HomeMy WebLinkAboutREFAC Meeting sign in and minutes 11-22-2011ALASKA ENERGY AUTHORITY
RENEWABLE ENERGY FUND ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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Renewable Energy Fund Advisory Committee Meeting
November 22, 2011 — AEA Boardroom
12:30 pm to 3:00 pm
MINUTES
1. Call to Order
The Renewable Energy Fund Advisory Committee (REFAC) convened at 12:30 p.m., with Acting
Chairman Chris Rose presiding.
2. Roll Call
Committee Members AEA Staff Other Participants
Acting Chair Chris Rose Sara Fisher-Goad Brian Hirsch, NREL
Jim Posey Sandra Moller Gwen Holdmann, ACEP
Senator Lyman Hoffman Peter Crimp John Bitney for Bob Evans
Brad Reeve Jim Strandberg Jim Clough for Bob Swenson
Denali Daniels (for Vince Beltrami) Doug Ott Dianne Blumer (Gov. Ofc), phone
Jodi Mitchell (phone) Devany Plentovich Brian Bjorkquist, DOL
Butch White Pat Walker (Sen. Hoffman Ofc) phone
Audrey Alstrom Wyn Menafee
Josh Craft
Helen Traylor
Shauna Howell
May Clark
Mr. Crimp introduced new AEA staff members, Helen Traylor and Josh Craft.
3. Public Comments
There were no public comments.
4. Agenda Comments
The agenda was approved as presented.
5. Approval of Meeting Minutes — June 6, 2011
MOTION: Mr. Posey moved to approve the minutes from the June 6, 2011 Renewable Energy
Fund Advisory Committee meeting. Seconded by Mr. Reeve. The minutes were unanimously
approved.
6. RE Fund Status Update
Mr. White distributed a current status table which included Round V applications noting that 559
applications have been received; 207 projects are funded; 173 grants are in place. Of $176.6 M
appropriated $75.1 has been disbursed. A grant status update was also shown for ‘Legislative
REFAC Meeting Minutes 11-22-2011 Page 1
Energy Generation Grants’, ‘ARCTEC Energy Projects (Railbelt)’ grants and two major projects
administered by AEA (Nuvista Light & Power — Chikuminuk Hydro and Chugach/CIRI — Fire Island
Wind TL). He said that two public records requests were received during the Round V process for
Grant Lake by Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE); and for Connelly Lake and Schubee Lake
from the Lynn Canal Conservation Alliance (LCCA). Both requests were put on hold by AEA because
it’s AEA’s policy to post applications online upon review completion and it would be an unfair
advantage if the information was released early. ACE’s reply was they were disappointed, but
understood. No reply was received from LCCA. AEA’s written response is available to anyone upon
request.
Mr. Posey said he was concerned that by listing our REF projects and mixing them with other
legislative projects, we are possibly sending the wrong message that REF program will now be
driving recommendations for transmission projects. Ms. Fisher-Goad responded that the table is
only a status informational update to show there are other grants out with some originating from
the REF. Mr. Posey agreed and said it shows there are different ways to get projects funded and
would like to discuss taking off the project ‘caps.’ Mr. Menafee asked how many projects were
deemed applicable to the EETF. Staff replied there were about five that have yet to be reviewed. In
the four stage review process, they would be likely categorized as technology demonstration
projects at Stage 1. Mr. Posey asked if we are still going to have a joint EETF/REFAC Advisory
Committee meeting. Acting Chair Rose agreed that should be discussed and with no opposition,
placed it on the agenda as Item 11, EETF Coordination.
7. Discussion of Round V Proposal Evaluation Issues
Mr. Crimp said this time around we haven’t encountered many issues, as many have been taken
care of during past application reviews.
He asked the Committee’s opinion on the fact that we received an application from Kodiak Electric
for three more turbines in addition to the existing project. They are requesting $8 M which is the
cap; they already have $4 M in the Round 1 grant for the first three turbines, specifically, should the
$8 M cap apply cumulatively as in the past or be counted as a separate project. Mr. Posey voted for
separate project; he said he’s an advocate for taking the caps off, as the REF project is working so
well. Senator Hoffman said his concern is the intent of the legislation is to target those areas of the
state with high energy costs. He said he felt a vast portion of the funds are still going to the areas
that have some of the lowest energy costs in the state and therefore not meeting the intent of the
legislation. A discussion followed on funding availability and allocation. Mr. Crimp pointed out that
emphasis toward funding projects and the high energy cost areas work, but a limiting factor is the
quality of projects received from rural areas. Senator Hoffman agreed but pointed out that the
villages don’t have the resources to work on the applications. AEA needs to provide them with
technical assistance. Mr. Reeve and Acting Chair Rose agreed. Acting Chair Rose pointed out the
Denali Commission and NREL have discussed technical assistance for the villages. Senator Hoffman
said he and Representative Thomas plan on introducing legislation next year to extend the program
for an additional five years and is concerned that the report card for rural Alaska areas with the
highest energy costs will not be good when fulfilling legislative obligation.
