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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024.06.21 BPMC Meeting Minutes - FINAL___________________________________________________________________________ BPMC Minutes 6/21/24 Page 1 of 5 BRADLEY LAKE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (BPMC) REGULAR MEETING AGENDA June 21, 2024 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Million called the meeting of the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project Management Committee to order at 10:05 a.m. A quorum was established. 2. ROLL CALL (for Committee members) Brad Janorschke (Homer Electric Association [HEA]); Travis Million (Golden Valley Electric Association [GVEA]); Tony Izzo (Matanuska Electric Association [MEA]); Arthur Miller (Chugach Electric Association [CEA]); Curtis Thayer (Alaska Energy Authority [AEA]); and Brian Hickey (City of Seward). 3. PUBLIC ROLL CALL (for all others present) Jennifer Bertolini, Patrick Domitrovich, Pam Ellis, David Grossklaus, Ryan McLaughlin, Jim Mendenhall, Bill Price (AEA); Joel Paisner (Ascent Law Partners); Matt Clarkson, Sherri Highers, Andrew Laughlin, Mike Miller, Russell Thornton (CEA); Kat Sorenson (arrived 10:21 a.m.) (City of Seward); Dan Bishop, Gary Newman, Sarah Villalon (GVEA); Larry Jorgenson, Martin Law, Andrew Patrick (HEA); Ed Jenkin, David Pease, Matt Reisterer, and Jon Sinclair (MEA). 4. AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Miller to approve the agenda. Motion seconded by Mr. Thayer. Mr. Hickey informed that at Item 8B., he will recuse himself, and Kat Sorenson, City of Seward, will join the meeting. She is in Soldotna today. There were no objections. A roll call was taken, and the motion to approve the agenda, as presented, passed unanimously. 5. PUBLIC COMMENTS - None. 6. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES – May 17, 2024 MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Thayer to approve the Minutes of May 17, 2024. Motion seconded by Mr. Miller A roll call was taken, and the motion to approve the Minutes of May 17, 2024, passed unanimously. ___________________________________________________________________________ BPMC Minutes 6/21/24 Page 2 of 5 7. NEW BUSINESS – None. 8. OLD BUSINESS A. Railbelt Reliability Coordination Update i. GRIP 3, Phase 1 Update Chair Million requested Jim Mendenhall, AEA, present the update. Mr. Mendenhall discussed the memorandum included in the Committee packet regarding the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Project, Round 1. Staff continues to work with the Department of Energy (DOE) to meet the submission requirements. DOE is reviewing the first budget period costs of $14 million. An award is expected from DOE on August 1st. Mr. Mendenhall informed that AEA has received the terms and conditions of the contract this week and has forwarded those to counsel David Grossklaus. Mr. Mendenhall asked Mr. Grossklaus if he reviewed the terms and conditions. Mr. Grossklaus noted he is in the process of review and should have comments early next week. Mr. Mendenhall reported that he and Mr. Thayer have spent quite a bit of time with DOE. He highlighted the concern at DOE regarding the Davis-Bacon Act since many utilities pay biweekly, and according to the statute, payment must be made weekly and certified payroll must be submitted weekly. This is an issue for some of the utilities that are self-performing the work. Mr. Mendenhall noted that under the direction of Bill Price of AEA, staff is working on the Railbelt Strategic Transmission Plan that will help determine the loads and help define what is needed for the power across the subsea cable. Additionally, work is ongoing to engage a contractor to assist in the development of a preliminary project budget, schedule, and work framework. An update will be given at the next meeting. There were no comments or questions. ii. GRIP 3, Phase 2 Chair Million requested Mr. Hickey discuss GRIP 3, Phase 2. Mr. Hickey advised that since the last meeting, the application was submitted on time by AEA. He believes the application is competitive. The grant ask is $363 million. Mr. Hickey noted that the recent meeting in Washington, D.C. was productive and the feedback on the Cycle 1 application was positive. However, it was noted that there were 500 applications across the three topic areas for Cycle 2 and the applications were more competitive than the first round. A decision is expected later this summer or early in the fall. Mr. Hickey commented that his written report is in the packet. There were no comments or questions. B. Amended Consultants Agreement Chair Million asked if Ms. Sorenson was expected to join the meeting for this item. Mr. Hickey agreed and noted that he will not vote on this issue. There was no objection. Chair Million requested Joel Paisner, Ascent Law Partners, LLP, review the Amended Consultants Agreement. ___________________________________________________________________________ BPMC Minutes 6/21/24 Page 3 of 5 Mr. Paisner discussed that the Amended Consultants Agreement is available for further consideration and potential approval by the BPMC. The structure is an amendment to the existing Consultants Agreement that was approved in March of 2022. The amendment is consistent with the 60/40 split, in which 60% of the cost of the consultant is paid by MEA and 40% of the cost of the consultant is paid by the BPMC. Mr. Paisner indicated that the Exhibit B Scope of Work contains a slight revision. He understands from MEA that there is a signed employment agreement with Mr. Hickey for the Seward part of the work. Chair Million advised