[00:00:01]
[CALL MEETING TO ORDER]
ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION, NOVEMBER 13TH, 2023.UM, WHY DON'T WE CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER ANY
[PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL]
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS? YES, WE HAVE FOUR SPEAKERS.MY NAME IS DALE BULA, AND I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT MY, ONE OF MY PET PEEVES.
I KNOW YOU'VE HEARD MANY OF THEM.
UH, THE FAYETTE COAL PLANT, UH, OUR CITY TRIES TO SHOW ITSELF AS A GREEN CITY, BUT WE CAN'T BE SUSTAINABLE AS LONG AS WE BURN FILTHY DIRTY COAL.
WE SHOULD NOT KEEP CONTRIBUTING TO OUR CLIMATE CRISIS WITH YEARS OF BROKEN PROMISES.
IT'S TIME NOW TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT CLOSING THE FAYETTE COAL PLANT, AT LEAST OUR SHARE OF IT.
OUR CITY COUNCIL IS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR AUSTIN ENERGY, AND THE WRITING ON THE WALL TELLS US THAT WE ARE RUNNING OUTTA TIME TO PROTECT OUR ONE AND ONLY PLANET.
WE CAN NO LONGER ACCEPT THAT THE PUBLIC HAS NO RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THESE.
SO-CALLED PROPRIETARY NEGOTIATIONS ON THE PLANT CLOSURE.
WE HAVE HEARD LOTS OF STATISTICS ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF POLLUTION THAT FADE EMITS.
WE CAN NO LONGER ALLOW OUR CITIZENS TO BREATHE THIS TOXIC AIR JUST TO RE PROFITS FROM RUNNING THIS POLLUTING PLANT FOR A FEW EXTRA DOLLARS DURING AN ENERGY SHORTFALL, WE NEED TO STOP APPROVING BUDGETS THAT MAKE OUR RATE PAYERS AND OTHERS SICK.
OUR CITY COUNCIL SHOULD DIRECT AUSTIN ENERGY TO RUN FAYETTE ONLY AT ITS LOWEST LEVEL ALLOWED BY CONTRACT.
OUR CITY COUNCIL SHOULD DIRECT AUSTIN ENERGY TO RUN FAYETTE.
OUR CITY COUNCIL SHOULD DIRECT AUSTIN ENERGY TO SPREAD THE COST OF CLOSURE OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, LIKE 20 OR 30 YEARS OR SO IF NECESSARY.
AND SEPARATE FAYETTE EXPENSES THAT AREN'T SUBJECT TO CITY COUNCIL VOTES.
THE FAYETTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE SETS ANNUAL BUDGETS AND CAPITAL EXPENDITURES, BUT THEY ARE ALL BURIED IN THE AUSTIN ENERGY BUDGET.
AND WE SHOULD STOP SPENDING MONEY ON A PLANT THAT WE WANT TO SHUT DOWN WITH NEW EPA RULES COMING SOON, PROBABLY WE'RE GONNA BE ASKED TO SPEND MILLIONS TO UPGRADE THE FACILITY, AND I THINK WE OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT.
COME ON, AUSTIN ENERGY, LIVE UP TO YOUR IMAGE OF A PLANET SAVING GREEN UTILITY, AND DO YOUR PART TO SHUT THIS PLANT DOWN.
THE NEXT SPEAKER IS SHANE JOHNSON.
GOOD AFTERNOON, EVENING EVERYONE.
SHANE JOHNSON, HE, HIM PRONOUNS.
I'M A RESIDENT OF DIS DISTRICT SEVEN AND HERE SPEAKING TODAY AS A SIERRA CLUB STAFF MEMBER.
UM, I WANT TO REMIND AND EMPHASIZE THAT THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS ALREADY UPON US.
UM, WE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL 2035 TO FULLY FULFILL OUR OVERDUE COMMITMENT TO CLOSE FAYETTE AND TO SHUT DOWN OUR GAS PLANTS.
SO I'M ASK HERE TO ASK YOU TODAY TO PLEASE COMMIT TO A GOAL OF GOING CARBON FREE BY 2030, UM, INCLUDING RETIRING OUR GAS PLANTS BY 2030 OR SOONER.
ADDITIONALLY, I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT TO COMMIT TO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE EQUITY SIDE OF THE CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN THAT THE CITY PASSED AUSTIN ENERGY MUST ALSO COMMIT TO NO NEW POWER PLANTS BASED ON COMBUSTION THAT PUT CARBON AND TOXIC POLLUTION INTO THE AIR.
THIS MEANS WE WILL NOT, OR WE SHOULD NOT, AND WE NEED YOU TO COMMIT TO NOT BUILDING ANY NEW POWER PLANTS THAT BURN A MIXTURE OF GAS AND HYDROGEN.
AS SOME ARE OUTLINED IN THIS PLAN, UH, OR THAT BURN SOLELY HYDROGEN, UH, YOU CAN FIND A PRETTY ACCESSIBLE EDF REPORT ABOUT HOW HOW MUCH TOXIC, UH, OZONE AND NOX POLLUTION COMES FROM COMBUSTING HYDROGEN.
UM, WE NEED TO DO THAT FOR OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY, FOR THE PEOPLE OF AUSTIN AND NEARBY COMMU UH, NEARBY AREAS, UH, AND ANY HYDROGEN WE PURSUE MUST BE GREEN HYDROGEN.
WE CANNOT INVEST IN, UH, MORE TERRIBLE, UH, POLLUTING GRAY HYDROGEN FOR WHETHER IT'S AIR, WATER, GROUND POLLUTION THAT ARE POISONING PEOPLE, UH, AND THE PLANET.
UM, ADDITIONALLY, I WANNA EMPHASIZE THAT ALSO FOR THE FIRST TIME, I BELIEVE IN DECADES, UH, OZONE LEVELS IN AUSTIN ARE NOW ABOVE
[00:05:01]
EPA STANDARDS, UH, OR MONITORS HAVE SHOWN THEM TO BE ABOVE EPA STANDARDS, NOT HAVEN'T BEEN DESIGNATED ON ATTAINMENT YET, BUT THEY'RE INCREASING.AND IT SHOWS THAT WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO ADDRESS LOCAL AIR POLLUTION.
UH, AND BURNING HYDROGEN LOCALLY WILL ONLY SEVERELY EXACERBATE THE, THE NOX AND AND OZONE.
UM, AND I THINK ONE LAST THING I'LL, I'LL EMPHASIZE AS WELL THAT I HOPEFULLY ISN'T A PROBLEM, AND WE'RE ALREADY ON THE SAME PAGE, IS TO REAFFIRM OUR COMMITMENT TO NO NEW NUCLEAR POWER.
UH, URANIUM MINING IS EGREGIOUS AND HAS HORRIFYING ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM PROBLEMS AS WELL AS THE GENERAL TOXICITY OF NUCLEAR WASTE.
UM, AND ANOTHER GOAL THAT WE NEED TO, TO FOCUS ON AND ENSURE IS IN THE RESOURCE PLAN, I, I WASN'T ABLE TO REVIEW THE WHOLE MODELING AND PRESENTATION.
UM, BUT WE NEED TO ENSURE THAT THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT OR THERE ARE GOALS FOR SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENTS IN BATTERIES SUCH AS 400 MEGAWATTS BY 2030.
UM, THIS IS ESSENTIAL FOR ON SO MANY LEVELS FROM INVESTING IN CLEAN ENERGY AND, AND REDUCING LOCAL POLLUTION TO ALSO, UH, SUPPORTING LOCAL, UH, DISTRIBUTION GRID RELIABILITY.
SO I HOPE THAT, UM, AUSTIN ENERGY AND THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION CAN, CAN SUPPORT, UH, THE COMMUNITY'S NEEDS AND PRIORITIZE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND RACIAL EQUITY IN, IN MEETING THESE GOALS, IN ENSURING THAT THE COMMUNITY VOICE IS CENTERED IN, IN THIS RESOURCE PLAN UPDATE.
THE NEXT SPEAKER IS RAFAEL SCHWARTZ.
COULD I AFTERNOON FOLKS? AND THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK.
I'M AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER AND A SOUTH AUSTIN RESIDENT IN CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT TWO.
I'M HERE TODAY OUT OF EXTREME DISAPPOINTMENT THAT OUR CITY OWNED UTILITY HAS FAILED TO LIVE UP TO THE DESIRE OF ITS OWNERS, THE CITY OF AUSTIN, UH, TO RETIRE FAYETTE LAST YEAR.
AND BEYOND THAT, UH, AS YOU ALL KNOW, THAT HAS NOT EVEN PROVIDED THE PUBLIC WITH A FIGURE OF THE COST OF MAKING THAT, UH, RETIREMENT HAPPEN.
UH, NOW AS I'VE LEARNED, AE IS INTENDING TO NOT EVEN MODEL RETIRING THE PLANT FOR ANOTHER 12 YEARS.
UH, IT SEEMS CLEAR THAT FOR WHATEVER REASON, UH, AUSTIN ENERGY IS NOT FULLY COMMITTED TO THE RENEWABLE GOALS, THAT IT OFTEN TELLS THE PUBLIC THAT IT IS.
SO I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE ON THE COMMISSION FOR DOING THE COMPLEX WORK OF MAKING THIS, UH, RENEWABLE TRANSITION HAPPEN IN A DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT.
UH, WITH THAT IN MIND, I WANT TO ASK THAT, UH, WE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL 2035 TO FULFILL OUR OVERDUE COMMITMENT TO CLOSE THE FAYETTE, UH, PLANT AND SHUT DOWN OUR GAS PLANTS.
PLEASE COMMIT TO A GOAL OF GOING CARBON FREE BY 2030, INCLUDING RETIRING OUR GAS PLANTS BY 2030 OR SOONER.
I ALSO WANT TO ASK THAT, UH, PLEASE COMMIT TO UPGRADING THE TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IN THIS RESOURCE PLAN UPDATE SO THAT THE TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS AE UTILIZES ARE ABLE TO TRANSITION OFF OF FOSSIL FUELS BY 2030.
AND THIS MEANS, UH, STARTING THE PLANNING AND UPGRADING TRANSMISSION IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
UH, AND UH, THIRDLY, I WANT TO ASK TO COMMIT, UH, THE COMMISSION TO COMMIT TO A GOAL OF HAVING A SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT IN BATTERIES SUCH AS, UH, FOR EXAMPLE, 400 MEGAWATTS BY 2030, TO ENSURE THAT WE CAN PRIORITIZE INVESTING IN DISPATCHABLE, NON-POLLUTING RESOURCES.
AND FINALLY, UH, TO BEGIN APPLYING REACH TO OUR GAS PLANTS AS WELL TO FURTHER REDUCE HARMFUL POLLUTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK.
AND THAT'S THE END OF OUR SPEAKERS.
I AM A RESIDENT, UH, IN DISTRICT FOUR.
I LIVE ACTUALLY JUST RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM HERE, ABOUT FIVE MINUTES AWAY.
HAPPY TO BE HERE, UH, TO TALK ABOUT THE CLIMATE CRISIS, TALK ABOUT AUSTIN ENERGY AND THE UPDATES TO THE RESOURCE PLAN.
UM, NAMELY, AS OTHER SPEAKERS HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED, UH, WE ARE, I GUESS I WOULD SAY IN A POSITION TO BE URGENT IN SUBMITTING, UH, CLIMATE OR NOT CLIMATE, BUT RESOURCE PLANS, UH, THAT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT, UH, THE POSITION WE ARE IN WITH THE CLIMATE CRISES.
UH, AGAIN, THERE IS NO REASON FOR US TO WAIT UNTIL 2035, UH, WHICH SEEMS
[00:10:01]
TO BE A RATHER ARBITRARY DATE CONSIDERING THE CLIMATE IMPACT.UH, NOT ONLY OF OZONE HAS ALREADY BEEN MENTIONED, UH, BUT WE ALSO HAVE TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT PARTICULATE MATTER, UH, AND ANY RELIANCE ON OIL AND GAS AND COAL AS RESOURCES ONLY FURTHER EXACERBATES THESE ISSUES.
UM, SO YES, WE NEED TO, UH, INSIST THAT COAL PLANTS, LIKE THE FAYETTE COAL PLANT IS SHUT DOWN PRIOR TO 2035, PRIOR TO 2030, UH, SO WE CAN MEET BETTER MEET CARBON FREE INITIATIVES BY 2030.
UH, BEYOND THAT, THERE HAS TO BE, UH, FURTHER, UH, INVESTMENT INTO A BETTER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM, TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE STATE OF TEXAS.
SO WE CAN ACTUALLY MEET THESE GOALS, UH, TO BE CARBON FREE BY 2030, AT LEAST IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
BUT EVEN THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF TEXAS.
IN ORDER FOR OTHER CITIES, UH, TO MEET THEIR CLIMATE GOALS, THERE NEEDS TO BE A GREATER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM.
UM, YOU CAN'T GO WITHOUT NOTICE, UH, THAT IN A LOT OF THINGS THAT I'VE READ OR UNDERSTOOD OR ANALYZED, THAT THERE IS A LACK OF URGENCY WHEN IT COMES TO TACKLING THE CR UH, CLIMATE CRISES.
THERE'S A LOT OF RESOURCES, A LOT OF DATA THAT SHOWS, UH, WHAT COMMUNITIES ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE, WHICH COMMUNITIES ARE THE MORE GREATLY EXPOSED TO POLLUTION, UH, AND IMPACTED WHEN IT COMES TO PUBLIC HEALTH.
