03-03-2016 SWATeam Meeting Notes
A copy of the meeting notes for the Energy Generation, Purchasing, and Distribution team meeting on Thursday, March 3rd 2016.
A copy of the meeting notes for the Energy Generation, Purchasing, and Distribution team meeting on Thursday, March 3rd 2016.
see file
Several SWATeam recommendations were discussed. Also, an update from the Sustainability Council was provided:
"Review of Council Meeting/Status of iCAP Approval - The Sustainability Council meeting went very well with lots of good discussion. There were not too many serious objections to the iCAP. They would like to see financial information, such as cost-benefit analysis on projects. This information will be included in the study for accelerating our carbon neutrality date. The cover letter from the Chancellor affirming our commitment will include language about the current fiscal climate in Illinois. The Chancellor was keen to be able to reach carbon neutrality by 2035. Other concerns were in regard to the net zero space item and they suggested a space audit be included in the iCAP."
iCAP Working Group Thursday, October 30, 2014 358 NSRC, 1:30 - 3:00 pm
Dear Al,
Attached please find a reply from the iCAP Working Group regarding the wind PPA process.
By the way, thanks so much for your participation in iSEE's Roundtable this week...sorry we didn't get a chance to chat!
Cheers,
Ben
--
Professor Benjamin J. McCall
Associate Director for Campus Sustainability Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus-sustainability@illinois.edu
Attached here are the agenda and other relevant materials for the September 25, 2014 meeting of the iCAP Working Group.
This letter is in response to the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) recommendation #EG001, which Facilities & Services (F&S) received on August 28. F&S agrees that the campus should investigate the feasibility of entering into a Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to increase the use of renewable energy for campus.
Regarding the EG001 general statements about campus energy use, data points, and assessments of anticipated financial impacts, F&S will need more time to compile a useful response. Regarding the three specific EG001 recommendations, I have consulted with Al Stratman, Kent Reifsteck, and Mike Larson to provide the responses below.
From this recommendation, we understand that the iWG recommends entering into a Wind PPA for at least 25% of the FY15 electrical demand. However, the campus cannot make an informed decision about whether or not to undertake a PPA until the financial impact is fully understood. A key component of the financial impact is the fully burdened cost of the purchased wind power, which will not be known until after the successful completion of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Therefore, F&S does support pursuing a PPA so the feasibility can be evaluated, but we do not support making a final decision to undertake a PPA until completely evaluating the financial implications.
During this summer, F&S worked with PEI to define a schedule for issuing a Request for Information (RFI) and a subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP). This schedule shows a completion date of April 2015, so that the PPA could commence with delivery of power on July 1, 2015, at the start of FY16. We have informed PEI that this is a top priority, along with safety and reliability of the overall campus energy system.
F&S values the advice and input from sustainability advocates on campus. Therefore, we suggest developing a set of interim checkpoints for keeping the iWG informed as the process unfolds.
To meet our Climate Commitment and achieve carbon neutrality, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. I look forward to working with the iWG and the SWATeams as this recommendation is pursued.
Sincerely,
Morgan B. Johnston
Associate Director of Sustainability, F&S
I am providing an updated schedule for the RFP related to a wind-power PPA for UIUC. The change reflects a request by one vendor to extend the response period by one week. Because of that, we have made other slight modifications to target dates for some of the milestones, but the original completion date of April 30, 2015 is maintained.
If you have any question, please let me know. Dan Mortland
Morgan,
I understand the deadline for submitting the RFI was extended until September 5 based on the requests from some vendors for more time to prepare their responses.
UA / PEI will be forwarding more info and will be looking to keep the overall schedule from being extended.
Thanks
Kent
The SWATeam recommendation complete with the iWG Assessment with comments from all the iWG members was transmitted to the Facilities & Services on August 28th, 2014.
For any future updates on this item, please visit the Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) project.
See iWG Assessment for EGen001 Wind PPA here.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA here.
Attached please find the first formal recommendation from the iCAP Working Group (iWG) on the Wind Power Purchase Agreement.
See attached minutes from the iCAP Working Group.
The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on August 28th, 2014, to discuss the EGen001 Wind PPA recommendation, and they started the assessment for this recommendation.
See the attached file for complete assessment with comments from all the iWG members.
See SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA here.
Prairieland Energy Inc (PEI) provided the attached schedule for the Request for Information (RFI) and the potential Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
On July 29, the iCAP Working Group (iWG) met for the first time. Read more about that first meeting in the attached minutes.
The eGen SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG stating, "We strongly endorse pursuing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with one or more Wind Farms as soon as possible. Given current market conditions, we believe that a PPA with one or more Wind Farms presents a great opportunity to purchase renewable energy in support of the campus iCAP targets."
See attached the SWATeam recommendation EGen001 Wind PPA complete with comments from all the eGen SWATeam members.
Evan:
We contacted UA. They're supposed to give us a RFP schedule next week. That should give us a better idea of the timeline.
-Al Stratman
From: Evan DeLucia [mailto:delucia@life.illinois.edu]
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 5:39 PM
To: McCall, Benjamin
Cc: Stratman, Allan
Subject: SWAT report on energy generation
Ben,
In the absence of a fully formulated SWAT process - iWG and the Sustainability Council have yet to be formed - I forwarded the May 2014 position paper from the 'energy generation' team directly to Al Stratman for consideration.
Under the SWAT process, the teams should be... "developing and recommending specific actions or initiatives the campus should under take to meet iCAP targets..." The energy generation SWAT did a nice job of recommending a specific action that would help meet our targets.
To paraphrase, Al responded...
I've taken the liberty of copying Al to be sure I didn't misrepresent his response to me.
Al, do you have any idea of what might be a reasonable time frame would be for completing an analysis of the feasibility, costs, and benefits of purchasing wind power for campus?
Cheers,
Evan
Here is the first recommendation from the Energy Generation SWATeam.
"We strongly endorse obtaining Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with one or more Wind Farms as soon as possible. It is unlikely that a better opportunity to purchase renewable energy will present itself in the foreseeable future."