that Ms. Sorenson joined the meeting. MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Janorschke to approve the Amended Consultants Agreement. Motion seconded by Mr. Izzo. Mr. Miller asked for additional information regarding how Mr. Hickey is allocating and tracking work time. Mr. Hickey explained that he primarily works on BPMC activities on Monday and Tuesday, and is in Seward Wednesday through Friday. He noted that when there is overlap, he tries to maintain a balance. Mr. Miller asked if the agreement allows for modifications to Mr. Hickey’s 60/40 time split in recognition of the different requirements of the two distinct positions and the possibility of working solely on BPMC activities or vice versa. Mr. Hickey discussed that he adjusts his schedule to conform to the 60/40 time split. There were no other questions. A roll call was taken, and the motion to approve the Amended Consultants Agreement passed, with Mr. Thayer abstaining. 9. OPERATOR’S REPORT Chair Million requested Martin Law, HEA, to discuss the included Operator’s Report. Mr. Law informed that the plant is running well. There have been no forced outages this month. The road up to the Battle Creek Diversion remains snowed in. Mr. Law noted that the delivery for the needle valve purchase has been delayed to July 15. This date still aligns with the timing for the barge transfer during the last week of July. Mr. Law discussed the pictures included in the report. There were no questions. 10. COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Budget to Actuals Report Chair Million requested Pam Ellis, AEA, to discuss the included Budget to Actual Expense Report for the period of July 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024. Ms. Ellis discussed that the actuals for capital purchases not funded by R&C Funds shown on Schedule A came in at $457,439. The budget remaining to be expended is $490,561. The majority of the spending is related to equipment purchases and the upgrade of crew quarters. Schedule B shows the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) actual expenses are underbudget by $792,788, primarily due the O&M expense sections that came in underbudget; FERC 542 Maintenance of Structures, FERC 543 ___________________________________________________________________________ BPMC Minutes 6/21/24 Page 4 of 5 Maintenance of Reservoirs, Dams and Waterways, FERC 544 Maintenance of Electric Plant, FERC 556 System Control and Load Dispatching, FERC 923 Outside Services Employed, and FERC 928 Regulatory Commission Expense. Year-end final billing is anticipated to reduce the FERC 928 amount. Ms. Ellis noted that Schedule D shows the actual expenses at a total of $890,894. The Dixon Diversion project costs total $2,038,759, of which $1,354,398 was paid by Bradley Lake R&C Fund, and $684,360 was paid by the Renewable Energy Fund (REF) Grant. Ms. Ellis discussed that Schedule E shows the Battle Creek Non-R&C Capital Purchases at a total of $77,789. The costs are related to the Survey and Monument DNR Lease line item. Schedule F shows the Battle Creek O&M expenses were underbudget by $71,625, primarily due to the 4% allocation from Bradley Lake. There continues to be no fiscal year activity for Schedule H. Ms. Ellis discussed Schedule I shows that the SSQ Line O&M expenses were underbudget by $206,769. The majority of this less than budgeted variance is from FERC 571 Maintenance of Overhead Lines. No expenditures have been made yet to this line item. Ms. Ellis reviewed Appendix A, Capital Projects Funded by Bond Proceeds for Bond Series 10 and Bond Series 11. The total costs for Bond Series 10 is $2,715,015. The total costs for Bond Series 11 is $363,424. There were no questions. B. O&D Report Chair Million requested Andrew Patrick, HEA, and Chair of the O&D Committee, to review the report. Mr. Patrick noted that the O&D met twice since the last BPMC meeting. Notable discussion items included formalizing and clarifying the O&D support and challenges of extended 115 kV transmission work through a resolution passed by the O&D Committee. The utilities can support 120 days of islanding annually, within specific timing and scheduling constraints. Mr. Patrick indicated that he provided a copy of the resolution with his report. Mr. Patrick noted that the new water year began at the beginning of June. Lake levels are rising quickly due to the project being islanded due to ongoing transmission work. He discussed the listed Committee assignments. He reported that CEA continues to make progress and recently provided a draft data analysis of utilization for placing units in condense mode. Mr. Patrick reviewed that HEA is collecting documents related to the relay settings and will provide CEA with the documents to help develop the contractor scope of work for relay recommendations. Mr. Janorschke asked if the resolution Mr. Patrick discussed was distributed to members and if there is an expectation that the BPMC is to review the resolution and provide comments. Chair Million clarified that Mr. Patrick’s discussion was for informational purposes only. Mr. Janorschke commented that he has not seen the resolution. He asked Mr. Paisner if the BPMC had to make a motion accepting the O&D resolution. Mr. Paisner advised that it is the decision of the BPMC to determine whether any action should be taken regarding resolutions from a Subcommittee. Mr. Janorschke suggested that the O&D resolution is provided to members in the BPMC packet for the July meeting. The BPMC can review the information before the next meeting and action can occur at the July meeting. There was no objection and no further questions.