UH, THE STATE OF TEXAS RANKS EIGHT OUTTA FIFTH, UH, 51 STATES AND DISTRICTS IN THE US.
UH, AND THIS IS ACCORDING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUNDS, US CLIMATE VULNERABILITY INDEX WHEN IT COMES TO EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY, UH, 86 AS FAR AS THE NATIONAL VULNERABILITY PERCENTILE.
AND IF YOU LOOK AT THIS INDEX, WHICH AGAIN, IS PROVIDED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND, YOU WILL NOTICE THAT LARGELY THE COMMUNITIES THAT ARE IDENTIFIED AS THE MOST VULNERABLE ARE BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITIES.
AGAIN, THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT CAN JUST BE SIMPLY STATED, UH, AND ANALYZED WITHOUT URGENCY.
AND SO, PLEASE, I HOPE THAT YOU ALL CONSIDER THIS, UH, AS YOU ARE DEVELOPING OR IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING A, UH, RESOURCE PLAN TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT THE VULNERABILITY OF COMMUNITIES, UH, THAT REQUIRE US TO BE MORE URGENT AND TO NOT MAKE PLANS WITH, AGAIN, GOALS THAT ARE TOO FAR OUT.
AND 2035, WE NEED TO BE CONSISTENT AND URGENT IN MAKING GOALS OR MEETING GOALS BY 2030 OR EVEN BEFORE THEN.
QUICK QUESTION, UH, IF I MAY A QUICK QUESTION.
UH, YOU ARE THE SECOND SPEAKER TO, UH, SUGGEST THAT THE DOCUMENT WE WE JUST RECEIVED TODAY, UH, HAS THAT FAYETTE WOULD BE CONTINUED UNTIL 2035.
IS THERE SOME, IS THERE SOME, IS THAT SOMEWHERE? NO, I, I DIDN'T, UH, MENTION THAT FAYETTE WOULD CONTINUE TO RUN UNTIL 2035.
OH, IT IS, UH, ALREADY IN THE DOCUMENT THAT YOU'RE REFERRING TO.
THAT THERE IS A PLAN TO RETIRE FAYETTE BY 2030, OR THE MODELING IS BASED ON RETIRING FAYETTE BY 2030.
I'M INSISTING THAT WE DO THAT PRIOR TO 2030.
I WAS LIKE GONNA ACTUALLY MENTION 'CAUSE A COUPLE CUSTOMER, CUSTOMERS, SPEAKERS, UM, MENTIONED 2035, BUT THE ASSUMPTION IN THE DOCUMENT IS ACTUALLY 2030 FOR FA.
UM, BUT WE JUST GOT IT TODAY, SO I JUST READ THAT TODAY AS WELL.
THE DOCUMENT MENTIONS 2035 AS FAR AS LIKE CLIMATE CRISIS GOALS OVERALL.
[APPROVAL OF MINUTES]
ALRIGHT, LET'S GO TO APPROVAL OF MINUTES.I'D LIKE TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.
THROUGH WITH THAT THEN WE HAVE THE RCAS.
SO WE HAVE TWO THROUGH, DID WE, SORRY, GO AHEAD.
DID YOU WANT TO INTRODUCE THE NEW MEMBERS?
HE LOOKS VERY DISTINGUISHED WITH HIS BEARD.
DO YOU WANNA INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND SOME OF YOUR BACKGROUND? SURE.
UH, I PRESENTLY WORK, UH, FOR TRAVIS COUNTY FOR COMMISSIONER HOWARD.
UH, PREVIOUS TO THAT I'D WORKED FOR THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION HERE IN TEXAS FOR ABOUT 12 YEARS.
UH, AND HAD BEEN, UH, IN PRIVATE PRACTICE AS AN ATTORNEY BEFORE THAT.
AND I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH Y'ALL.
AND, AND ARE YOU THE MAYOR'S APPOINTEE OR WHO, WHO, WHO? YES.
[00:15:01]
GREAT.I'M GLAD THAT HE FINALLY NAMED SOMEBODY.
OKAY, SO TWO THROUGH 15 OR 14? TWO THROUGH 15, ISN'T IT? I HAVE QUESTIONS ON, UH, FOUR AND 15.
CAN YOU TURN YOUR MIC ON COMMISSIONER WHITE? SORRY ABOUT THAT.
UM, ITEM, ITEM FIVE AND THEN 9, 10, 11, AND 12.
SO WHAT DO WE HAVE LEFT HERE? WE HAVE 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, AND 14.
CAN WE HAVE A MOTION FOR THOSE? I'D MOVE APPROVAL OF THOSE THAT YOU JUST LISTED? WE HAVE A SECOND.
ALL IN FAVOR FOR 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, AND 14.
SO LET'S HEAD BACK TO STARTING AT NUMBER FOUR.
[4. 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. ]
WHICH RECOMMENDATION? AUTHORIZATION? 5 MILLION FOR EDCO AND TNS.I'M THE DIRECTOR OF TRANSMISSION AND SUBSTATION OPERATIONS.
I'M FILLING IN FOR ELTON RICHARDS, VICE PRESIDENT OF FIELD OPERATIONS.
UH, MR. BOWLES? I'M KAY TROS, COMMISSIONER TROS.
UM, SO ON THESE THIS, UH, $5 MILLION, UH, CONTRACT PROPOSAL, UM, TOTAL FOR THREE YEARS, I'M, I'M INTERESTED IN HOW THIS, UM, TREE GROWTH REGULATOR SERVICE INTEGRATES WITH THE OTHER VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS THAT WE'VE DISCUSSED.
I GUESS MOST RECENTLY AFTER THE LAST WINTER STORM IN WHICH WE HEARD THAT THERE WAS A BIG STAFFING PROBLEM, THE INABILITY TO STAFF THOSE CONTRACTS.
CAN YOU, CAN YOU ADDRESS HOW THESE WILL WORK WITH THE OTHER VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS COMMISSIONER? THEY WORK WITH THE OTHER VEGETATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES IN THAT IT GIVES US THE ABILITY TO SLOW THE GROWTH OF THE TREE BRANCHES ON OUR SYSTEM TO WHERE WE DON'T HAVE TO ROLL OVER AS MUCH TO SO MANY VEGETATION CREWS TO GO BACK AND TRIM THOSE BRANCHES AND LIMIT OUR ALLS.
AND WHAT IT DOES IS ACTUALLY INCREASES THE ROOT GROWTH IN THE TREE WHILE LIMITING THE BRANCH GROWTH AND SLOWING THAT GROWTH RATE.
AND IT HELPS THE TREES TO ENHANCE THEIR HEALTH AND ALSO SURVIVE THROUGH OUR INCLEMENT WEATHER THAT WE'VE BEEN HAVING.
SO THESE, THIS IS, UH, A TREE GROWTH REGULATOR IS USE OF APPLICATION OF HERBICIDES, RIGHT? YES.
COMMISSIONER, THEY'RE EPA APPROVED AND THEY'RE SPECIFIC, THEY'RE, UM, DIRECTED TO THE TREE IN QUESTION.
AND, UH, BEFORE THE APPLICATION IS MADE, UH, NOTIFICATION AND DISCUSSION INVOLVES THE PROPERTY OWNER ON THAT RECOMMENDED APPLICATION ON THAT.
AND DOES THE PROPERTY OWNER HAVE ANY ABILITY TO, UM, OBJECT TO THE APPLICATION OF HERBICIDES ON THEIR PROPERTY? UH, LET ME FOLLOW UP ON THAT, BUT MY ANSWER WOULD BE YES, THEY DO HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO DO THAT, BUT LET ME FOLLOW UP ON THAT WITH YOU.
AND WOULD SO, UH, IF WOULD AN OBJECTION BE, UM,
[00:20:01]
RESULT IN A CHANGE OF, UM, IN YOUR, HOW YOU WOULD PROCEED, UH, CHANGE IN HOW OFTEN WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH AND ACTUALLY TRIM THOSE TREES? SO IN OTHER WORDS, A PROPERTY OWNER ASSUMING THAT THEY CAN OBJECT AND THAT THEN HERBICIDES WOULD NOT BE APPLIED TO THEIR PROPERTY? YES.UM, YEAH, I DEFINITELY FIND THIS, UH, CONCERNING AND I'M, I'M WONDERING IT, SO IT SOUNDS LIKE THE REASON FOR APPLYING THIS HERBICIDE IS JUST TO LENGTHEN THE TIME BETWEEN TRIMMING THE AREA.
IS THAT, IS THERE ANY OTHER REASON? YES, COMMISSIONER.
IT SLOWS DOWN THE GROWTH RATE OF THE ACTUAL TREE BRANCHES.
AND HAS THE UTILITY DONE ANY ANALYSIS AS TO HOW MUCH OF THAT HERBICIDE MIGHT RUN OFF AFTER APPLICATION? NOT THAT I'M AWARE OF, BUT WE'VE HAD BEEN IN CONSULTATION WITH OUR SURROUNDING UTILITIES THAT USE THIS SAME APPLICATION IN THEIR SYSTEMS. OKAY.
AND WHAT ABOUT ANY EFFECTS ON POLLINATORS AND OTHER WILDLIFE? HAS THAT BEEN ASSESSED? UM, NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE.
ALL I KNOW IS IT IS EPA APPROVED AND IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO? WELL, LOTS OF THINGS ARE EPA APPROVED.
AND WHAT ABOUT LIKE, UH, EFFECT ON, YOU KNOW, HUMANS THAT MIGHT COME IN CONTACT WITH THESE SAP BEEN ASSESSED? YEAH, I'LL FOLLOW UP ON THAT, BUT FROM MY UNDERSTANDING IS THE EXPOSURE, IT'S THE, UM, DIRECT EXPOSURE FROM WHENEVER YOU'RE APPLYING IT, NOT WHEN IT'S ACTUALLY IN THE SOIL.
AND DO YOU KNOW FOR HOW LONG AFTER APPLICATION? NO MA'AM, BUT THEY'LL BE SPECIFIED BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO GO BY THE RECOMMENDATION BY THE MANUFACTURER AND THE ENVIRONMENT THAT'S IN IT HAS TO BE SPECIFIC WEATHER THAT THEY CAN APPLY THIS IN.
AND HOW MUCH HAS BEEN APPLIED.
AND WOULD THIS BE APPLIED IN AREAS THAT PEOPLE DO HAVE ACCESS TO? YES, THAT'S AS FAR AS PROPERTY OWNERS AND OUR ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSMISSION EASEMENTS.
OTHER QUESTIONS? I HAVE A QUESTION.
UH, HOW IS IT APPLIED? IT'S A CLAY-BASED APPLICATION AND THEY JUST EJECT IT INTO THE SOIL.
OR IS COMMISSIONER IT? IT'S NOT IN AN AREA THEN IT'S PER TREE.
IT, IT'S, UH, ISOLATED APPLICATION.
OTHER WOULD, WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO GET A LIST OF THE, UM, TYPE OF TREE REGULATORS OR HERBICIDES THAT ARE USED? JUST, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT, IS THAT I DIDN'T SEE IT, THE ACTUAL NAMES AND THE CHEMICALS IN THE DOCUMENTS ITSELF? OR ARE THEY SOMEWHERE? YEAH, WE SPECIFY A PARTICULAR CHEMICAL OR A CITY OF AUSTIN APPROVED EQUIVALENT TO THAT CHEMICAL.
OH, AND WHERE WOULD I FIND THAT? IN THE, IN THE FILES? YES.
YEAH, IF YOU COULD JUST SHARE THAT WITH THE, WITH THE COMMISSION.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? WELL, I GUESS, UM, I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION THAT SINCE THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THINGS THAT WE'VE BEEN, UH, TOLD THAT WE CAN GET INFORMATION ABOUT THAT WE DON'T HAVE TONIGHT, I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO TABLE THIS ITEM NUMBER FOUR UNTIL OUR NEXT MEETING.
SECOND, WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND.
HOW ABOUT TABLING IT? ALL IN FAVOR, SAY AYE.
I THINK WE HAVE YOU UNANIM KNOW AT THE TABLE IT.
ALRIGHT, THANK YOU COMMISSIONER.
JUST PER, JUST PROCEDURALLY IF WE TABLE IT, DOES IT STILL GET SENT TO CITY COUNCIL BEFORE THEN? OR, UM, COMMISSIONER CHAPMAN, COULD YOU TURN YOUR MIC ON PLEASE? WELL HAVE TO TURN YOURSELF.
[00:25:03]
OKAY.JUST PROCEDURALLY, UH, WOULD AUSTIN ENERGY GO AHEAD AND SUBMIT IT TO COUNCIL, UH, BEFORE WE VOTE ON IT AGAIN? YES, LET'S ASK ROBIN AND OR AMY.
SO, UM, BOB, DO YOU WANNA GO TO A MIC? SURE.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, UNLESS IT'S SOME KIND OF EMERGENCY TO GET IT DONE, I, I THINK WE COULD PROBABLY PUT IT OFF A MONTH.
LISA, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT'S GONNA BE JANUARY.
WHICH, WHICH AGENDA DO WE KNOW? OKAY, WE'LL LOOK AT IT, WE'LL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.
[5. Recommend authorizing negotiation and execution of a contract for one-time preventive generator maintenance with Grid Solutions (US) LLC, in an amount not to exceed $1,650,000. ]
GRID SOLUTIONS.I'M JACK BORSCH, I'M THE INTERIM INTERIM DIRECTOR, I'M SORRY.