Acting Chair Rose asked if we could get a report showing the amount of REF funds that have gone to
projects in different energy cost areas. Mr. Crimp said that could be provided before the meeting in
January.
ses ee eee REFAC Meeting Minutes 11-22-2011 Page 2
Mr. Menafee said we should also report how many applications we are getting from the high cost
energy areas and compare them and report the successes, which would support the need for
technical assistance. Mr. Posey asked Ms. Fisher-Goad about other wind diesel projects and their
successes in the state outside the REF that are working well. Ms. Fisher-Goad said staff has spent a
great deal of time discussing technical assistance versus applicant-driven programs in the REF. The
Unalakleet Wind project is an excellent example; we are also working with our diesel technical staff
to make sure that they are involved in the application process.
Mr. Crimp said we are leaning toward considering (the Kodiak turbine project) one project. He said
he felt groups might submit piece-meal proposals in order to circumvent the overall intent of the
cap. Devany Plentovich has been working very hard on heat recovery and biomass project
development, which is reflected in the number of applications received and under review.
Regarding the issue of lifting funding caps, Mr. Crimp proposed the caps remain as Round V is
already in progress. We feel the Kodiak project is one project and perhaps we should discuss this at
the next meeting. Mr. Posey agreed to look at caps in Round VI. At that point we may as well
commit that they are off and take the issue off the table. Senator Hoffman said we could use this
information to make other refinements to the program. It was agreed that the caps will stay on for
now, but will be discussed by the group before Round VI and the Kodiak project will remain capped
at $4M.
Acting Chair Rose said he was pleased with the regional planning process that is unfolding. The state
is currently spending a large amount on fuel for rural Alaska and the Railbelt, and we should think
about costs for the next 40 years.
Mr. Crimp said AEA received word that there is concern that AEA staff are unfairly advancing
projects toward the REF. We have six or seven project development programs ongoing and part of
that work is to find good projects; a number of them being heat recovery and biomass. Another way
AEA moves projects forward is through the Rural Power System Upgrade (RPSU) program, in which
we manage projects, such as Pelican Hydro. In Igiugig, the term contractor working for the project
manager may have had some involvement in conceptualizing the hydrokinetic application. He
requested Committee direction on this issue.
In response to a question on AEA proposal review procedure, he said three staff review the
proposals — the program manager and two senior reviewers. A discussion followed on AEA review
policies and how best to provide technical assistance to villages. Mr. Posey suggested hiring
consultants to provide the technical assistance, which Senator Hoffman suggested could be funded
out of the state’s Operating Budget. Ms. Daniels said she has been working with NREL; last year in
the Federal FY11 budget $300K was set aside for technical assistance, and they have been working
with AEA on this. Mr. Reeve said it is a good idea to get other agencies to help hire a pool of
contractors to go to the villages and evaluate the projects.
Mr. Hirsch said that NREL’s new technical assistance (START) program is just getting started; the
Office of Indian Energy is a newly-funded office through the DOE focusing on tribal communities.
Alaska has at least half of the entire country’s tribes. They can collaborate with municipalities,
regional non-profits or village corporations. The thought is to dovetail with AEA’s regional planning
effort and work with AHFC on their village weatherization programs. An application request should
go out by December or January. They hope AEA will participate in the community selection process.
REFAC Meeting Minutes 11-22-2011 Page 3
The Office of Indian Energy is contributing $SOOK and Denali Commission is contributing $200K or
$300K. The team will also be talking with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium about
contributing. High energy cost communities will be focused on in different regions and
technologies. Ms. Mitchell said she was excited to hear about the DOE and the Tribal Energy
Program, but was concerned about how the Alaska Native tribes would be treated; the roadless rule
is an issue and the Feds don’t consider hydro a renewable energy source. Mr. Hirsch said the START
program will mainly focus on energy efficiency and teeing up opportunities and one of the main
targets is the REF. The Tribal Energy Program is one of many possible opportunities for communities
to access RE project capital. DOE Tribal Energy recognizes village and regional corporations to apply
as tribes. Federally recognized tribes are eligible for all DOE services. Ms. Daniels will call Ms.
Mitchell to discuss the issue.
Mr. Crimp said the economic evaluations have just been completed; application evaluations will be
completed by December 9 and the unsuccessful applicants will be contacted by letter to allow them
time to appeal. AEA proposes the next REFAC meeting to be held in mid-January.
