San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW)
PARTNERS MEETING SUMMARY NOTES September 20, 2012 | 9:30 a.m. Attendees: Lou Camara, City of Hanford Baldo Rodriguez, City of Porterville Bryan Styles, City of Porterville Lew Nelson, City of Tulare Kim Loeb, City of Visalia Eric Frost, City of Visalia Rhonda Mann, County of Kings
Location: Time: Next Meeting: Location:
Courtney Kalashian, SJVCEO Maureen Hoff, SJVCEO Hammad Chaudhry, SCE Mark Okino, SCE Bill DeLain, SCE Brian Thoburn, SCE Paulo Morais, So Cal Gas
Dave Christiensen, PGE Cam Maloy, PGE GUEST SPEAKERS John King, SCE Brian Dodds, SJVAPCD
Visalia Chamber of Commerce, 220 N. Santa Fe Street, Visalia, CA 93292 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Thursday, October 18, 2012 Visalia Chamber of Commerce, 220 N. Santa Fe Street, Visalia, CA 93292
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Welcome & Introductions Courtney Kalashian gave a special welcome to Dave Christiensen and Cam Maloy from PG&E, reiterating the announcement from the last partnership meeting that PG&E will be joining VIEW starting in 2013. Business Items Report on items and efforts of 08/16/12 meeting A link to the VIEW archive page URL will be sent to all partners. Materials such as meeting agendas, summary notes, and utility resources can be found here. Hammad Chaudhry is still trying to find exact numbers related to the Direct Install program. A ‘Save the Date’ for the VIEW the Success luncheon has been sent out via email and partners in attendance at the meeting confirmed that it was received. This year’s luncheon will be held at the Vintage Press in downtown Visalia. Five printed invites will be available for each jurisdiction to pass out to their local elected officials. If additional invitations are needed, please ask Courtney. Report back from Peer to Peer meeting of 09/06/12 Courtney reported on the recent Peer to Peer meeting in which the main topic of discussion was challenges related to incentive/project applications. The Peer group put together a list of challenges and potential solutions and will provide this document to SCE and SCG to work through the issues. John King and Paulo Morais added that the utilities have a difficult role in that there is always the challenge of balancing the requests of the CPUC and jurisdictions. In addition, new CPUC staff adds to the complexity and requires education for the learning process. The peer group will meet again in December so if 2012 Meeting Schedule: October 18, November 15, December 20 2013 Meeting Schedule: January 17, February 21, March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) jurisdictions have challenges and/or successes they would like to share, please contact Courtney or Maureen. Central CA LGC meeting 09/25 Santa Barbara Courtney and Maureen will attend the Central California LGC meeting in Santa Barbara on behalf of the VIEW partnership as well as other San Joaquin Valley jurisdictions who cannot attend. Concerns over the inconvenience of the location have been expressed to the LGC and the next meeting will take place in the San Joaquin Valley. Update on 2013-14 program On July 2nd the utilities submitted their filings with the CPUC and on the 16th the RENs submitted theirs. Both are now on the same track to receive a decision. There have been series of comments and responses and it is looking like a final decision will come in November. If a decision is not made by November or December the partnership may be faced with going into a bridge fund which means it would operate on a month to month basis. Addendums to the existing agreements should be fine for all partners unless any of the local governments have time restrictions for contracts. The SJVCEO has MOUs with all of the cities but the actual agreement is with the organization directly. Kim Loeb added that he recently received the announcement for the competitive strategic fund cycle from SCE. Courtney said she would forward this to the partners. Municipal Energy Savings SCG Paulo Morais said that unfortunately this has not been the best time for gas savings, but he is hoping there will be more opportunities in 2013-14. Lew Nelson inquired whether or not the conversion of a boiler to biogas would count for gas savings. Paulo said he would have to check, but even if it doesn’t count towards the partnership goals there may be other opportunities for great incentives. SCE Mark Okino and Hammad Chaudhry briefly reviewed current projects, stressing that there is a push to have them completed to wrap up 2012. SCE has an internal goal of October 15th to have everything completed for the calendar year to allow time for processing. Courtney noted that she will have the new SJVCEO employee, Dee Cox, touch base with Mark regarding the City of Woodlake’s project. Lew Nelson reported that the City of Tulare’s impellers arrived and will be installed within the next week. Kim Loeb said he will get the City of Visalia’s paperwork for their project to Mark by the end of the week. It was emphasized that the number of kWh savings demonstrates to the CPUC that we are working together as a partnership, creating leadership and spreading out into the community. John King added that partnerships were originally created to help local governments do projects that were not getting done by providing resources, financing, and incentive levels. While the partnership isn’t all about driving towards kWh goals, there is a push to make sure jurisdictions are doing what they can and what they want all while showcasing the success of the overall partnership by working closely with a coalition of partners.