INTERIM VICE PRESIDENT OF POWER PRODUCTION.
UM, I'LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS ON ITEM FIVE.
I ACTUALLY DON'T HAVE A QUESTION.
I JUST DIDN'T WANNA VOTE FOR IT WITH THE OTHERS, BUT THANK YOU.
CAN YOU JUST DESCRIBE WHAT THIS IS ACTUALLY FOR AND WHY THIS ONE-TIME MAINTENANCE IS NEEDED FOR THE GAS PLANTS? SURE.
THESE ARE THE GENERATOR BREAKERS THAT ARE BREAKERS THAT CONNECT THE GENERATOR UNITS THEMSELVES TO THE GRID.
THERE'S ONE FOR SANDHILL FIVE A AND FOUR FIVE C, WHICH IS THE GAS TURBINE STEAM TURBINE.
THEY'RE A SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE.
SO PART OF THIS AGREEMENT IS TO TEST AND, AND CLEAN THOSE BREAKERS.
ALSO SOME LONG LEAD TIME SPARE PARTS.
THESE ARE CONSIDERED SINGLE POINTS OF FAILURE.
SO THE LONG LEAD TIMES, IF WE DON'T HAVE 'EM, WE COULD BE OFF FOR MONTHS IF NOT LONGER.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ON NUMBER FIVE? THANK YOU.
DO YOU HAVE A MOTION? I'LL MAKE A MOTION BECAUSE IF WE'RE GONNA OPERATE THOSE THINGS, WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THEY, THEY WORK WHILE WE'RE OPERATING, BUT OF COURSE AT SOME POINT I WANT THEM SHUT DOWN.
2, 4, 6, WE HAVE 6 4 1 AGAINST, WE GO TO NUMBER NINE
[Items 9 - 12]
NEXT.YEAH, I MEAN, REALLY, I JUST, UH, COULD WE ADDRESS 9, 10, 11, 12 TOGETHER? THEY'RE ALL SOLAR.
RICHARD GENESEE, VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS.
I'M HERE TO ADDRESS YOUR QUESTIONS ON 9, 10, 11 AND 12 IF YOU HAVE THEM.
UM, REALLY I JUST WANNA START WITH CONGRATULATIONS.
THERE'S SOME BIG PROJECTS HERE AND THIS IS GREAT TO SEE.
UM, AND I KNOW WE HAVEN'T, YOU KNOW, SEEN A TON OF COMMERCIAL INSTALLATIONS THIS YEAR AND REALLY JUST, UM, WAS KIND OF CURIOUS IF THERE WAS ANYTHING THAT Y'ALL DID THAT KIND OF SPURRED ALL OF THESE TO COME FORWARD AT ONCE OR IF IT'S JUST COINCIDENCE THAT, THAT THEY'RE GETTING IT DONE BY THE END OF THE YEAR OR SOMETHING.
WELL, CREDIT GOES TO THE TEAM AND, YOU KNOW, JUST KIND OF, UH, WORKING WITH, UH, CUSTOMERS TO GET THESE, UH, IN AND PROCESSED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
AND, UH, MAKING SURE THAT OUR CUSTOMERS ARE AWARE OF THESE OPPORTUNITIES AND THAT WE'RE DOING EVERYTHING THAT WE CAN TO FACILITATE THEM BRINGING THEM FORWARD.
SO, UM, AS YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, UH, WE HAVE A REALLY FOCUSED AND DEDICATED TEAM AND, YOU KNOW, I THINK THEY DESERVE ALL THE CREDIT OF GETTING THESE, UH, THROUGH THE SYSTEM.
UM, I GUESS MY OTHER QUESTION WOULD, WOULD JUST BE, YOU KNOW, I SEE,
[00:30:01]
YOU KNOW, ESPECIALLY LIKE, UM, THE, THE STORAGE UNITS, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A LOT OF STORAGE UNITS AROUND TOWN.DO Y'ALL HAVE ANY PLANS TO USE THESE OR ANY OF THE OTHER, UM, EXISTING COMMERCIAL SOLAR INSTALLATIONS TO, YOU KNOW, KIND OF PROMOTE THE, THE PROGRAM TO GET MORE UPTAKE ON THE COMMERCIAL SIDE? YEAH, I'D SAY TO THE EXTENT THAT, UM, THERE ARE MORE COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND STORAGE OPPORTUNITIES WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY USE WITH THE CUSTOMER'S PERMISSION, OBVIOUSLY EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY IN THE, IN THE SECTOR, SO.
I WAS JUST PERSONALLY REALLY EXCITED BY NINE BECAUSE I'M ALWAYS ON I 35 AND I'M ALWAYS SEEING THOSE STORAGE UNITS WITH THE ORANGE ON IT AND THINKING THOSE WOULD BE GREAT PLACES TO PUT SOLAR ON.
AND HERE THEY'RE, SO CONGRATULATIONS.
SO DO I, WE HAVE A MOTION ON THIS.
I'LL MOVE APPROVAL OF ITEMS 9, 10, 11, AND 12.
OKAY, SO GETS US THROUGH TO 15,
[15. Recommend authorizing award and execution of a construction contract with Capital Excavation Company for the East Village Substation project in the amount of $9,300,601.85 plus a $1,000,000 contingency, for a total contract amount not to exceed $10,300,601.85.]
IT GETS US THROUGH TO 15 SUBSTATION.ELAINE VASULKA, INTERIM VICE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.
SO THIS IS, UH, BASICALLY A $10 MILLION CONTRACT FOR THE EAST VILLAGE SUBSTATION.
I LOOKED THROUGH SOME OF THE DOCUMENTS AND IT APPEARS TO ME THAT THIS IS ALL THE SITE WORK.
IT IS NOT THE ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUBSTATION.
IS THAT RIGHT? IT IS THE ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUBSTATION AND THE, THE SITE WORK BEFORE? YES.
OH, IT WASN'T LISTED IN THE DOCUMENTS THAT, OKAY.
UH, AS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE WORK, I CAN DOUBLE CHECK, BUT WE DID, I DID VALIDATE THIS IS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF, OF THE SUBSTATION.
THAT'S GOOD TO KNOW BECAUSE FOR THAT PRICE TAG, I THOUGHT THAT WAS GONNA BE A LITTLE MUCH FOR SITE.
IT'S, IT'S MORE THAN THE SITE WORK.
I MEAN THE SITE WORK WAS EXTENSIVE.
UM, UH, AND UH, IT ALSO INDICATES THAT THIS NEW SUBSTATION IS TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT.
DO, IS THERE A PARTICULAR DEVELOPMENT THAT, UH, YOU KNOW OF THAT IS NEED, THAT WILL NEED THE, UH, THIS SUBSTATION? UM, IT'S ACTUALLY TO SUPPORT, UM, RATHER THAN COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS.
THERE ARE SOME LARGE SUBDIVISIONS GOING IN IN THAT AREA, SO IT SUPPORTS LARGER, UM, THOSE SUBDIVISIONS AND THE INCREASED LOAD GIVES SOME SYSTEM REDUNDANCY IN THAT AREA AS WELL.
SO IS THERE ANY, UM, UH, ABILITY TO ASK THE DEVELOPERS OF THOSE SUBDIVISIONS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE COST OF THIS SUBSTATION? UM, IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPER IN, UM, THE ORIGINAL EAST VILLAGE, UH, DEVELOPMENT PROCESS GAVE US THE LAND FOR THE SUBSTATIONS.
SO THAT HAS ALREADY OCCURRED THAT, SO THAT'S THE CONTRIBUTION, NOT, YES.
NOT TOWARDS THE CONSTRUCTION, BUT TOWARDS THE LANCE.
AND THIS IS JUST PART OF DISTRIBUTION, YOU KNOW, BUILT, CONTINUED, ONGOING BUILD OUT AND, UM, RELIABILITY OF OUR SYSTEM.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHERE THIS IS PHYSICALLY? WHERE IS THIS? YES.
IT'S UP NEAR HOWARD LANE, AND I'M TRYING TO, TO SEE HERE, I'VE GOT, UM, NORTH OF PALMER LANE, SOUTH OF KILLINGSWORTH LANE, EAST OF DESAL AND WEST OF CAMERON.
I CAN CONFIRM THERE'S A LOT OF DEVELOPMENT UP IN THAT AREA.
I'M SORRY, I MISSED WHO MADE THE MOTION.
AND SECOND, I, I WOULD SAY TO APPROVE THAT, UM, ITEM 15 SECOND.
SORRY, I ACCELERATED THE PROCESS OR ATTEMPTED TO
BEFORE WE, UH, BEFORE WE GO TO THE NEXT AGENDA ITEM, JUST SORTING THROUGH ALL THESE PROPOSALS, I, I NOTICED THAT THERE'S, UH, EITHER A WAIVER OR SOLE SOURCE FOR EVERY OPPORTUNITY FOR MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED CONTRACTS, UH, AND ALL OF WHICH IS, UH, FOR FU FOR A FUTURE MEETING.
[00:35:01]
JUST I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE GOALS, WHAT AUSTIN ENERGY'S GOALS ARE IN THAT REGARD AND, AND, UH, HOW LOOKING BACK OVER THE LAST, UH, YEAR, HOW, HOW WE ARE AT MEETING THOSE, UH, GOALS FOR CONTRACTING.SO I MAY BE JUMPING TO A FUTURE AGENDA ITEM, BUT ANYWAY, THAT'D BE HELPFUL.
SO, I'M SORRY, DID WE VOTE ON THAT ACTUALLY? OKAY, SIR.
[16. Staff briefing on the Fourth Quarter Financial Report by Stephanie Koudelka, Finance Director.]
AT 16 STAFF BRIEFING ON FOURTH QUARTER.I'M STEPHANIE DELCOM, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE OVER OUR ACCOUNTING TEAM HERE AT AUSTIN ENERGY, AND I'M PRESENTING TO YOU OUR FOURTH QUARTER UNAUDITED VERY PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023.
THE AGENDA THIS EVENING FOR OUR QUARTERLY FINANCIAL REPORT INCLUDES AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
I'LL RUN THROUGH OUR KPIS RELATED TO OUR BOND RATING.
I'LL RUN THROUGH OUR BUDGET TO ACTUAL RESULTS AS WELL AS OUR GAP BASED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
AND I'VE INCLUDED A COUPLE OF SLIDES FOR YOU THIS EVENING ON CALENDAR YEAR 2022, ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION DATA, UM, WHICH COMPARES AES RATES TO OTHER TEXAS UTILITIES UNDER OUR COMPETITIVENESS METRIC.
FOR THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THROUGH SEPTEMBER, OUR OPERATING REVENUES WITH TRANSFERS WERE 1.9 BILLION.
THAT'S A 12% VARIANCE OVER BUDGET, PRIMARILY DUE TO THOSE HIGH POWER COSTS THAT WE EXPERIENCED THIS SUMMER WITH THAT EXTREME SUMMER HEAT THAT WE'RE ALL FAMILIAR WITH, UM, AS WELL AS HIGH MARKET PRICES THAT CORRELATED OVER TO OPERATING EXPENSES WITH TRANSFERS THAT IS ALSO OVER, OVER BUDGET.
DUE TO THAT SAME REASON FOR, UM, OUR FINANCIAL POLICIES.
WE ARE IMPARTIAL COMPLIANCE WITH OUR POLICIES.
THOSE ARE ADOPTED AS YOU KNOW, WITH OUR BUDGET PROCESS EACH YEAR.
UM, FOR OUR DEBT AND OPERATING POLICIES, WE SEE FULL COMPLIANCE THERE.
OUR CASH AND RESERVES ARE STILL UNDER THE MINIMUM.
WE HAVE A POLICY IN OUR FINANCIAL POLICIES THAT WILL HAVE 150 DAYS CASH ON HAND.
WE ARE SITTING AT 395 MILLION VERSUS THAT POLICY MINIMUM OF FIVE 20.
UM, I DID SHOW YOU A DAY'S CASH ON HAND SLIDE LAST QUARTER THAT SHOWED WE WERE UNDER AS WELL.
WE HAVE SEEN A LITTLE BIT OF CASH COME IN.
UM, WE WERE ABLE TO COVER OUR MARKET EXPOSURE WITH A LETTER OF CREDIT WITH ERCOT.
SO WE WERE ABLE TO PULL SOME COLLATERAL BACK THAT WE HAD SITTING WITH A ERCOT.
SPEAKING OF ERCOT, THE POWER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT RATE, WE ARE UNDER RECOVERED AT SEP SEPTEMBER BY 115 MILLION.
UM, I DO HAVE A SLIDE THAT RUNS THROUGH, UM, THE FISCAL YEAR, WHICH ENCOMPASSES MO MOST OF THE RATE YEAR.
THAT'LL SHOW YOU HOW WE LANDED AT THAT 115 MILLION UNDER.
UM, WE DID ADMINISTRATIVELY ADJUST THE PSA IN OCTOBER OF 2023 TO START RECOVERING THAT UNDERCOVERED BALANCE.
FOR OUR FINANCIAL HEALTH STRATEGIC GOAL, WE HAVE A, UM, GOAL OF A DOUBLE A BOND RATING FROM STANDARD AND POS AS OF THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
WE DO TRACK THESE FOUR METRICS THAT YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN HERE RELATED TO, UH, AA RATED PUBLIC POWER UTILITY.
OUR DAYS CASH ON HAND IS 92 DAYS AGAINST A MINIMUM OF 150 DAYS.