8. Regional Planning Update
Sandra Moller said AEA has been busy on regional energy planning. Regional planning will be done
in 1.5 to two years at each region’s pace. An effort will be made to compile the information we
already have, finding data gaps and looking at technical feasibility, pre-feasibility of projects and
prioritization of projects on a regional basis. Public involvement and transparency is critical; we want
to use common assumptions and data sources. Energy planning regions were set up loosely defined
as ANCSA boundaries. Southeast and Cook Inlet are handled separately in the energy region. The
draft Southeast Integrated Resource Plan (SEIRP) report will be out in mid-December. The ARCTEC
Railbelt projects are also underway. Some of the work is being done with various groups, including
Ahtna, Bering Straits, Calista, Bristol Bay, Lake & Pen Borough, Doyon and NANA/NWAB. We want
to make sure the groups have a regional steering committee leading the plan — not AEA — and we
want them to focus on construction projects; coordinate with AEA and other entities for funding
with AEA providing technical support; measure their performance and progress towards their plan
objectives by focusing on infrastructure they need. AEA is currently working on an End Use Study
and an RPSU inventory by region, both of which will be completed in February 2012. We are also
informing the regions of all the programs available to them and we are creating an ‘agency team’ to
be a one-stop regional planning help source. The Legislature has approved $2 M for regional
planning which is not region-specific.
9. Progress on REF Program Evaluation
Mr. Crimp said three proposals were received for preparing two products to be used for program
evaluation process and impacts, a Notice of Intent to award the work has been issued to Vermont
Energy Investment Corporation, Burlington, VT. The draft process report should be completed by
February 1 and the draft impact report should be done by March 1.
10. Project Performance Monitoring
Mr. Crimp said by the end of the year we will have 10 construction projects that will have operated
for at least nine months. We requested project managers collect performance information for all
energy producing projects and then developed standard templates for reporting the information.
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REFAC Meeting Minutes 11-22-2011 Page 4
Wind projects have more complex reporting, such as turbine availability, O&M costs and control
logic setup. We are working closely with ACEP’s wind diesel center on detailed data collection. A
summary report will be out at the end of this year for all projects. Showing actual dollar savings is
more difficult, but we will make an effort to assemble that information. In meeting the 2025 goal of
50% renewable energy, we are now at 24%. Mr. Posey said we need to follow the wind projects
through their whole life cycle and assess decreasing efficiency year to year. Acting Chair Rose said
wind is the least understood and asked Ms. Holdmann to explain what they are measuring and what
the wind-diesel center is.
Ms. Holdmann commended AEA staff on their efforts in analyzing project performance and data
collection. It’s important to understand potential performance declines over time. The University
has developed a focus area, specifically wind diesel applications and hybrid integration of
renewables with diesel generation. Funding is available to address these issues. ACEP has been
addressing data collection systems utilizing a ‘black box’ and also addressing individual utility
concerns. Student involvement is also key.
Acting Chair Rose asked if 20 years’ worth of data has ever been requested of the grant recipients.
Mr. Crimp said five years’ worth of data is expected from the grantees. If no data is provided, it
jeopardizes the future grant. Acting Chair Rose suggested this item be placed on the next meeting
agenda to possibly be requested in the next round of grants. Mr. Stromberg said he and Brent Petrie
at AVEC has spoken about finding funds to set up a long-term MET tower at one location to assess
long-term turbine performance. Mr. White pointed out that our regulations allow certain
requirements to survive after the grant is closed.
11. EETF Coordination
Acting Chair Rose said the EETF Regulations were approved by the AEA Board. The purpose of the
EETF was to have separate funding for demonstration and pilot projects on new technologies. He
said he discussed having a joint REF/EETF Advisory Committee meeting with the EETFAC Chair, Brian
Hirsch. Mr. Posey and Mr. Reeve agreed. Mr. Hirsch said the newly formed EETFAC will benefit
from the REFAC expertise and hoped a meeting could be held in December or January. He said the
Denali Commission has one or two rounds of funding that they have experience with. Mr. Menafee
suggested permitting is important and should be discussed in future meetings, as well as technical
and financial issues.
