San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW)
PARTNERS MEETING SUMMARY NOTES September 1, 2011 | 10:00 a.m. County of Tulare RMA, RMA Main Conference Room| 5961 South Mooney Blvd., Visalia, CA 93277 Attendees: Lou Camara, City of Hanford Barbara Marty, City of Hanford Dave Rebelo, City of Hanford Lew Nelson, City of Tulare Leslie Caviglia, City of Visalia Cruz Dominguez, City of Woodlake
Gail Henry, County of Tulare Courtney Kalashian, SJVCEO Maureen Hoff, SJVCEO Hammad Chaudhry, SCE Mark Okino, SCE Bill DeLain, SCE
Cal Rossi, SCE Paulo Morais, So Cal Gas Mark Easland, Watermark Roger Snow, Watermark Jennifer Kaminski, Climate Registry
Location: County of Tulare RMA, Conference Room E, 5961 South Mooney Boulevard, Visalia, CA 93277 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Next Meeting: Thursday, October 6, 2011 Location: County of Tulare RMA, RMA Main Conference Room, 5961 South Mooney Boulevard, Visalia, CA 93277
Agenda Topics on September 1, 2011 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Welcome and Introductions Energy Savings Goals Marketing and Outreach Report Direct Install Report Watermark Energy Solutions Cool Planet Project Strategic Planning – Portfolio Manager Demo Other Business Adjourn VIEW Partnership Meeting
Summary of Discussion: Welcome and Introductions Lew Nelson called the meeting to order. Energy Savings Goals SCE An updated spreadsheet of projects was not provided to partners as there have been no new projects added since the last Partnership meeting. Mark Okino reported that the City of Visalia is closing in on their LED traffic light project and just waiting on invoices from vendors. A $29k incentive was paid to the City of Porterville for their recent lighting project. The County of Tulare just submitted the application for their lighting project and a kickoff meeting will take place on September 14th.
2011 Meeting Schedule: October 6, 2011; November 3, 2011; December 1, 2011
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) The Cities of Hanford and Woodlake are currently taking the necessary Demand Response steps to move up to the next tier level of the Energy Leader model. Lew Nelson explained that the City of Tulare’s WWTP pump project will not be completed in October. SCE visited the site this week and determined the fuses are too small and the equipment is too old to update; therefore, new equipment will be ordered and is estimated to take 5-6 weeks for delivery. Mike Nemeth of the SJVCEO has compiled a list of vendors that meet the Buy American regulations. Maureen Hoff will forward this along to Lew. SCG Paulo Morais reported that an application has been submitted for a County of Tulare boiler project. He will also follow up with the Cities of Woodlake and Porterville to see what projects can be done there. Paulo agreed with Courtney Kalashian that once jurisdictions upload all of their utility accounts into Portfolio Manager they can get a better idea of which facilities need some attention. This will be helpful in scheduling audits and moving projects forward. EECBG Courtney updated the group with the status of the EECBG projects. The SJVCEO and Air District recently underwent a program audit and passed with flying colors, although the auditor (and everyone else) would love to see the projects get going. Fluoresco has said it is ready to start on Tulare County’s project with an estimated completion date in December; however, it would be ideal to get it done earlier so Mike Nemeth will work to get things moving. Gail said the challenge is that all of the work has to be done after business hours. Courtney and Mike will be taking the MOU to the City of Lindsay council meeting on September 13th in the hope that it will be approved. Cal Rossi agreed to come along for support. Lindsay is the only city that has the potential for problems and all others are lining up as green to go! Cruz Dominguez noted that the City of Woodlake had been awarded money for downtown enhancements so they will be changing the scope of work for their EECBG projects. Courtney said this shouldn’t be a problem but just to keep Mike Nemeth in the loop. Hammad added that the numbers are favorable to move Woodlake to the Silver tier so everything should be coordinated. Mark Okino and Cruz will meet Friday to get Woodlake on a demand response program.
Marketing and Outreach Report Maureen Hoff reported that the partnership had a booth with the 2nd Mobile Education Unit at the August 11th Hanford Market and Employee Appreciation Night. In addition to the MEU report, Barbara Marty added that it was a good event. She said the MEU display was a bit different than last year and was very interactive. Gail Henry explained that the September 29th Tulare County Health Fair is narrowing its scope so VIEW will not have a booth this year. Courtney encouraged Gail to see if the County had any other events that the partnership could be a part of.