THAT'S MOSTLY DUE TO, UM, THE POWER SUPPLY MARKET THAT, UM, IS UNDER RECOVERED 115 MILLION.
SO OUR CASH IS DUE FROM OUR CUSTOMER.
UM, IN THAT RATE FOR OUR DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE RATIO, WE ARE, UM, SEEING A LITTLE BIT BETTER THERE.
WE'RE AT 2.2 AGAINST A BENCHMARK OF 2.5.
UM, THAT'S MOSTLY DUE TO THE BASE RATES THAT WE IMPLEMENTED IN 2023.
AND THAT IS, UM, AFFECTING OUR OPERATING MARGIN AS WELL.
WE DO SEE SOME STRESS ON THAT MARGIN STILL.
UM, MOSTLY DUE TO INCREASED COSTS IN THE FISCAL YEAR.
UM, WE SAW PRETTY HEFTY AMOUNT OF PENSION COSTS THAT ARE, UM, UNFUNDED RELATED TO OUR PENSION LIABILITY THAT KIND OF, UH, STRAIN THAT OPERATING MARGIN.
[00:40:01]
QUESTION.UH, 150 DAYS TO ME SEEMS LIKE A LOT, LOT OF MONEY IN THE BANK.
SO CAN YOU, DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT NUMBER WAS ARRIVED AT? UM, I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW IT WAS DERIVED FOR THE POLICY, BUT I DO KNOW IT'S A PRETTY, UM, INDUSTRY STANDARD EVEN IN THE WORLD OF, UH, THE RATING AGENCIES LIKE TO SEE ABOUT 150 DAYS CASH ON HAND.
UM, THE UTILITY RUNS THROUGH ABOUT $4 MILLION A DAY.
AND SO 150 DAYS MAY SEEM LIKE A LOT, BUT IT'S, UM, IT'S A GOOD BENCHMARK FOR A DOUBLE A RATED PUBLIC POWER UTILITY.
AND FINALLY, ON OUR DEBT TO CAPITALIZATION RATIO, UM, WE HAVEN'T SEEN MUCH CHANGE HERE.
UM, THAT, THAT DID GO UP SLIGHTLY DUE TO THE DECISION TO FINANCE THE NACODOCHES PLANT.
UM, BUT AGAIN, NO CHANGE THERE IN THE LAST COUPLE OF QUARTERS.
THIS SLIDE IS OUR BUDGET TO ACTUAL FUND SUMMARY AT SEPTEMBER.
THIS REPRESENTS MOSTLY A CASH BASIS OF ACCOUNTING FOR THE UTILITY.
UM, AS YOU CAN SEE, I'VE HIGHLIGHTED THAT WE ENDED THE YEAR WITH AN EXCESS OF REVENUES OF 68 MILLION, BUT I'VE ALSO HIGHLIGHTED OVER TO THE RIGHT THERE, THAT'S PRIMARILY DUE TO THE TRANSFERS IN THAT WE PULLED IN FROM OUR POWER SUPPLY RESERVE.
SO WE TRANSFERRED 70 MILLION OF RESERVES TO OUR WORKING CAPITAL TO COVER OUR OPERATING EXPENSES MOSTLY RELATED TO THE POWER MARKET THIS SUMMER.
SO THE OVERALL CASH POSITION DID NOT CHANGE, BUT WE MOVED IT FROM RESERVES TO WORKING CAPITAL TO MAKE THOSE PAYMENTS.
WE ALSO DID SEE SOME HELP FROM, DON'T HAVE IT HIGHLIGHTED HERE, BUT OVER BUDGET AND INTEREST REVENUE.
AND WE ALSO TRANSFERRED LESS CASH TO COVER OUR CAPITAL PLAN, WHICH WE, UM, DECREASED OUR ESTIMATE AND COST FOR FOR THE FISCAL YEAR.
THIS IS ALSO, UM, BUDGETED NUMBERS RELATED TO OUR REVENUE AT THE END OF THE FOURTH QUARTER.
IN TOTAL, WE WERE 7% ABOVE OUR FORECASTED BUDGET AMOUNT.
UM, THE FIRST TWO BARS THERE, OUR BASE REVENUE, WE DID SEE, UM, OVER BUDGET.
THAT'S MAINLY DUE TO USAGE THAT WE SAW.
I THINK WE'RE ABOUT 6% OVER IN USAGE FROM BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ALSO.
THE SECOND ONE IS OF COURSE THE POWER SUPPLY, WHICH WE DID JUST DISCUSSED.
UM, THOSE COSTS DO AFFECT REVENUE AND EXPENSE FOR POWER SUPPLY.
ON THE EXPENSE SIDE, UH, SAME STORY POWER SUPPLY CAUSING MOST OF THE VARIANCE.
UM, TOTAL EXPENSE WE CAME ABOVE OUR FORECAST, UM, 9% OR 120 MILLION.
AGAIN, MOSTLY DRIVEN BY POWER SUPPLY, MARKET COST.
THIS SLIDE IS OUR POWER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT RATE.
JUST GIVES YOU KIND OF A PICTURE OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
UM, THE GRAY BAR AND YELLOW BAR ARE EXPENSES AGAINST BUDGET BY MONTH.
SO YOU CAN TELL WHICH MONTHS, UM, RESULTED IN A PRETTY BIG VARIANCE TO BUDGET.
UM, RELATED TO THE MARKET WE EXPERIENCED THIS SUMMER, THE BLUE LINE THAT'S KIND OF HOVERING ON TOP IS THE, THE BUILD REVENUE THAT WE RECEIVED TO RECOVER THOSE COSTS.
AS YOU CAN SEE, WE WERE PRETTY MUCH OVER COLLECTED FOR MAJORITY OF THE RATE YEAR UNTIL WE HIT JUNE, AND THAT'S WHEN WE REALLY STARTED SEEING THAT O UNDER RECOVERY KIND OF RAMP UP.
WE ARE AGAIN SITTING AT 115 MILLION UNDER, UNDER COLLECTED AS OF THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
CAN QUICK QUESTION, CAN YOU JUST REMIND US? CITY CITY COUNCIL INCREASED THE PSA BUT PHASED IT IN OVER THREE YEARS, AND THEN IN ADDITION TO THAT, IN OCTOBER, YOU RAISED IT AGAIN.
SO IT'S BEEN RAISED IS AM I RIGHT? IT'S BEEN RAISED TWICE.
IT HAS IS, AM I CORRECT IN THAT? THAT'S CORRECT.
SO SINCE YURI, WE HAD INCREASED IT PRETTY SUBSTANTIALLY BECAUSE WE HAD THE, UM, MARKET FAVOR, UM, FROM YURI.
THE, THE ONE TIME, BUT YOU'RE RIGHT, WAS FOR A THREE YEAR RECOVERY OF THAT UNDER RECOVERY, IF I'M REMEMBERING RIGHT, THAT WAS ABOUT A HUNDRED MILLION.
SO WE'VE MADE NO PROGRESS AGAINST THE, THE RECOVERY SINCE THAT POINT.
AND AND IN TERMS OF A PERCENTAGE, DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE JUMP UP WAS WHEN THEY DID IT? WHEN THEY DID THE RATES, THEY DID THE, THE PSA OVER THREE AND THEN WE, DID WE JUST DO A 5% ADJUSTMENT IN OCTOBER? THAT'S CORRECT.
SO I BELIEVE IT WAS ABOUT A 50 TO 55% INCREASE POST URI.
UM, AND THE MOST RECENT, YOU'RE CORRECT, IN OCTOBER
[00:45:01]
WAS A 5% ADJUSTMENT.AND GIVEN THIS, UM, THAT WERE BEHIND DO, DO WE, OH, DID YOU ALREADY MAKE A JUDGMENT IN NOVEMBER NOT TO INCREASE IT AGAIN? NOT YET.
NOVEMBER WE, UM, DID ONLY UPDATE BY VOLTAGE LEVEL, SO WE DIDN'T SEE, UM, INCREASES FROM ANY ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUSTMENTS.
SO WE DON'T KNOW YET FOR DECEMBER WHETHER WE'LL ADMINISTRATIVELY ADJUST AGAIN.
WE'RE STILL REVIEWING THE RESULTS FROM THE OCTOBER FINANCIALS AND, AND DEVELOPING A STRATEGY SO WE CAN MAKE HEADWAY ON THAT UNDER RECOVERY.
SORRY IF THIS IS REPETITIVE, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE I'M UNDERSTANDING.
WAS OCTOBER THE FIRST TIME THAT IT WAS INCREASED ADMINISTRATIVELY OR WAS IT INCREASED EARLIER IN THE YEAR AS WELL? THAT'S CORRECT.
OCTOBER, 2023 WAS THE FIRST 5% ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUSTMENT.
WE'LL MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SLIDE PLEASE.
ON OUR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN.
THE GRAPH ON THE LEFT HERE SHOWS YOU OUR SPEND WERE 87% SPENT OF OUR ORIGINAL BUDGET.
THE ORIGINAL BUDGET WAS AROUND 280 MILLION.
UM, WE DON'T HAVE THIS ON THE SLIDE HERE, BUT WE ARE VERY CLOSE TO OUR CURRENT YEAR ESTIMATE, WHICH WAS DEVELOPED, UM, AROUND THE MAY TIMEFRAME I BELIEVE.
AND WE CAME IN PRETTY CLOSE TO THAT AT 245 MILLION SPENT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR.
THE GRAPH ON THE RIGHT SHOWS HOW WE PAY FOR THOSE, UM, CAPITAL ASSETS.
WE ARE SHOWING 39% FUNDED WITH CASH, WHICH COMES FROM INTERNALLY GENERATED CASH AS WELL AS CASH FROM OUR CUSTOMERS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS, WHICH WAS ABOUT 40 MILLION IN FISCAL YEAR 23.
COMMISSIONER, CAN YOU TURN ON YOUR MIC? SORRY ABOUT THAT.
CAN WE GET SOME BACKGROUND ON WHY DISTRIBUTION OVERSHOT? YEAH.
DISTRIBUTION IN THE ORIGINAL, UH, BUDGET, WHICH IS WHAT YOU'RE SEEING HERE IS, UM, OVER MOSTLY JUST DUE TO SYSTEM GROWTH.
UM, AND MOST OF THAT IS COVERED BY CONTRIBUTIONS AND AID OF CONSTRUCTION.
SORRY, ONE BACK BALANCE SHEET.
WE'LL MOVE ON TO THE INCOME STATEMENT.
UM, FOR THE INCOME STATEMENT YOU'LL SEE HERE OVER THE FISCAL YEAR, I HIGHLIGHTED THAT WE'RE STILL IN A, A LOSS POSITION, UM, NOT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN 22, 20 22.
UM, EVEN WITH THE BASE RATE INCREASES THAT WE IMPLEMENTED THIS FISCAL YEAR, MOST OF THAT IS JUST DUE TO HIGHER COSTS THAT WE'VE SEEN, UM, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREA OF THE STORM, WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN RECOVERED OR ARE NOT REFLECTED ON THE INCOME STATEMENT.
AS OF THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR ON THE RIGHT HERE, OUR AVERAGE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS SEE A 2% YEAR OVER YEAR CHANGE, WHICH IS, UM, NOT REPRESENTED AN INCREASE IN SALES.
WE ACTUALLY HAD A LOSS IN SALES OVER THE FISCAL YEAR.
THERE'S BALANCE SHEET FOR THE BALANCE SHEET.
I'VE HIGHLIGHTED HERE OUR OPERATING RESERVES JUST TO, UH, SHOW YOU AGAIN THAT THOSE ARE DOWN OVER THE FISCAL YEAR DUE TO US PULLING THOSE FUNDS INTO OUR WORKING CAPITAL TO PAY OUR OPERATING EXPENSES.
AND I HAD SHOWED YOU THE CASH AND RESERVES BY KIND OF THE BUCKET THAT THEY'RE SITTING IN LAST QUARTER, AND I WANTED TO PRESENT IT TO YOU AGAIN THIS QUARTER JUST TO SHOW YOU THAT ALL OF OUR RESERVES ARE SITTING UNDER MINIMUMS. OUR WORKING CAPITAL, AGAIN, HAS BEEN REPLENISHED SOME BY THE TRANSFER FROM THE RESERVE TO WORKING CAPITAL.
UM, WE'RE NOT GONNA MOVE ANY CASH BACK JUST YET, JUST GIVEN OUR FY 24 MINIMUMS REQUIRE US TO HAVE ABOUT 190 MILLION IN WORKING CAPITAL.
SO WE'RE REVIEWING THAT NOW TO SEE KIND OF WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO MOVE IT BACK TO RESERVES AND WHEN WHEN CAN WE FEASIBLY DO THAT? NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.
AND AGAIN, THIS IS THE MARKET AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS SECTION.
UM, THIS IS WHERE WE LOOK AT THE COMPETITIVENESS METRIC THAT WE KEEP OUR RATES IN THE LOWER HALF OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.
THE DATA HERE IS AGAIN FROM THE EIA AND REFLECTS CALENDAR YEAR 2022 DATA.
IF I MAY, IF I MAY ASK, UH OH, I'M SORRY.
THIS FIRST SLIDE IS JUST, UH, REMINDER OF HOW WE KIND OF GATHER THE DATA TO BENCHMARK OURSELVES
[00:50:01]
AGAINST.UM, WE TAKE TOTAL, UH, TEXAS ELECTRIC PROVIDERS EXCLUDING OURSELVES.
