Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION SPECIAL CALLED MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 22, 2024 The Electric Utility Commission convened in a Special Called meeting on Monday, January 22, 2024, at Austin Energy Headquarters, 4815 Mueller Blvd, Austin, TX 78723. Chair Dave Tuttle called the Electric Utility Commission meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. Commissioners in Attendance: Dave Tuttle, Chair; Cesar Benavides, Mick Long, Cyrus Reed, Kay Trostle Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: Kaiba White, Vice Chair PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL There were no speakers under general communications. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approve the minutes of the Electric Utility Commission Regular Meeting on November 13, 2023. The motion approving the minutes of the Electric Utility Commission meeting of November 13, 2023, were approved on Commissioner Reed’s motion, Commissioner Tuttle’s second on an 6-0 vote with Commissioners Alvarez, Blackburn and Chapman absent and two vacancies. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON RECOMMENDATIONS The motion to approve recommendation 2 failed on Commissioner Reed’s motion, Commissioner Tuttle’s second on a (5-1) with Commissioners Alvarez, Blackburn and Chapman absent and two vacancies. The members voting aye were Commissioners Tuttle, Benavides, Long, Reed and Trostle. Commissioner White voted nay. The motion to approve recommendation 3 was approved on Commissioner Tuttle’s motion, Commissioner Trostle’s second on a (6-0) Commissioners Alvarez, Blackburn and Chapman absent and two vacancies.   The motion to approve recommendation 4 was approved on Commissioner Trostle’s motion, Commissioner Tuttle’s second on a (6-0) Commissioners Alvarez, Blackburn and Chapman absent and two vacancies. 2. Recommend authorizing negotiation and execution of two contracts for tree growth regulator services with Edko LLC and T&S Growth Solutions, LLC, each for up to three years for total contract amounts not to exceed $5,000,000, divided between the contractors. 3. Recommend authorizing execution of two contracts for batteries, battery banks and battery testing services with Direct Current Preventive Maintenance LLC d/b/a DCPM and Exponential Power Inc. each for up to five years for total contract amounts not to exceed $3,500,000 divided between the contractors. 4. Approve the creation of a Budget & Audit working group to provide recommendations on the FY 24/25 Austin Energy budget to the Commission. (Sponsors: Chapman, Trostle) DISCUSSION ITEMS The presentation was made by Stephanie Koudelka, Finance Director. 5. Presentation by Abbe Ramanan, Clean Energy Group, regarding green hydrogen. The presentation was made by Abbe Ramanan, Clean Energy Group. 6. Discussion on hydrogen technology by Michael Hoffman, Austin Energy Environmental Services Manager; Michael Webber, University of Texas; Patrick Drupp, Sierra Club; Joseph Benoit, PSM; and moderated by Dana Harmon. The panel discussed hydrogen technology and was moderated by Dana Harmon. 7. Discussion of the Resource Generation Plan Working Group’s draft recommendations. Commissioner Reed reported that Working Group has had 5 EUC and 4 RMC members along with other community members. https://austineucresourceplanningwg.org/ has all the materials, they've been meeting since October. Working on additional portfolios since AE's presentation in November, to get to carbon free by 2030/2035 that don't rely on resources that produce hydrogen, including those that aren't green hydrogen. AE ran 4 portfolios, focused on 2035 as main case, and includes local solar, demand response and batteries. They don't meet all the criteria that AE has – “we haven’t cracked the code” – but think there's a path forward. Going through portfolios/goals and what other resources/information needed. Their recommendations will include a series of near- and longer-term goals and additional studies to get to those goals. They are also looking at other options for a path forward. They will be meeting on January 26 to hopefully meet consensus, with another scheduled on January 30 if needed. They will then share final recommendations to with AE by January 30.   Commissioner White and Reed also added that most questions have been answered, but they are still waiting on a few outstanding inquiries, which are key to their recommendations. Deputy General Manager Lisa Martin said they will have those responses before their January 26 meeting. Commissioner Reed acknowledged that group has asked a lot of questions and AE has been very responsive.    8. Discussion of report regarding City Council action on items previously reviewed by the EUC. There was no discussion. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS February ADJOURNMENT AE Community Facing Programs Repost Resource Plan Working Group for action on Recommendations for Chair Tuttle adjourned the meeting at 8:54 p.m. without objection. The minutes were approved as amended at the February 12, 2024 meeting on Commissioner Chapman’s  motion, Commissioner Reed’s second on a (8‐0) vote and three vacancies. The minutes were amended to  change the number of EUC members on the Resource Generation Plan Working Group from 4 to 5.