2011 Meeting Schedule: October 6, 2011; November 3, 2011; December 1, 2011
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Direct Install Report Courtney presented the results of the small business Direct Install program and reported that over 6 million kWh were saved, which equals about $900k. There were some challenges in implementing the program, however, every city did a great job in helping to promote and it was a positive experience. Courtney thanked the entire SCE team and everyone involved. Hammad will follow up with the group as there were some questions on exact numbers and some savings still need to be accounted for. Bill DeLain reminded everyone that the money saved by small businesses is not a one-time thing – this will be savings year after year and is a real accomplishment. Courtney added that for all the cities that took part in the program within SCE territory, over 926kWh and $41 million were saved! She also noted that the program did come through in 2008-2009 so many businesses had already taken advantage of the measures available. Bill added that the budget was up to $10k in upgrades for each small business. Leslie Caviglia requested that we continue to look at this list of savings as it keeps changing. Hammad suggested we look at it every three months. The partnership also took part in the Comprehensive Mobile Home Direct Install program, a SCE and SCG program. Gas sweep and support letter request Paulo Morais asked that partners help the Gas Company with support letters to avoid the risk of having funds raided during 2012. The funds at risk go beyond incentives and include technical assistance to customers, strategic plan funds for the partnership, and more. SJVCEO and the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley both put out support letters and will continue to follow up to provide ongoing support. Watermark Energy Solutions Mark Easland and Roger Snow from Watermark Energy Solutions presented on variable frequency drives (VFDs, also known as adjustable speed drives) for commercial pool equipment. VFDs have been around for about 30 years and are most often seen in air conditioning systems. In swimming pools, VFDs can be used to turn down the motor by about twenty percent, which can cut kWh by about half! Systems are waterproof and chemical-proof, come with a three year warranty and payback is within months. Watermark will fill out all the paperwork for the customer and works to coordinate with the utilities. Roger Snow is the local representative and can be contacted with any questions. Lew Nelson thought the City of Tulare might be interested and will put Roger in contact with the appropriate person.
Cool Planet Project Jennifer Kaminski of The Climate Registry presented on the Cool Planet Project, which is co-administered with the investor owned utilities. The program encourages customers to install energy efficiency projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and provides assistance in completing a GHG inventory, among other benefits. Through participation in the Energy Leader partnership and by advancing tier levels, jurisdictions have the opportunity to have a free year membership to the Climate Registry which includes, but is not limited to, recognition as an environmental leader; cost effective 2011 Meeting Schedule: October 6, 2011; November 3, 2011; December 1, 2011
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) tools to identify, measure and report on GHG; GHG baseline protection and documentation of early actions and reductions; publicity and marketing services; and financial assistance towards third party verification. The application process is simple and involves two one-page applications – one for the utility to verify tier level and one for the Registry. Courtney explained that the partnership is already using Portfolio Manager to track utility data and energy usage but that the information can easily be exported into Excel and uploaded into the Cool Planet Project software for GHG tracking. With most of the jurisdictions advancing to the silver tier or higher, this is one more benefit to take advantage of. Strategic Planning – Portfolio Manager Demo Courtney demonstrated the Portfolio Manager program by showing the SJVCEO office’s utility data. She explained that this is free software, pretty simple to use, and a one-stop shop for all of your utility portfolios. The utility information will be used to identify jurisdictions’ biggest energy users and will be input into the energy action plans. She also demonstrated how any energy upgrades made to facilities can be noted in the system to help better recognize what is going on with energy usage. Portfolio Manager continually adds new features for tracking utility data so the ‘Benchmarking Made Easy’ guide will be updated periodically to reflect these changes. Courtney expressed concern over the number of years of data provided by the utilities through the Automated Benchmarking Service feature. Paulo said the gas company only provides up to three years of data; however, if more years of data were requested, they could be provided and manually entered into the system. Hammad will check on how many years of data can be provided for SCE. Other Business Bill DeLain noted that the Engage 360 office opened in Visalia just last week. The faacilitator for next meeting will be Lou Camara. Paulo suggested brining in Dave McCarthy, a field operations coordinator, at the next partnership meeting to discuss no cost options (i.e. equipment checks). Hammad requested that Direct Install be left on the agenda for next partnership meeting so he can update the group with accurate numbers. Courtney announced the Valley Go Green Summit that will take place February 23rd at the Energy Education Center in Tulare. The 2nd Annual Water Conference will be held on September 27th at the Energy Education Center and Lew Nelson will be part of a panel. Adjourn VIEW Partnership Meeting Action items were reviewed and the meeting was adjourned.
2011 Meeting Schedule: October 6, 2011; November 3, 2011; December 1, 2011
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) ACTION ITEMS: Direct Install will remain on the agenda for next partnership meeting and Hammad will update the group with accurate numbers. Paulo will coordinate with Maureen in bringing Dave McCarthy, a field operations coordinator, to the next partnership meeting to discuss no cost options (i.e. equipment checks). Maureen will email Lew Nelson the Buy American vendor list. Mark Okino will work with Cruz Dominguez to sign up Woodlake for demand response program. Courtney will follow-up with partners and other SJVCEO contacts to continue to support Gas Company regarding gas surcharge.
2011 Meeting Schedule: October 6, 2011; November 3, 2011; December 1, 2011