WE ALSO EXCLUDE PROVIDERS THAT, UH, PROVIDE SERVICE ONLY TO COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS, AS WELL AS THOSE, UM, THAT PROVIDE TO LESS THAN 3% OF A RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER BASE.
UM, WE TAKE THAT FILTERED DATA COME UP WITH AN EIGHT WEIGHTED AVERAGE RETAIL RATE OR THE TEXAS 50%.
AND YOU'LL SEE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES HOW WE, UM, STACKED UP AGAINST THOSE RATES.
THIS SLIDE IS, UM, KIND OF JUST THE BASIS FOR THE SUPPORTING SLIDES YOU'LL SEE AFTER IT, JUST TO KIND OF SHOW YOU BY CUSTOMER CLASS HOW OUR RATES PERFORMED IN CALENDAR YEAR 2022.
AS YOU CAN SEE, OUR RESIDENTIAL IS, UH, BELOW THE AVERAGE WHILE COM COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL, SLIGHTLY ABOVE.
UM, OUR SYSTEM IS 10 POINT 10 CENTS PER KWH VERSUS THE TEXAS AVERAGE OF ABOUT 11 CENTS.
UM, THIS IS THE RATE THAT WE USE TO GAUGE, UM, OUR PERFORMANCE IN THAT COMPETITIVENESS METRIC.
UM, SO WE HAVE MET THAT FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2022.
UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE ALWAYS LIKE TO TALK ABOUT AUSTIN ENERGY AS A GOOD THING IS THAT, UM, OUR AVERAGE USE IS BELOW MOST OTHER UTILITIES, MAYBE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF EL PASO.
IS THERE ANY, UM, DO YOU GUYS DO ANY SORT OF ANALYSIS THAT TAKES THAT INTO ACCOUNT THAT LOOKS AT THE, THE RATE AND THE AVERAGE AMOUNT USED AND THEN COMPARES WHAT AN NOT, WHAT THE AVERAGE RATE IS, BUT WHAT AN AVERAGE BILL IS FOR RESIDENTIAL? IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU GUYS DO OR COULD DO? WE DO HAVE THE AVERAGE RESIDENTIAL BILL AS A SLIDE IN HERE JUST TO SHOW YOU KIND OF WHERE WE STACK UP THERE AND I CAN GIVE YOU THOSE, UM, POINTS OF REFERENCE ON THE USAGE FOR THAT CUSTOMER AS WELL.
AND AGAIN, THESE ARE JUST, UM, KIND OF REPETITIVE OF THE FIRST SLIDE, BUT JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHO WE ARE BENCHMARKING OURSELVES AGAINST, THIS IS OUR SYSTEM AVERAGE RATE, UM, BY PROVIDER.
UM, AGAIN, TEXAS IS AT A LITTLE OVER 11 CENTS AUSTIN ENERGY AT 10 POINT 10 CENTS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2022.
SO IS IT, UH, SO MY QUESTION, EXCUSE ME, MY QUESTION NOW IS, UH, THESE, BASED ON THE EARLIER SLIDE, THESE ARE THE LARGEST PROVIDERS BY RESIDENTIAL SALES.
IS THAT CORRECT? IS THAT HOW THESE ARE RANKED, UM, IN THIS RANKING? YES.
THESE ARE, UM, A SET OF UTILITIES THAT WE USE, UM, A CONSISTENT SET OF UTILITIES THAT WE USE THAT WE FEEL ARE MOST, UM, SIMILAR TO AE TO SHOW YOU KIND OF HOW WE PERFORMED AGAINST THEM.
THIS IS NOT THE FULL SET OF DATA, THIS IS JUST PULLING OUT OTHER MUNIS AND OTHERS THAT WE CAN SHOW YOU HOW WE'VE, UM, CAN COMPARE OUR RATES AGAINST.
YEAH, I MEAN, I I LOOKING AT THE COMPETITIVE PROVIDERS, LIKE, UH, SOME OF THEM THEIR MARKET SHARE INTUITIVELY.
UH, THEIR MARKET SHARE IS SMALL, LIKE AMIGO, FOR EXAMPLE, UH, GREEN MOUNT, GREEN MOUNT, UH, YOU KNOW, GREEN MOUNTAINS SIM SIMILARLY, AND, AND YET SOME OF THE, UH, PROVIDERS ARE, DON'T HAVE, DON'T HAVE THE BENEFIT OF SERVING COMPACT POPULATIONS.
SO IT, IT'S, TO ME IT'S APPLES AND ORANGES COMPARISON.
I SEE THAT IN SOME OF THE DATA.
IT'S CERTAINLY SOMETHING WE CAN LOOK AT WHEN WE PRESENT THIS INFORMATION IN THE FUTURE OF KIND OF CARVING OFF AGAINST OTHER, UH, MUNICIPALITIES OR PUBLIC POWER IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE THE DATA DIFFERENTLY.
THAT'D BE THAT, THAT'D BE GREAT.
THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES I JUST WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT ARE RESIDENTIAL, UM, CUSTOMER, THIS IS THE SAME SLIDE YOU JUST SAW, BUT JUST FOR OUR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER CLASS AGAIN, UM, AS YOU SAW, WE ARE AT 11.85 CENTS PER KWH VERSUS THE TEXAS AVERAGE OF 13.80 CENTS.
UM, SO, UM, AGAIN, JUST TO YOUR POINT EARLIER THAT, UH, RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS USED ABOUT 898, UM, KWH ON AVERAGE COMPARED TO THE TEXAS AVERAGE OF 1190.
AND LAST, I WILL SHOW YOU THAT RESIDENTIAL BILL BY PROVIDER.
AND JUST TO KIND OF RE REITERATE THE POINT THAT LOWER THAN AVERAGE, UH, CONSUMPTION
[00:55:01]
PAIRED WITH LOW RATES RESULTED IN OUR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS SEEING SOME OF THE LOWEST BILLS IN THE STATE OF TEXAS THAT WE'RE, UM, BENCHMARKING AGAINST FOR CALENDAR YEAR 22.UH, THE RESIDENTIAL AVERAGE MONTHLY BILL, AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE GOLD FOR AE RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS WAS ABOUT $106 VERSUS THE TEXAS AVERAGE OF $164.
SO IS THAT THE AVERAGE BILL PER UTILITY? IN OTHER WORDS, YOU USE WHATEVER THE AVERAGE CONSUMPTION IS FOR AUSTIN ENERGY AND THEN YOU USE THE AVERAGE CONSUMPTION FOR TXU? THAT'S CORRECT.
TI TIMES THEIR RATE, SO THEY'RE NOT THE SAME CONSUMPTION LEVELS? CORRECT.
AND, AND, AND RELATED AGAIN, UH, LOOKING AT TAKE RELIANT OR TXU AND GOING TO THE POWER TO CHOOSE, UH, WEBSITE, UH, ARE THESE BASED UPON A 1212 MONTH CONTRACT OR IS THIS FOR MONTH TO MONTH SERVICE? YOU KNOW, I I, I DON'T WANNA SPEAK TO EXACTLY HOW THEY'RE LOADING THEIR DATA, BUT I WOULD IMAGINE IT WOULD BE A CALENDAR YEAR 2022, NO MATTER IF THEY'RE LOCKED INTO A 12 MONTH RATE OR NOT.
UH, YES, UH, RUSTY MANUS, VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE AND STEPHANIE'S ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.
IT IS YEARLY DATA THAT'S AGGREGATED AND IN THIS INSTANCE HERE, UH, AND I GUESS TO YOUR POINT, THERE IS SOME VARIATION IN THE CROWD.
UM, BUT IN THE SAME SENSE YOU HAVE SOME REALLY DENSELY PACKED UTILITIES IN HERE AS WELL.
IF YOU LOOK AT RELIANT AND TXU, THAT'S DALLAS AND HOUSTON, UH, CERTAINLY IS, UH, A DENSELY PACKED UTILITY, UH, CPS ENERGY, THE LARGEST MUNICIPALITY IN, IN THE STATE THERE, IN THERE AS WELL.
BUT IT IS ALL HISTORICAL DATA FOR, FOR A CALENDAR YEAR 22.
'CAUSE I, I MEAN, LOOKING AT THE RATE, UH, MY, MY EARLIER OBSERVATION WAS THE RATES SKYROCKET FROM MONTH TO MONTH SERVICE, ESPECIALLY IN THE SUMMERTIME.
AND IF IT'S A 12 MONTH, UH, GUARANTEED PRICE, WHICH IS MORE LIKE WHAT AUSTIN AND OTHER MUNIS DO, THAT'S CORRECT.
IT WOULD BE, IT WOULD BE A FAIR COMPARISON THEN.
THAT CONCLUDES THE QUARTER FOUR FINANCIAL PRESENTATIONS PRESENTATION.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS I CAN ANSWER? THANK YOU.
THAT WAS A REALLY GOOD PRESENTATION.
[17. Staff briefing on the Fourth Quarter Operations Report by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer. ]
WE'RE ON ITEM 17, FOURTH QUARTER OPERATIONS REPORT.GOOD EVENING CHAIR, VICE CHAIR AND COMMISSIONERS.
I AM, UH, LISA MARTIN AUSTIN, SANITY CHIEF'S DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER HERE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A QUARTERLY OPERATIONS UPDATE.
THIS IS FOCUSING ON THE MONTHS OF JULY, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, 2023.
WE WILL FOLLOW OUR STANDARD AGENDA.
AND I WANNA FOCUS FOR A MOMENT ON THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
I HAVE SOME REALLY POSITIVE, UH, REPORTS TO GIVE TO YOU TONIGHT.
YOU'LL SEE THIS INFORMATION IN THE DETAILED, UH, SLIDES, BUT OUR GENERATORS WERE AVAILABLE ALL SUMMER.
OUR RELIABILITY PERFORMANCE IS TRENDING, THE TREND IS STABILIZING, AND OUR RENEWABLE PRODUCTION AND CARBON FREE PRODUCTIONS ARE ON TARGET.
SO, UH, AGAIN, THIS IS FOR THE MONTH OF, UM, JULY, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER.
AND YOU'LL SEE THAT, UM, OUR COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY FOR THE, UH, THREE LARGEST, UH, GENERATORS, UM, IN OUR PORTFOLIO WERE HAD A HUNDRED PERCENT AVAILABILITY ALL SUMMER, SO NO PLANNED OR UNPLANNED OUTAGES.
UM, AND YOU CAN SEE THE A HUNDRED PERCENT COMPARED TO THE MAX SUMMER COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY TARGETS.
SO OUR UNITS ARE OUTPERFORMING, UM, OR PERFORMING AS WE EXPECT THEM TO.
UM, AND THIS REALLY WASN'T ANY SUMMER, AS YOU KNOW, YOU SAW FROM STEPHANIE'S SLIDES THE COST IMPACT OF, UM, THE HIGHER, UH, SUMMER DEMAND, THE HIGH HEAT, UM, AND OUR POWER PLANTS PERFORMED EXCEPTIONALLY WELL.
UM, SO THE PEAKER UNITS PARTICULARLY HAD, UM, A LOT OF WEAR AND USE THIS SUMMER, UM, OVER A THOUSAND STARTS, UM, IN THE MONTHS OF JUNE THROUGH SEPTEMBER.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT BOTH AT SANEL AND DECKER, THEY PERFORMED WITH GREAT START SUCCESS.
AND OF COURSE, OUR RECORD HEAT MEANS RECORD GENERATION.
UM, AND AS YOU KNOW, AND YOU'LL SEE ON THE NEXT SLIDE, OUR, UH, SUMMER PEAK, UH, HIT OVER 3000 MEGAWATTS FOR THE FIRST TIME.
AND WE, OUR PLANT, UH, UH, PERSONNEL
[01:00:01]
WERE VERY PREPARED.UM, THEY HAD INCREASED STAFFING ON WEEKENDS AND AFTER HOURS WHEN TIGHTER GRID CONDITIONS WERE EXPECTED.
YOU'LL RECALL WE HAD A LOT OF, UM, CONSERVATION NOTICES THAT CAME OUT ACROSS ALL OF TEXAS, AND WE NEEDED TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR, UH, STAFF WERE AVAILABLE TO RESPOND SHOULD ANYTHING HAPPEN.
SO I JUST WANNA TAKE A MOMENT TO GIVE A BIG KUDOS TO OUR POWER PLANT EMPLOYEES, UM, WHO, UH, PERFORMED EXCEPTIONALLY WELL AS DID, UH, THEIR GENERATORS.
ALRIGHT, UM, STARTING AT THE PIE, UM, CHART.
IN THE TOP LEFT, YOU'LL SEE THAT OUR FUEL COST METRICS CONTINUE TO SHOW SIGNIFICANT USE OF CARBON FREE SOURCES.
UM, AND THAT'S REPRESENTED BY THE, UH, YELLOW AND ORANGE PORTIONS OF THAT PIE CHART.
MOVING DOWN THE SLIDE, YOU'LL SEE THAT YEAR OVER YEAR THERE'S AN INCREASING TREND IN THE SYSTEM.
SUMMER PEAK, UM, OUR SUMMER 2023 NUMBERS CAME IN AT 3064 MEGAWATT SUMMER PEAK.
MOVING BACK TO THE TOP RIGHT, OUR GENERATION OVERALL WAS SHORT COMPARED TO OUR CONSUMPTION ABOUT 4.1, UH, MILLION MEGAWATT HOURS TOTAL VERSUS OUR 4.8 CONSUMPTION.