12. Next Meeting Date: January 13, 2012.
13. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
REFAC Meeting Minutes 11-22-2011 Page 5
y= ALASKA.
mm ENERGY AUTHORITY
RENEWABLE ENERGY FUND ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
AEA Boardroom (813 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Anchorage, AK)
12:30 pm to 3:00 pm
AGENDA
1. Call to Order Rose
2. Roll Call (Committee Members, Staff, Public, Phone)
3. Public Comments (limit of 2 minutes)
4. Agenda Comments (changes/additions/deletions)
5. Approval of Meeting Minutes — June 6, 2011
6. RE Fund Status Update White
7. Discussion of REF round 5 proposal evaluation issues Crimp
8. Progress on REF Program evaluation Crimp
9. Project performance monitoring Rose
10. Regional planning update Moller
11. Next Meeting Date Rose
12. Adjournment Rose
813 West Northern Lights Boulevard Anchorage, Alaska 99503 T 907.771.3000 Toll Free (Alaska Only) 888.300.8534 F 907.771.3044
(= ALASKA =x ~ ENERGY AUTHORITY Renewable Energy Fund Update
(as of November 21, 2011)
Current Status
e Rounds !1—-V Grant and Funding Summary
Round I Round Il Cm tL Round IV Round V ae
Applications Received
Projects Funded 78 30 25 74 thd 207
Grants in Place 17 29’ 20"! 47 0 173
Grants Cancelled 4 r Ed 0 0 8
Amount Requested ($M) $453.8 $293.4 $223.5 $123.1 $130.6 $1,224.4
AEA Recommended ($M) $100.0 $36.8 $65.8 $36.6 tbd $239.2
Appropriated ($M) $100.0 $25.0 $25.0 $26.6 tbd $176.6
Cash Disbursed ($M) $52.4 $16.4 $5.9 $.4 $0 $75.1
Available for reallocation ($M) so*” $o*” $.2°? $0 $0 $.2
1-11 Summary: 1) Round 0 projects included; 2) Funds used to fully fund Takatz Lake ($2M); 3), 4, 5), 8), 9) and 10) funds not
needed; used for Round IV projects; 6) Grantees responsible for delays; 7) Round | and Round II grants combined; 11) One project
funded with Round | funds.
Legislative Energy Generation Grants / SLA 2012 Status:
Akiak Electrical Generation System Upgrade $4,000,000 Grant in place / managed by AEA
Copper Valley Electric — Allison Creek Hydro $10,000,000 Grantee working on information for grant
Golden Valley Electric — Eva Creek Wind $10,000,000 —_— Funds included with Round IV RE Fund grant
Gustavus Electric — Falls Creek Hydro $1,300,000 Funds disbursed (debt reimbursement)
Ketchikan PU — Whitman Lake Hydro $8,025,000 Grantee working on information for grant
Kodiak Electric Assc. — Terror Lake Hydro $3,750,000 Funds included with Round IV RE Fund grant
Ormat — Mt. Spurr Geothermal project $12,500,000 Project on hold
Sitka PU — Blue Lake Hydro $28,500,000 Grantee working on information for grant
ARCTEC Energy Projects (Railbelt) / SLA 2012 Status:
Chugach — Anchorage to Quartz Creek TL Repair $15,000,000
AEA — Battle Creek Diversion (managed in-house) $3,000,000
Chugach - Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System $4,000,000
Chugach — Girdwood Substation Improvements $500,000
Homer Electric Assc. — Sterling Substation Impr $500,000
HEA — Soldotna to Nikiski TL Upgrade $18,000,000
HEA — Quartz Creek to Soldotna TL Repair $5,000,000
Seward PU — Power Plant Integration $4,000,000
AEA - Teeland to Healy Substation Impr $5,000,000
AEA needs to draft grant agreement
Project underway
Grant in place / project underway
AEA needs to draft agreement for grant
Grantee working on information for grant
Grant in place / project underway
Study needs to be completed first
AEA needs to draft agreement for grant
work underway
AEA — Soldotna to Quartz Creek Study, Design & Permitting $1,000,000
($250,000 managed in-house for study, balance for Bradley access transmission planning output)
Other significant projects administered by AEA:
Nuvista Light & Power — Chikuminuk Hydro $10,000,000
Chugach / CIRI - Fire Island Wind TL $25,000,000
Grantee working on information for grant
Grant in place / project underway
/E ALASKA ENERGY AUTHORITY
RENEWABLE ENERGY FUND ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
AEA Boardroom (813 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Anchorage, AK)
12:30 pm to 3:00 pm
DRAFT
AGENDA
1. Call to Order Rose
2. Roll Call (Committee Members, Staff, Public, Phone)
3. Public Comments (limit of 2 minutes)
4. Agenda Comments (changes/additions/deletions)
5. Approval of Meeting Minutes — June 6, 2011
6. RE Fund Status Update White
7. Discussion of REF round 5 proposal evaluation issues Crimp
8. Progress on REF Program evaluation Crimp
9. Project performance monitoring Rose
10.Regional planning update Moller
11.Next Meeting Date Rose
12.Adjournment Rose