San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW)
PARTNERS MEETING SUMMARY NOTES February 21, 2013 | 9:30 a.m. Attendees: Rene Miller, City of Farmersville Jeff Dowlen, City of Farmersville Mario, City of Farmersville Lew Nelson, City of Tulare Randy Murphy, City of Tulare Betsy Garcia, City of Visalia Kim Loeb, City of Visalia Rhonda Mann, County of Kings
Location: Time: Next Meeting: Location:
Gail Henry, County of Tulare Courtney Kalashian, SJVCEO Maureen Hoff, SJVCEO Michael DeSousa, SCE Mark Okino, SCE Brian Thoburn, SCE
Paulo Morais, So Cal Gas Alma BriseĂąo, So Cal Gas Becky Estrella, So Cal Gas Dave Christensen, PG&E Cam Maloy, PG&E
Visalia Chamber of Commerce, 220 N. Santa Fe Street, Visalia, CA 93292 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 21, 2013 Visalia Chamber of Commerce, 220 N. Santa Fe Street, Visalia, CA 93292
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Welcome & Introductions Lew Nelson welcomed the group and introductions were made. Business Items Welcome, City of Farmersville Courtney Kalashian and Brian Thoburn welcomed the City of Farmersville to the partnership. Rene Miller, Jeff, and Mario were in attendance for the city. SoCal REN Advisory Committee meeting Courtney will attend the upcoming Southern California Regional Energy Network (SoCal REN) Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, February 28th. She will represent the Valley and hopes to bring back good news regarding the programs and services the REN plans to provide beyond what the partnership provides. The RENs are intended to support local governments in and out of partnerships. Prop 39 Update Cap and Trade This agenda item was corrected to be a report back on Cap and Trade, not Prop 39. San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization (SJVCEO) staff member, Dee Cox Fernandez, attended the recent Cap and Trade workshop in Fresno held by the Air Resources Board (ARB). Courtney reported that Dee said it was a productive meeting with the City of Visalia representative, Betsy Garcia, really leading the conversation. Dee will provide a write up and live recording of the event and Courtney will distribute to the VIEW partners. Betsy also briefly recapped her experience at the meeting. Meeting location moving? It was discussed at the December partnership meeting that there may be interest in relocating the monthly meetings. Maureen Hoff sent out a survey and the majority of the respondents requested that 2013 Meeting Schedule: March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20 (SEEC), July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) the meeting facility be closer to Highway 99. As of now the meetings will stay at the Visalia Chamber of Commerce until an alternate location that can accommodate the group is found. Municipal Energy Savings Project Updates SCG Before discussing municipal energy savings projects, Paulo Morais announced that Becky Estrella will be taking over the supervisor position of the Valley partnerships. Paulo will continue to work on partnerships but not in the Valley. Courtney mentioned that she and Maureen ran into Colby Wells at the World Ag Expo in Tulare and he suggested looking into pool covers for potential energy savings. The City of Hanford is likely the only partner where this might apply. Courtney also mentioned that energy usage data in Portfolio Manager will be taken into consideration when searching for potential projects. Alma Briseño reported that new program collateral will be available by next month. She will provide to all and Maureen will put PDF copies, when possible, on the archive page of the VIEW website. SCE Mark Okino reported that the Visalia lighting project is still being reviewed at the management level at SCE. If and when the project is approved, a third party reviewer will have to go over the project again. The City of Woodlake’s wastewater treatment project, as well as a few additional requirements, should put the city at the Platinum tier in the Energy Leader model. The City of Tulare is now at the Gold level! Courtney and Maureen will coordinate a celebration (a presentation at a council meeting at the very least!) with Mark and Michael DeSousa. The City of Farmersville currently has an incentive pending on a variable frequency drive on a pump. The County of Kings is currently in design for a few projects and SCE has already been in touch. Rhonda Mann would like to work with PG&E on updating lighting at their fire stations. Courtney said it sounded like both counties could use an audit through Technical Assistance funds. Through the SJVCEO’s participation in the partnership implementers’ Peer to Peer group they acquired a Technical Assistance application that Courtney will modify for the VIEW partnership and send out to partners. The form can be filled out and turned in to Courtney or Maureen when a jurisdiction is requesting use of technical assistance funds for energy efficiency projects. Paulo added that the Gas Company utilizes the same third party auditor as SCE so it is best to work collaboratively and capture a comprehensive view. The City of Visalia thought their airport hangars might be a good place for an audit. Betsy Garcia asked if technical assistance funds could be used for retrocommissioning and Paulo said he thought yes. Retrocommissioning is a joint program between SCE and SCG and facilities will have to be looked at on a case by case basis to see if the program makes sense; and if it doesn’t, there may be other programs and/or incentive avenues that would be better suited to the project. Kim Loeb shared that the City of Visalia secured about $500k worth of funds through the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) 1% interest rate loan program for energy efficiency and generation projects. The city felt that going with the CEC was easier than the utility on-bill financing (OBF) route and 2013 Meeting Schedule: March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20 (SEEC), July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) estimates a $78k annual cost savings. Paulo did remind partners that OBF is both a SCE and SCG program and it is now allowable to pool facilities on one application. Courtney and Maureen will set up quarterly calls with each jurisdiction to review SCE tier level report cards. PG&E (Staples) Lew Nelson mentioned the Kill-a-Watt meter program write up in the Visalia Times Delta. Maureen will pull the article and send to Dave Christensen. Dave said in the interest of time he would postpone his PG&E updates