THAT'S LARGELY DUE TO THAT SUMMER HEAT AND THE RESULTING HIGH LOADS.
BUT THERE WERE A COUPLE OF OTHER FACTORS AS WELL.
AS, YOU KNOW, OUR GENERATION DISPATCH FOLLOWS PRICE NOT LOAD.
UM, WE OF COURSE HAVE OUR FPP REACH ADDER IN PLAY, WHICH, UH, REDUCES THE GENERATION ON THAT UNIT.
AND, UM, WE DID HAVE SOME LOCAL CONGESTION LEADING TO RENEWABLE, UH, CURTAILMENTS.
UM, UH, AND THEN FINALLY, LOOKING AT THE PIE CHART ON THE BOTTOM, THIS IS WHERE WE SEE FOR THE QUARTER 60% CARBON FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD, THE 41% RENEWABLE PLUS THE 19% NUCLEAR SHOWS THE TOTAL OF 60%.
TURNING, UH, TO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM RELIABILITY.
UM, AS A REMINDER, EACH ONE OF THESE BARS REPRESENTS THE QUARTERLY ROLLING 12 MONTH AVERAGE.
AND YOU'LL SEE THE, THAT AVERAGE FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS, BOTH IN THE, UH, DURATION AND FREQUENCY METRICS.
OUR DURATION NUMBERS, WHICH ARE REPRESENTED BY SADIE AND KATIE, UM, ARE BETTER THIS QUARTER COMPARED TO LAST.
REMEMBER, LOWER NUMBERS ARE BETTER FOR THESE METRICS AND OUR FREQUENCY NUMBERS, WHICH IS, IS REPRESENTED BY SAFETY IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT, UH, REMAIN STABLE.
OVER THE PAST YEARS, AS I'VE STOOD BEFORE YOU MANY TIMES, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO COMBAT THE PREVIOUS TREND OF RISING MINUTES AND FREQUENCY OF OF OUTAGES.
UM, AND I THINK THAT THESE NUMBERS ARE STARTING TO REFLECT THE IMPROVEMENTS WE'VE BEEN PUTTING ON THE SYSTEM.
UM, OF COURSE I THINK THE NEXT FEW QUARTERS WILL BE TELLING, AND OF COURSE IF THE NUMBERS START TO TREND UPWARD, WE WILL ADJUST WHAT WE'RE DOING.
BUT I'M HAPPY TO BE BE ABLE TO REPORT, UM, THESE BETTER NUMBERS THIS QUARTER.
ALRIGHT, SO THIS SHOWS THE, UH, CARBON FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD, WHICH I REPORTED OUT IN A PIE CHART PREVIOUSLY.
SO WHEN YOU AVERAGE OVER THE LAST QUARTER, YOU'LL SEE THAT'S WHERE WE GET THE 60%.
BUT AS WE WERE REVIEWING THIS, WE REALIZED THAT LOOKING AT IT MONTH BY MONTH IS, UM, ONE WAY OF DESCRIBING IT.
IF YOU'LL FLIP TO THE NEXT SLIDE, WE ALSO CAN LOOK AT IT IN TERMS OF A ROLLING 12 MONTH AVERAGE.
SO THE WAY TO READ THIS IS, THIS IS THE LAST THREE YEARS OF DATA.
UM, THE JAGGED LINE IS THE MONTH TO MONTH VARIATION, WHAT YOU JUST SAW IN THE BAR CHARTS, BUT THE SMOOTH LINE SHOWS THAT ROLLING 12 MONTH AVERAGE OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS, WE'VE INCLUDED 2014 AS A BASELINE JUST TO COMPARE LONG TERM.
SO WHAT YOU CAN SEE HERE IS OVER THE LAST QUARTER, OUR ROLLING 12 MONTH AVERAGE IS 70%, UM, CARBON-FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD.
AND SO WHAT THIS SHOWS BASICALLY IS IT IS THIS QUARTER, THIS KIND OF LATE SUMMER WHERE WE TEND TO HAVE THE LOWEST AMOUNT OF RENEWABLES.
IS THAT AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD? THAT IS CORRECT.
HIGHER LOADS, RIGHT? MM-HMM,
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT THAT TREND KIND OF APPLIES YEAR OVER YEAR.
AND I WANNA WRAP UP TONIGHT WITH AN UPDATE ON OUR STRATEGIC GOALS RELATED TO GRID RESILIENCE.
AND SO AS WE SPOKE ABOUT, UM, ON OUR DISTRIBUTION RESILIENCY OR RELIABILITY SLIDE BEFORE, UM, YOU KNOW THAT IT IS ONE OF OUR STRATEGIC GOALS TO IMPROVE OUR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM RELIABILITY.
UM, WE ARE CONTINUING WORK ON BOTH THE STUDY THAT IS BEING FUNDED BY, UM, THE TEEM BRICK AWARD.
THAT'S AN OVERHEAD HARDENING STUDY.
WE'RE PAIRING THAT WORK WITH THE DISTRIBUTION UNDERGROUNDING FEASIBILITY STUDY.
THE VENDOR EVALUATION IS UNDERWAY, UM, AND WE ANTICIPATE GOING TO COUNCIL IN EARLY 2024 FOR, UH, CONTRACT APPROVAL.
THE MIDDLE INITIATIVE IS THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM OF THE
[01:05:01]
FUTURE, WHICH IS RELATED TO THE TRANSMISSION, UH, STUDY.OF COURSE, WE PRESENTED THOSE RESULTS TO YOU THIS SUMMER.
THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IS UNDERWAY AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO ITERATE THROUGH ANNUAL PLANNING ASSESSMENTS TO ASSESS AS THE MODEL CHANGES, AS THE ASSUMPTIONS CHANGE, AS WE GET CLOSER, MOVE IN TIME, UM, WHAT ARE THE APPROPRIATE, UM, INVESTMENTS TO MAKE, UH, YEAR OVER YEAR.
AND, AND AS A REMINDER, YOU DID THAT STUDY THAT YOU PRESENTED TO US BACK IN JUNE, I THINK, AND YOU HAD LIKE NINE RECOMMENDATIONS.
I MIGHT BE MAKING THAT NUMBER UP.
UM, BUT YOU BASICALLY TOLD US, YOU, YOU THINK IT MAKES SENSE TO PURSUE ONE THROUGH FIVE AND MAYBE NINE, BUT NOT SIX, SEVEN, AND EIGHT.
IS, AM I GETTING THAT MORE OR LESS? RIGHT.
WELL, SO THE TRANSMISSION STUDY LOOKS AT A PARTICULAR SCENARIO, RIGHT? AND THIS WAS, UH, SHUTTING, THE TRANSMISSION STUDY LOOKED AT SHUTTING DOWN OUR, UH, POWER GENERATION BY 2030.
SO WE LOOKED AT A 2029 CASE FOR THE CLOSEST APPROXIMATION WE COULD HAVE AND, UM, BASED ON THE MODELS THAT ARE AVAILABLE.
AND, UM, DOING THAT ANALYSIS SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF, UH, CONTINGENCY VIOLATIONS ON OUR SYSTEM.
AND THEN THE, UM, CONSULTANTS APPLIED VARIOUS PROJECT SOLUTIONS NUMBERED ONE THROUGH NINE.
AND LOOKING AT THOSE, WE SAW WHETHER THERE WERE CONTINUED VIOLATIONS OR NOT.
IN ALL OF THOSE CASES, THERE WERE CONTINUED VIOLATIONS, BUT SOME OF THEM HAVE, UM, UH, MORE POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE GRID THAN OTHERS.
AND SO YOU ARE CORRECT IN THAT IT WAS, I BELIEVE, ONE THROUGH FIVE.
ACTUALLY, WE HAVE RAVI FROM 1898 HERE TONIGHT.
SO IF HE CAN, UM, ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE FOLLOWING, DID THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? SO I GUESS MY QUESTION IS, SO YOU'RE AT THIS POINT, THE AUSTIN ENERGY TEAM IS PLANNING TO PURSUE ONE THROUGH FIVE, WHETHER OR NOT THE, THE DECISION ABOUT THE GENERATION IS SEPARATE, BUT THOSE ARE THINGS THAT YOU SAW THAT ARE NEEDED KIND OF NO MATTER WHAT, NO MATTER WHEN WE RETIRE, THAT, THAT GENERATION, THOSE ARE THINGS THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO US LONG TERM.
IS THAT EXTENT? AM I GETTING THAT RIGHT? TO EXTENT? YES.
THE EXACT, UM, SOLUTIONS THAT WERE MODELED, UM, MAY CHANGE OVER TIME.
IN GENERAL, THEY TALKED ABOUT, UM, INCREASING, UM, AUTO TRANSFORMER SIZE, RECONDUCTORING TRANSMISSION LINES WITHIN THE SYSTEM, ADDING IN VOLTAGE SUPPORT, WHETHER IT'S THROUGH, UM, SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSERS OR, UM, STATCOMS, UM, AND PROVIDING MORE IMPORT POINTS INTO THE SYSTEM.
AND SO PART OF THE EFFORT IS THAT WHEN YOU LOOK, OR PART OF THE, UM, THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT AS YOU LOOK AT THE MODEL AND YOU LOOK AT THE RESULTS, THERE'RE A SNAPSHOT IN TIME FOR A FUTURE LOOK AND THINGS CHANGE OVER TIME.
SO YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE TO ITERATE THE ANALYSIS, WHICH IS YOUR SECOND POINT THERE.
AND LISA, DID YOU SAY YOU'RE GOING TO THE COUNCIL WITH THE OVERHEAD HARDENING PLAN IN JANUARY, UH, WITH A VENDOR, UM, TO A RECOMMENDATION FOR A CONTRACT WITH A VENDOR FOR BOTH THE DISTRIBUTION UNDERGROUNDING FEASIBILITY STUDY AND THE OVERHEAD HARDENING STUDY.
AND THEN WE'VE ADDED THE RESILIENCY AS A SERVICE PROGRAM TO THIS SLIDE.
IT'S NOT A NEW PROGRAM, UM, BUT ONE THAT WE, UM, YOU KNOW, CONSIDER AS A STRATEGIC INITIATIVE UNDER GRID RESILIENCE.
AND I WANT TO CONTINUE TO REPORT OUT TO YOU ON THAT EVERY QUARTER.
UM, IN THE PAST QUARTER, WE HAVE MADE SOME, UH, CONTINUED PROGRESS AND TWO HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE A FULL-TIME.
UM, RAS PROGRAM MANAGER IS NOW ON BOARD, AND, UM, WE HAVE RECEIVED A PROCESS FOR FEASIBILITY STUDIES, UM, WHICH IS A FIRST STEP FOR INTERESTED CUSTOMERS.
SO WE'RE MAKING HEADWAY THERE.
AND FOR MY FINAL SLIDE, I JUST WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT THE PANO AI WILDFIRE DETECTION SERVICES PROJECT AND EFFORT.
UM, AS A REMINDER, UM, THIS IS A HARDWARE, UH, SOFTWARE AND, UM, AND HUMAN INTELLIGENCE SOLUTION TO, UH, EARLY DETECTION OF SMOKE, WHICH MAY RESULT IN RIGHT WILDFIRE, UM, TO DETERMINE IF THAT'S SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.
UM, IT WILL, THE, THE CAMERAS WILL PINPOINT THE LOCATION OUT, UM, YOU KNOW, IN OUR SERVICE TERRITORY, UM, NOTIFY FIRST RESPONDERS, BUT ALSO NOTIFY OUR CONTROL ROOM SO THAT THEY CAN TAKE ACTION WITHIN OUR ELECTRIC GRID TO, UM, ESSENTIALLY PUT INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, OUT OF HARM'S WAY FROM MAKING THE SITUATION WORSE OR, UM, OR BEING DAMAGED ITSELF.
UM, WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF DOING SITE AUDITS AND SELECTION, UM, AND THEN THE VIEWS WILL BE APPROVED.
UH, AND WE ANTICIPATE THAT OUR FIRST SITE WILL BE LIVE IN SUMMER OF 2024.
[01:10:01]
I THINK THAT WRAPS UP MY PRESENTATION FOR YOU THIS EVENING.WE'RE AT NUMBER 18, MICHAEL ENGER TALKING ABOUT THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN UPDATE.
SO WE'RE GONNA ALL JUST MOVE OVER HERE AND JOIN YOU HERE SO THAT WE CAN ALL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.
[18. Staff briefing on the Resource Generation Plan Update by Michael Enger, Interim Vice President of Market Operations & Resource Planning.]
ALL RIGHT.AGAIN, I'M LISA MARTIN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER.
UM, AND TONIGHT WE'RE PLEASED TO SHARE WITH YOU SEVERAL ITEMS RELATED TO THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN UPDATE.
BUT BEFORE WE GET INTO THE PRESENTATIONS, I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLAIN WHAT THE RESOURCE PLANNING IS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE.
SO THROUGH THIS PROCESS, YOU ARE HELPING AUSTIN ENERGY TO SHAPE THE DIRECTION OF ITS POWER, UH, GENERATION PORTFOLIO.
CURRENTLY, WE GENERATE POWER FROM BOTH RENEWABLE AND TRADITIONAL FUEL SOURCES, AND IT'S A MIX OF GENERATION FROM WIND, SOLAR, BIOMASS, GAS, COAL, AND NUCLEAR.
WE ALSO HAVE SIGNIFICANT DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. SO WE ARE NOW UPDATING OUR EXISTING RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN, WHICH WAS APPROVED IN MARCH OF 2020.