2012 Meeting Schedule: October 18, November 15, December 20 2013 Meeting Schedule: January 17, February 21, March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) SCE Street Lights Opportunity for cities to purchase SCE streetlights John King presented on the new opportunity that allows jurisdictions to purchase SCE owned streetlights. Over the course of the past several years, SCE received a lot of questions regarding streetlights and they finally came to the conclusion that if local governments believe they can operate and maintain streetlights more cost effectively why not make it an option. SCE is taking a very standardized approach so it doesn’t matter what region a jurisdiction is in – there will be the same advantage, the same deal. A southern California city is currently going through the process as the test case. Interested local governments will have an initial evaluation for $10,000 in which 100 street lights will be sampled. Data will be extrapolated so that the city can see estimated costs and know what to expect. Only stand alone street light systems will count. SCE is looking at working with third party firms that can assist in the process to offer cities a ‘turn-key’ approach in completing the sale. John can provide the names of the third party firms he has been in contact with. One noted benefit of owning street lights was that cities would be able to do energy efficiency upgrades to street lights since SCE has not been able to offer this to their customers. A downside of owning the street lights, Cam Maloy of PGE added, is dealing with copper wire theft which has been very prevalent in the City of Fresno. Bill DeLain thanked John for making the presentation saying that this is very reflective of customer interest. Lew Nelson will connect with John King regarding the street light acquisition program, specifically in relation to the third party contractors. Opportunities for Jurisdictions SJV Air Pollution Control District programs Brian Dodds from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District presented on opportunities for local governments that fall under the umbrella of sustainability. Brian covered several programs and an email will go out to all partners to summarize. A few highlights are listed below: Alternative fuel vehicle program – can get up to 20k per vehicle; maximum of 5 vehicles; electric or hybrid. Including natural gas vehicles. Kings County is participating in this program and Visalia participated earlier in the year. There is an annual limitation and all funds have been allocated, however more funds will be available soon. Advanced transit and transportation program – competitive RFP based program; about $3 million was available and currently selecting the participants; early to mid next year there will be another round of funding so start thinking of projects now Alternative fuel infrastructure program – CNG, LPG, and electric vehicles; looking for public agencies; expansion or upgrades to existing facility or new facility; requires leveraged funds but program has been pretty flexible because recognize cities and counties do not have the extra funds of their own to use; funds are available now. Lew Nelson asked if fueling infrastructure would be available for an ethanol plant in Pixley even though the volume that goes through that area is low. Currently the fuel comes from Stockton because there is no fuel blending station in 2012 Meeting Schedule: October 18, November 15, December 20 2013 Meeting Schedule: January 17, February 21, March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Pixley. Brian said he would speak with the people at the Air District who are working on this program and maybe they can come up with something. Technology advancement program – RFP currently out; looking for renewable energy projects; about $4 million in funding available with plans to fund about 10 projects in total; funded projects in the past include waste solutions and those projects that have a built in private/public partnership. Lawnmower program – has expanded into commercial sector but also available for municipalities maintaining parks and things like that; lawn and garden equipment; pay upfront for 100 percent of costs and reimbursed once grant requirements are complete Financing Update Paulo Morais briefly updated the partners on the financing pilots for 2013-14. A public workshop will take place on October 2nd at the CPUC in San Francisco and is a great place to start to get more information. He will also check to see if Frank Spasaro can provide more details. Courtney will send out information regarding this workshop. ME&O Report SmartConnect Letters notifying customers in VIEW territory that deployment of SmartConnect meters will begin in October have gone out. The SJVCEO and VIEW will be assisting with outreach in the form of blog posts and other social media platforms. In the interest of time, several agenda items were skipped and Hammad jumped into tier level standing announcements for those jurisdictions in attendance. The City of Porterville needs about 300k in savings to advance to Gold. The City of Tulare needs to decide where or not they can act on the recommendation from the IDSM audit. The County of Kings needs to do one event from the new community savings menu in order to reach Silver. Hammad also expressed that the City of Visalia is very close to moving up. Partners were reminded that On-Bill financing applications must be turned in as soon as possible to be able to have access to the partnership-only funding pool that is available through the end of 2012. Projects do not have to be completed in 2012 but applications must be turned in. In 2013 the funding pool will open up to all interested parties, not just partnerships, so if partners are interested they were encouraged to act quickly. Other Business Lou Camara was selected to be the next meeting facilitator. Adjourn Meeting
2012 Meeting Schedule: October 18, November 15, December 20 2013 Meeting Schedule: January 17, February 21, March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW)
ACTION ITEMS: A link to the VIEW archive page URL will be sent to all partners Kim Loeb added that he recently received the announcement for the competitive strategic fund cycle from SCE. Courtney said she would forward this to the partners. Courtney noted that she will have the new SJVCEO employee, Dee Cox, touch base with Mark regarding the City of Woodlake’s project. Lew Nelson will connect with John King regarding the street light acquisition program, specifically in relation to the third party contractors.
2012 Meeting Schedule: October 18, November 15, December 20 2013 Meeting Schedule: January 17, February 21, March 21, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19