until the March meeting. He did say that he hopes all four incorporated cities with VIEW territory will join the partnership. Marketing Update Visalia SpringFest report Kim reported that this year’s Visalia SpringFest was very, very busy but the partnership booth lacked the VIEW banner. He suggested making a new banner that mentions VIEW being a local government partnership to help clarify what VIEW is/does. 2013-14 Focus Kim suggested we reinstate the marketing meetings to reassess marketing activities. Courtney reported back from the January management meeting that took place in Bakersfield with SJVCEO, SCE, SCG, and PG&E. The management group decided the focus may include small, rural areas; engaging local elected officials; energy efficiency ‘road shows’; lunch and learns with municipalities and community groups/organizations; block walks; and an inter-jurisdiction competition. MEU use and other options Maureen will send out a Doodle poll to the group to see if and when people would like to have a marketing meeting in order to discuss the 2013-14 focus and when/where to utilize SCE’s Mobile Education Unit (MEU). Energy Upgrade CA update Paulo noted that customers in PG&E and SCG dual territory would have to apply for the Energy Upgrade incentives through both utilities. Alma will provide Maureen with Energy Upgrade program materials and Maureen will email them to partners and/or put them on the Archive page of the VIEW website. She is also working on getting trainings here in the Valley for local contractors although Kim expressed concern that it is hard to get contractors to attend the trainings even when they are offered. Courtney suggested that she and Maureen disseminate the information to the other professional associations (i.e. American Institute of Architects, US Green Building Council, etc.) housed in their offices. In addition, to help familiarize partners with SCG efforts Alma will provide the Gas Company e-newsletters about EUCA and general SCG offerings. Brief discussion was held as to whether or not the partnership could sponsor 1-2 local contractors in each county within VIEW territory to attend the trainings. Courtney and Maureen will work on figuring out a solution.
2013 Meeting Schedule: March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20 (SEEC), July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Strategic Planning Up to speed efforts As the partnership gains new partners, such as the City of Farmersville, it will be important to get them up to speed with Strategic Planning efforts that have already been completed for other partners. Benchmarking and Energy Action Plans for those who need them will be on the agenda. Expansion of previous activities Courtney would like to expand on the previous strategic planning activities in the new program cycle by continuing efforts with EAPs, but with a focus on the municipalities, and by possibly exploring the waterenergy nexus in relation to benchmarking in Portfolio Manager (PM). PM can support water accounts but adding the accounts to the system will depend on whether or not the water agencies can automatically upload energy usage data on a monthly basis. Maureen will reach out to partners to get a list of water agencies in the VIEW territory in order to research whether or not they participate in these automated benchmarking services. Betsy suggested all partners banding together in order to encourage the water agencies to get on board if they are not already. Energy Efficiency/Demand Side Management 101 is another strategic planning item that Courtney and Maureen would like to see continue. Rhonda suggested incorporating an educational presentation into Kings County’s existing once a month ‘brown bag’ lunch presentations. Gail said she would be interested in having something for Tulare County and will need to follow up with the county. New opportunities for 2013-14 A new opportunity Courtney suggested exploring were greenhouse gas inventories. Paulo suggested checking in with Colby Morrow on existing efforts. Some partners have probably already completed efforts so this wouldn’t apply to everyone. SCE’s competitive strategic plan solicitation will soon be taking proposals. Visalia and Tulare County may consider it. Courtney will send Farmersville more information on this opportunity. Other Business Courtney updated partners on the following events: Feb. 22, Energy Upgrade California, EEFG, San Francisco March 20-21 Water/Energy Nexus, CPUC, San Francisco April 9, LGC CC meeting, Location TBD – likely to be held in Coalinga. This meeting is a gathering of local government partnerships from the Valley and Central Coast and is a great opportunity for best practice sharing. June 19-20, SEEC, Sacramento – The Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative Best Practices Forum is for all local government partnerships and is another opportunity for best practice peer sharing. This takes place at the same time as the monthly VIEW partnership meeting so Courtney suggested the partners travel to Sacramento instead. The utility managers will have to check to see if any of the expenses for local governments to attend could be covered by the partnership. Review action items Maureen reviewed the action items. Select next meeting facilitator 2013 Meeting Schedule: March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20 (SEEC), July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Lou Camara was voted the next facilitator. Adjourn Meeting
The meeting was adjourned. ACTION ITEMS: The SJVCEO will provide a write up and live recording of the Fresno cap and trade event and will distribute to all partners. Alma will provide new Gas Company collateral to partners and Maureen will put PDF copies, when possible, on the archive page of the VIEW website. Courtney and Maureen will set up quarterly calls with each jurisdiction to review SCE tier level report cards. Maureen will pull the Kill-a-Watt meter program article from the Visalia Times Delta and send to Dave Christensen. Maureen will send out a Doodle poll to the group to see if and when people would like to have a marketing meeting. Alma will provide Maureen with Energy Upgrade program materials and Maureen will email them to partners and/or put them on the Archive page of the VIEW website. Courtney will send Farmersville more information on Edison’s competitive strategic plan solicitation opportunity.
2013 Meeting Schedule: March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20 (SEEC), July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19