AS WE MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT OUR ENERGY MIX FOR THE FUTURE, IT'S WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BALANCING AFFORDABILITY, RELIABILITY, COST STABILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY GOALS, WHICH ARE CONTAINED WITHIN THAT PLAN.
WHILE WE'RE PROPOSING CHANGES TO THE PLAN, OUR COLLECTIVE OVERARCHING GOAL OF CARBON FREE BY 2035 REMAINS.
SO TONIGHT, MICHAEL ANGER WILL GIVE US A BRIEF REFRESHER TO REMIND US OF WHY WE ARE LOOKING TO MAKE UPDATES.
AND THEN HE WILL SHARE A SUMMARY OF THE PATH TO CARBON FREE BY 2035.
WE'LL EXPLAIN THE FRAMEWORK OF HOW WE GOT TO THAT PROPOSAL, AND THEN WE'RE GONNA DELVE INTO THOSE DETAILS, AND EACH PRESENTER WILL EXPLAIN THE KEY TAKEAWAYS AND HOW TO REVIEW THIS MATERIAL SO YOU CAN PROVIDE FEEDBACK OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
IN STEP ONE, AS REQUESTED BY CHAIR TUTTLE, MIKE WILL FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY READINESS.
THIS ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGY MATURITY HELPS DIRECT OUR ANALYSIS AND PLANNING EFFORTS, FOCUSING ON FEASIBILITY AND RISK.
IN STEP TWO, BABU CHAKA, WE'LL SHARE THE RESOURCE MODELING WORK, INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF THE PORTFOLIO'S STUDY THUS FAR, THE ASSUMPTIONS USED AND KEY TAKEAWAYS.
BABU IS GONNA WALK THROUGH ALL THE DETAILS, BUT I WANNA HIGHLIGHT THREE KEY POINTS UPFRONT.
FIRST, IT'S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WE ARE WORKING ON AN UPDATE TO THE 2030 PLAN, BUT WE'RE DRIVING TO MEET THE GOAL OF CARBON FREE BY 2035.
SO AS SUCH, THE MODEL IS GONNA ANALYZE OUT TO 2035, SO IT CAN INFORM WHETHER OUR NEAR TERM DECISIONS WILL BE ON TRACK TO MEET THAT GOAL.
THIS ALLOWS US TO MAKE NEAR TERM COURSE CORRECTIONS TO ADDRESS THE MANY CHALLENGES FACED SINCE THE EXISTING PLAN WAS ADOPTED IN 2020.
I ALSO WANNA ADDRESS A POINT ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MODELING.
TO GET USEFUL OUTPUT PUT, WE MUST INCLUDE ASSUMPTIONS.
EXAMPLES INCLUDE COST AND PRICE FORECAST.
THE GOAL IS NOT TO ACHIEVE AN EXACT SOLUTION FROM THE MODEL, BUT INSTEAD TO HAVE QUANTITATIVE RESULTS FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES.
AND SO THIS LEADS TO MY SECOND POINT.
ONE ASSUMPTION WE HAVE INCLUDED IN THE MODEL IS THAT FAYETTE IS FAYETTE POWER PLANT.
ONE ASSUMPTION WE HAVE INCLUDED IS MODELING FAYETTE POWER PROJECT UNTIL 2030.
I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THIS IS A MODELING ASSUMPTION, NOT A PLAN.
WE STILL WANT TO SHUT DOWN OUR SHARE OF FPP, AND IF WE CAN DO SO BEFORE 2030, WE WILL THIRD ONE FACTOR WE ARE LOOKING AT IS IMPORT CAPACITY FOR THE AUSTIN ENERGY LOAD ZONE.
AND THIS IS HOW THE RESULTS OF THE TRANSMISSION STUDY INTEGRATE INTO THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLANNING EFFORT.
SO, I WANNA BE CLEAR, THE TRANSMISSION STUDY RESULTS DID NOT PROVIDE A TRANSMISSION ONLY SOLUTION TO SHUTTING DOWN ALL LOCAL THERMAL GENERATION.
BY 2030, IT PROVIDED ANALYSIS SHOWING THAT DO SO DOING SO WOULD LEAD TO CRITERIA VIOLATIONS THAT REMAIN EVEN AFTER APPLYING NEW TRANSMISSION PROJECTS.
TRANSMISSION IS PART OF THE SOLUTION, BUT IT DOES NOT STAND ALONE.
SO AUSTIN ENERGY WILL DRIVE TOWARD A SOLUTION THAT COLLECTIVELY INCORPORATES TRANSMISSION GENERATION AND DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT AS WE REALLY NEED AN ALL OF THE ABOVE APPROACH TO ADDRESS THE MULTIPLE CHALLENGES OF EXTREME WEATHER, LOCAL CONGESTION, AND MARKET RULE CHANGES.
AS WE CLOSE OUT TONIGHT, MIKE ANGER AND SARAH NORRIS WILL END THE PRESENTATION WITH THE COMPONENTS OF
[01:15:01]
THE PROPOSED UPDATES TO THE CURRENT 2030 PLAN.THEY WILL BE EXPLICIT ABOUT WHAT WE PROPOSE TO CHANGE AND WHAT WE PROPOSE TO LEAVE THE SAME.
AND THAT WILL GIVE EVERYONE COMMON GROUND FOR PROVIDING FEEDBACK AS WE WORK OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS TO FINALIZE THE PLAN UPDATES AND PREPARE FINAL DRAFTS FOR EUC RECOMMENDATION AND COUNCIL APPROVAL.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE, WE HAVE A LOT OF INFORMATION TO COVER.
WE KNOW YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS.
WE HOPE WE'RE GONNA ANSWER SOME OF THEM ALONG THE WAY.
WE JUST ASK THAT YOU ALLOW THE SPEAKERS TO FIRST GET THROUGH THEIR MATERIAL BY SECTION, HOLD YOUR QUESTIONS TO THE END OF EACH SECTION, AND THAT WAY WE CAN COVER THE CONTENT AND PUT EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE BEFORE WE START ADDRESSING THOSE QUESTIONS.
SO THANK YOU AND I'LL PASS IT OFF TO MIKE.
AND, UH, GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS.
UH, WE ARE GONNA START OFF WITH JUST, UH, BRIEFLY GOING OVER THE CURRENT CHALLENGES.
WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS IN A COUPLE DIFFERENT POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS OVER THE LAST THREE MONTHS, OVER, OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS.
SO I'M NOT GONNA DIVE INTO EACH ONE OF THOSE, BUT HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM.
BUT AS YOU'RE WELL AWARE, WE HAVE SEEN STRONGER LOW GROWTH THAN WE HAD FORECAST BACK IN 2019 WHEN WE WERE WORKING ON THIS, UM, UH, RESOURCE PLAN.
WE'VE SEEN INCREASED MARKET VOLATILITY AND CONGESTION COSTS HAVING TO DO WITH LOW ZONE PRICE SEPARATION.
A LOT OF THOSE INCREASED VOLATILITY HAVE ALSO OCCURRED DUE TO NEW REGULATORY AND ERCOT MARKET RULE CHANGES.
AND A LOT OF THOSE MARKET RULE CHANGES CAME OUT OF THE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS.
AND AS WE'VE TALKED ABOUT ON A FEW OCCASIONS, WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO, UH, VIABLY EXIT THE FAYETTE POWER PROJECT AT THIS TIME.
I DO WANNA STRESS THOUGH THAT IF THE, UM, THE CURRENT RESOURCE PLAN WAS A WORKABLE, UH, POSITION, WE WOULD STAY ON THAT PATH.
BUT DUE TO THESE MARKET CHANGES AND CHALLENGES, THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH RISK TO MEET THE OBJECTIVES.
AND THOSE OBJECTIVES ARE THESE FOUR RIGHT HERE.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, RELIABILITY, AFFORDABILITY, AND COST ABILITY.
IN ORDER TO, TO MEET THESE FOUR OBJECTIVES IN A BALANCED AND RISK MITIGATED APPROACH, WE NEED TO HAVE A DIVERSE PORTFOLIO THAT BALANCES, UH, EACH OF THESE OBJECTIVES.
UH, IN THIS PROCESS, WE ALSO ISSUED A CUSTOMER SURVEY.
WE WANTED TO HEAR FROM ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS, UH, THEIR INPUT ON THE RESOURCE PLAN AS WELL.
UH, WE ISSUED THAT AT THAT SURVEY AND RECEIVED QUITE GOOD RESPONSES AT OVER 7,500 RESPONDENTS.
AND THE, THE NUMBER ONE, UM, OF THOSE OBJECTIVES, UH, RANKED BY OUR CUSTOMERS, UH, WAS RELIABILITY BY 38% OF RESPONDENTS.
WE ALSO HAD AN OPEN TEXT, UH, BOX WITHIN THE SURVEY WHERE PEOPLE COULD JUST GIVE US OPEN FEEDBACK.
AND LOOKING THROUGH ALL THAT FEEDBACK, YASMINE TURK WENT THROUGH ALL OF THOSE OPEN FEEDBACK RESPONSES, AND WE WERE ABLE TO SEE THAT THAT IMPORTANCE OF RELIABILITY WAS REALLY ECHOED THROUGH THAT FEEDBACK AS WELL.
SO, AS WE START TO TALK ABOUT THE PATH TO CARBON FREE BY 2035, JUST A COUPLE HIGHLIGHTS AND THEN WE'RE GONNA GET INTO THE ANALYSIS AND HOW WE GOT TO THESE, THESE OUTCOMES.
UM, FIRST OF ALL, AUSTIN ENERGY REMAINS COMMITTED TO THE 2030S PLAN OF CARBON FREE GENERATION BY 2035.
WE WILL CONTINUE TO THE DISCUSSIONS WITH LCRA TO ACHIEVE A VIABLE EXIT FROM AUSTIN ENERGY SHARE OF THE FAYETTE POWER PROJECT.
UM, AUSTIN ENERGY WILL IMPLEMENT TRANSMISSION UPGRADES, SOME OF THOSE OUTLINED IN THE TRANSMISSION STUDY TO HELP INCREASE IMPORT CAPACITY.
UM, AUSTIN ENERGY RECOMMENDS ADJUSTING THE GOALS AND FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT TO ENABLE THE EXPANSION AND CAPTURE FULL VALUE OF PROGRAMS AS WE START TO MOVE AWAY FROM NATURAL GAS TO ELECTRIFICATION.
UH, AND THEN THE INITIAL ASSESSMENT INDICATES THE NEED TO ADD LOCAL DISPATCHABLE, HYDROGEN CAPABLE GENERATION USING NATURAL GAS AS A NEAR TERM BRIDGING SOLUTION TO ADDRESS OUR RELIABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY RISKS, AS WELL AS TO MEET RENEWABLE GENERATION GOALS.
SO, TALKING ABOUT THE FRAMEWORK AND, AND HOW WE GOT THERE, UH, BEFORE WE JUMP INTO ALL THE NUMBERS.
UM, SO STEP ONE IS WE WANTED TO START OUT AND LOOK AT THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT WE CAN INCLUDE IN OUR MODELING.
AND SO WE STARTED OUT WITH THE VIEW THAT WE NEED TO LOOK AT CARBON FREE TECHNOLOGIES, UM, THAT WE CAN UTILIZE WITHIN OUR SUPPLY PORTFOLIO.
AND THEN WE ALSO WANTED TO SEE ARE THOSE CARBON FREE TECHNOLOGIES READY WITHIN THIS TIMEFRAME OF OUR RESOURCE PLANNING TIME HORIZON? SO WE WOULD LOOK AT THE CARBON FREE ASPECT OR ATTRIBUTE OF IT, AND THEN ITS READINESS FOR STEP TWO.
WE WANT TO TAKE THOSE TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE READY AND OUR CARBON FREE AS WELL AS A NUMBER OF ASSUMPTIONS AND RUN 'EM THROUGH A PRODUCTION COST MODEL AS WELL AS RISK ASSESSMENTS.
UH, THESE WILL GIVE US COST FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES SO WE CAN SEE WHICH OF THESE PORTFOLIOS OR SCENARIOS IS MORE OR LESS RISKY THAN OTHERS WITH ALL ELSE EQUAL.
AND THESE IN TECHNOLOGIES WOULD THEN BE INCLUDED IN THE GEN PLAN.
AND THEN STEP THREE IS WE NEED TO LOCATE THE SECTIONS WITHIN THE 2030 PLAN, UH, AND THAT NEED CHANGES AND LOOK AT THE PROPOSED UPDATED LANGUAGE TO MAKE THOSE CHANGES BASED ON QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS.
THIS PLAN SHOULD MAINTAIN FLEXIBILITY AS TECHNOLOGIES MATURE AND NOT INCLUDE SPECIFIC QUANTITIES.
[01:20:01]
READ READINESS ASSESSMENT SIDE, I WANT TO JUST DISCUSS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE, THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENTS.UM, SO WE STARTED OUT WITH EXPERT EXPERTISE.
WE HAVE SOME MAJOR EX SUBJECT MAJOR EXPERTS HERE AT AUSTIN ENERGY IN SOME OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES THAT LOOK AT STUDY THEM.
THEY WORKED WITH, UH, OUTSIDE, UH, CONSULTING, UH, BOTH ACADEMIC JOURNALS, UH, RESEARCH FIRMS AND OUTSIDE VENDORS TO GET MORE INFORMATION.
