Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

Page 1 of 2 The Austin Generation Resource Planning Task Force (‘the Task Force’) convened in a meeting at Austin City Hall, Room 1029, 301 West Second Street, Austin, Texas. CALL TO ORDER – Michael Osborne called the meeting to order at 2:33 p.m. Task Force members in attendance: Carol Biedrzycki, Clay Butler, Barry Dreyling, Michael Osborne, Cyrus Reed and Michele Van Hyfte. Mike Sloan and Tom “Smitty” Smith were not present at the Call to Order, but arrived shortly afterwards. Grace Hsieh was absent. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. The motion to approve minutes of the May 28, 2014 meeting, by Ms. Biedrzycki and seconded by Mr. Dreyling, passed on a vote of 6-0 with Mr. Sloan and Mr. Smith off the dais and Ms. Hsieh absent. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The following persons addressed the Task Force: Dale Bulla – said that water was critical to energy generation, urged more emphasis on storage, wanted air monitoring at power plants and a rethinking of AE’s business model. Pliny Fisk – presented information about how climate change causes natural disasters and Texas ranks tops in the number of natural disasters; also said the material used in frackng could be used to make stronger, more efficient buildings. BRIEFINGS AND REPORTS 2. Report on the Austin Climate Protection Plan by Lucia Athens and Zach Baumer, Office of Sustainability. Mr. Osborne suggested taking up Item 8, the report from the Water Resource Planning Task Force. 8. Report from the Austin Water Resource Planning Task Force by Tommy Mason, Vice Chair. 3. Presentation on Climate Change Science by Dr. Kerry H. Cook, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas. 4. Presentation on EPA carbon rules and other pollutants by Al Armendariz, former EPA Region 6 Director. 5. Presentation on solutions for the Austin Climate Protection Plan by Joep Meijer, President, theRightenvironment. Mr. Osborne suggested taking up Items 7 and 10, briefings from Austin Energy. 7. Briefing on the methodology for determining the value of utility solar generation from Austin Energy (Related to Item #15) 10. Discussion of past Austin Energy presentation regarding present and future costs associated with each generation resource (Item #2 on May 7, 2014 agenda). Khalil Shalabi, VP, Market Operations and Resource Planning, and Sathibabu “Babu” Chakka, Manager, Energy Market Analysis, provided briefings and answered questions from Task Force members. Mr. Osborne suggested taking up Item 6, a briefing from Austin Energy. 6. Briefing on green pricing, community solar and other voluntary programs from Austin Energy (Related to Item #16) – Mr. Osborne announced that the briefing on GreenChoice would be postponed to the June 11 meeting. Danielle Murray, Solar Program Manager, provided information on a new community solar project. Austin Generation Resource Planning Task Force Meeting Minutes June 4, 2014  Page 2 of 2 Due to time constraints, Mr. Osborne suggested taking up Item 14 to discuss plans for their final report. 14. Discussion of Report Format and Timing – Mr. Osborne said the group needed to draft an outline of their report for the next meeting on June 11. The drafting committee, set last week, includes Ms. Van Hyfte, Mr. Sloan, Mr. Smith and Mr. Osborne. Mr. Reed will provide information to Mr. Smith for the report and Ms. Biedrzycki will provide information to Ms. Van Hyfte for the report. OLD BUSINESS 9. Discussion of past Austin Energy presentation regarding wholesale real time market purchases (Item #4 on May 7, 2014 agenda) and net market purchases expressed as a percentage of Austin Energy load – No discussion. 11. Discussion of Austin Energy resources, peak demand and demand side resources – No discussion. 12. Discussion regarding Generation Plan scenarios – No discussion. 13. Discussion of Competitive Issues and other obstacles to the Task Force – No discussion. NEW BUSINESS 15. Discussion on the methodology for determining the value of utility solar generation – Members discussed this topic during and after the Austin Energy briefing (Item #7). 16. Discussion regarding voluntary programs including GreenChoice and community solar – Members discussed the community solar project during and after the Austin Energy briefing (Item #6). The discussion on GreenChoice was postponed to June 11, along with the briefing. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 17. Discussion regarding future agenda items, including a schedule of topics, and issues raised during briefings and Citizen Communications during this meeting – No discussion. ADJOURNMENT - Mr. Osborne adjourned the meeting at 5:35 p.m. without objection.