, schools, universities, non-profit
organizations, homeowners, and other individuals) in efforts to reduce community-wide
greenhouse gas emissions.
Section 8. That the City Manager is further hereby directed to prepare each calendar year
a report tracking progress toward attainment of the goals established herein, in alignment with
the annual community-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventory and related protocols and a list
of quantified actions for the preceding calendar year, as adopted in Resolution 2015-030.
Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins this 2nd
day of October, A.D. 2018.
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________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________________
City Clerk
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