UH, WE, WE LOOKED AT THIS BASED ON CRITERIA AND WE WANTED TO SCORE ON THAT CRITERIA.
AND I'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE CRITERIA ON THE NEXT SLIDE.
THE SCORING WAS DONE, UM, KIND OF AS A A THREE COLOR, UH, RED, YELLOW, GREEN.
YELLOW WOULD BE ITS CHALLENGE.
THERE'S, IT'S INTERESTING, WE NEED TO LOOK MORE INTO THAT.
SOME THINGS ARE STILL DEVELOPING OR THERE MAY BE SOME CHALLENGES WITH IT, AND THEN GREEN WITH IT MEETS THE CRITERIA.
UM, AND THEN AFTER WE HAVE DONE THE TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT AND, AND DONE ALL OF OUR SCORING, UH, THE SMES PUT TOGETHER SOME ONE PAGE DESCRIPTIONS THAT GO THROUGH GREATER DETAIL OF EACH OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES.
I BELIEVE ALL THE CONTENT IS DELIVERED FOR THOSE.
WE'RE STILL WORKING A LITTLE BIT ON THE EDITING AND FORMATTING, AND THEN THOSE WILL BE PROVIDED TO THE EUC, UH, FOR THEIR REVIEW.
AND THEN ULTIMATELY WE HAVE AN OVERVIEW, UH, WHICH IS A CHART THAT SHOWS ALL OF THE DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES TOGETHER.
SO YOU CAN SEE HOW WE SCORE EACH, EACH ONE OF THOSE.
SO SPEAKING, UH, TO CRITERIA, WE WERE LOOKING AT FIVE MAIN AREAS HERE.
WILL THAT TECHNOLOGY BE READY, UH, WITHIN THE TIME HORIZON OF THIS RESOURCE PLAN 2, 20 30 AFFORDABILITY.
DOES USING THE SOLUTION AT SCALE ALLOW FOR A HIGH LIKELIHOOD OF MEETING OUR AFFORDABILITY GOALS THAT, UH, THAT WE WENT OVER EARLIER TO SHOW WHERE WE ARE WITH COMPETITIVENESS? UM, DOES IT ADDRESS LOCAL CONGESTION? WE LOOKED AT OUR OVER UNDER FOR APSA AND YOU NOTICE IT GOT VERY, VERY UNDER COLLECTED AS WE HEADED INTO THE SUMMER.
THAT'S WHEN OUR LOAD IS THE HIGHEST.
THAT'S WHEN THE IMPORT, UH, IS THE GREATEST.
AND THAT'S WHEN WE TEND TO SEE THAT LOAD ZONE PRICE SEPARATION, WHERE OUR LOAD COST TENDS TO STRAY FROM THE REST OF THE MARKET.
INCURRING, UH, FINANCIAL IMBALANCES.
WE ALSO WANTED TO SEE, IS IT AVAILABLE 24 7? ARE WE ABLE TO CALL UPON IT WHEN WE NEED IT AND IS ABLE TO RUN FOR LONGER PERIODS OF TIME IF WE'RE IN EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS? AND THEN IS IT DISPATCHABLE? CAN THE RESOURCE RESPOND ON DEMAND TO PRICE AND LOAD REQUIREMENTS? SORRY, FORGET ONE.
AND THEN ON FOR A TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, WE'VE BROKE IT INTO THREE DIFFERENT GROUPS.
UH, WE HAVE SUPPLY SIDE TECHNOLOGIES.
THESE ARE TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE ON THE UTILITY SIDE OF THE METER, UM, SUCH AS LOCAL SOLAR.
WE ALSO HAVE DEMAND SIDE TECHNOLOGIES.
THESE ARE MANAGEABLE TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE ON THE CUSTOMER SIDE OF THE METER.
THINK OF THINGS LIKE DEMAND RESPONSE OR THERMOSTATS.
AND THEN WE HAVE THOSE OTHER TECHNOLOGIES DIDN'T FIT INTO EITHER SUPPLIER DEMAND, UH, SUCH AS CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION.
SO PORTFOLIO TECHNOLOGIES ON THE SUPPLY SIDE WE LOOKED AT WERE ADVANCED NUCLEAR SMALL MODULAR REACTORS.
WE LOOKED AT GEOTHERMAL, UH, MAINLY PRODUCTION FROM OIL, OLD OIL AND GAS WELLS THAT ARE BEING LOOKED AT HERE IN TEXAS.
BUT WE ALSO LOOKED AT OTHER GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGIES AS WELL.
UH, WE LOOKED AT LOCAL DISTRIBUTION, ENER, BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM.
THESE WOULD BE SHORTER DIRECT DURATION, LESS THAN FOUR HOURS.
WE LOOKED AT LOCAL DISTRIBUTION, BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS THAT WERE LONGER DURATION GREATER THAN FOUR HOURS.
WE LOOKED AT HYDROGEN CAPABLE COMBINED CYCLE GENERATORS, REMOTE TRANSMISSION BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS. SO THESE ARE VERY LARGE BATTERIES OUTSIDE OF OUR SERVICE TERRITORY THAT TIE INTO TRANSMISSION.
AND WE LOOKED AT LOCAL SOLAR AS WE GOT TO DEMAND SIDE TECHNOLOGIES.
WE LOOKED AT DEMAND RESPONSE, CUSTOMER CITED, BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS, MANAGED CHARGING OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES, SO BEING ABLE TO CONTROL THE CHARGERS AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE DAY, UH, AS WELL AS DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, WHICH IS A PORTFOLIO THAT ALLOWS YOU TO CONTROL MANY DEMAND SIDE, UM, RESOURCES, WHICH ARE OFTEN COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS AS WELL.
AND THEN I MENTIONED BRIEFLY THE PORTFOLIO TECH TECHNOLOGY AS OTHERS.
SORRY, I'M HAVING A LITTLE TROUBLE WITH THE CLICKER HERE.
UH, WE LOOKED AT CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION.
WE LOOKED AT ENERGY EFFICIENCY, HIGH EFFICIENCY APPLIANCES INCLUDING INDUCTION COOKING, HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS, WATER HEATERS, UH, CLOSED DRYERS, AS WELL AS COMPOSITE COMPOSITE CONDUCTOR TRANSMISSION LINES OR COMPOSITE, SORRY, CONDUCTOR TRANSMISSION LINES.
SO HERE'S THE CHART THAT WE HAVE FOR OUR PATH TO ZERO ON THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS.
SO JUST KIND OF WE'LL GO THROUGH AND HIT A FEW HIGHLIGHTS HERE.
HAPPY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM.
UH, FOR EXAMPLE, FOR ADVANCED NUCLEAR, YOU'LL SEE THE READINESS THERE WAS FLAWED.
UH, WE DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN BUILD AND BRING A NEW, A SMALL MODULAR REACTOR ONLINE, UH, BETWEEN NOW AND THE 2030 TIME PERIOD.
I THINK THAT IS CONFIRMED WITH WHAT IS GOING ON UP THERE WITH THE MUNICIPALITIES THAT HAVE PULLED OUT OF THE SMR UP IN IDAHO.
UH, AFTER THAT HAS HAD, UH, SIGNIFICANT COST OVERRUNS, WHICH ALSO LEADS US TO THE FLAWED ON AFFORDABILITY.
I BELIEVE THE NUMBERS THEY ORIGINALLY, UH, PORTRAYING THAT THEY COULD
[01:25:01]
BUILD FOR, UH, WERE VASTLY UNDERSTATED AND WE'RE SEEING IT QUITE A BIT HIGHER.UH, WE HAVE THAT ONE CHALLENGED FOR, UH, TO ADDRESS CONGESTION BECAUSE I THINK THERE'S A CHALLENGE IN CITING THAT HERE LOCALLY WITH LOCAL, LOCAL NUCLEAR.
UM, SO THAT'S KIND OF THE, THE LOGIC OR REASONING BEHIND THESE.
I WON'T GO INTO ALL OF THESE, YOU KNOW, GEO GEOTHERMAL, WE DO SEE READINESS.
IT IS CURRENTLY THERE, BUT IT IS NOT AT SCALE IN TEXAS YET.
SO THAT'S A LITTLE BIT MORE CHALLENGE.
WE, WE REALLY ONLY SEE ABOUT MAYBE ONE GEOTHERMAL SITE I CAN THINK OF DOWN IN SOUTH TEXAS.
IT'S MORE OF A DEMONSTRATION SITE.
WHEN WE LOOK AT THINGS SUCH AS ADVANCED NUCLEAR AND GEOTHERMAL.
ON THE DISPATCHABLE SIDE, YOU CAN SEE THAT IS ALSO CHALLENGED.
THEY ARE DISPATCHABLE ASSETS, BUT THEY'RE, THEY'RE BASE LOAD ASSETS.
SO THEY DON'T REALLY MOVE UP AND DOWN TO RESPOND TO PRICE.
THEY JUST KIND OF OUTPUT POWERS AS AVAILABLE.
SO THEY ARE AVAILABLE 24 BY SEVEN, BUT JUST NOT DISPATCHABLE IN THE SAME WAY THAT YOU WOULD SEE MAYBE A LOCAL DISTRIBUTED DISTRIBUTION, UH, BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM, WHICH IS HIGHLY DISPATCHABLE.
HOWEVER, YOU SEE, IT'S MORE CHALLENGED ON THAT AVAILABLE 24 BY SEVEN, UH, BECAUSE IT IS IS NOT AVAILABLE 24 BY SEVEN.
EVERY TIME YOU DEPLOY IT, YOU HAVE TO RECHARGE IT.
AND THAT'S GONNA BE DEPENDENT ON MARKET OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SO.
UM, SO AS WE GO THROUGH ALL OF THESE, YOU CAN SEE THAT, UH, WE HAVE, I KNOW YOU DON'T WANT US TO INTERRUPT, BUT CAN I JUST ASK A CLARIFYING QUESTION ON YOUR COLUMNS? SURE.
SO WHEN YOU SAID ADDRESS CONGESTION, YOU JUST MEAN LOCAL CONGESTION.
YOU'RE NOT SAYING GEOTHERMAL AND TRANSMISSION SCALE.
BESS CAN'T LOCATE SOMEWHERE WHERE THERE'S NOT CONGESTION.
YOU'RE JUST SAYING IT DOESN'T ADDRESS OUR LOCAL, WE'RE ADDRESSING THE LOCAL CONGESTION.
'CAUSE WHEN WE HAVE THE LOCAL PRICE ZONE SEPARATION, IT GIVES US CONGESTION TO ALL OF OUR ASSETS.
AND SO YEAH, IT'S A LITTLE BIT BIGGER TO ADDRESS THE LOCAL CONGESTION THAT WILL REDUCE OUR CONGESTION COSTS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SYSTEM.
UM, BUT YOU WILL SEE THAT THERE, UH, OUT OF ALL OF THESE, WE, WE ONLY HAD ONE THAT, THAT MET IN ALL OF THE CRITERIA, AND THAT WOULD BE HYDROGEN CAPABLE GENERATION.
SO THAT IS KIND OF OUR, OUR KEY TAKEAWAYS.
THERE IS ONLY ONE TECHNOLOGY SATISFIED ALL THE CRITERIA, HYDROGEN CAPABLE GENERATION, UH, NO ONE TECHNOLOGY CAN BE LOOKED AT TO SOLVE ALL OF OUR RESOURCE NEEDS.
UM, AND THEN ALL OF THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT MET THE READINESS CRITERIA IN GREEN.
SO IF I JUST FLIP BACK REALLY QUICKLY, YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING OVER THERE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CARBON SEQUESTRATION, ADVANCED NUCLEAR AND GEOTHERMAL.
ALL OF THOSE TECHNOLOGIES WERE EVALUATED IN OUR RESOURCE PLANNING RUNS.
WITH THAT, I'M GONNA HAND IT OVER TO BABU TO ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT ALL THE PRODUCTIVE WELL, LET'S TALK AND PAUSE.
SO ON THE HYDROGEN CAPABLE GENERATION MM-HMM.
AND SO YOU'D HAVE TO REBUILD OR YOU, UM, I WOULD SAY OUR EXISTING GAS GENERATORS CAN, UH, ACCEPT UP TO 50% HYDROGEN BLENDED IN 5 0, 5 0, UM, NEW HYDROGEN CAPABLE, UM, ASSETS THAT WE WERE LOOKING AT COME READY TO, TO DO 75% HYDROGEN CAPABLE WITH A SLIGHT MODIFICATION TO CONTROL THE NOX.
I KNOW THAT WAS TALKED ABOUT EARLIER.
IT'S CALLED A FLAME SHEET, I BELIEVE.
AND THAT THEY HAVE DEVELOPED, IT ACTUALLY HELPS CONTROL THE SHAPE OF THE FLAME AS WELL AS THE, THE LENGTH OF THE FLAME IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE NOX AS WELL TO GET THEM BACK DOWN CLOSER TO NATURAL GAS NOS OR OR BELOW NATURAL GAS NOS.
SO WE DO ANTICIPATE, AND A FEW OF THE MANUFACTURERS HAVE TOLD US BY 2027 OR 2028, THAT THESE, UM, GENERATORS WILL BE ABLE, CAPABLE TO BURN A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN.
I THINK REALLY THAT 75% HURDLE TO GET TO A HUNDRED PERCENT HAS TO DO WITH HOW HOT A HYDROGEN OR HYDROGEN BURNS RELATIVE TO NATURAL GAS.
AND THAT'S WHERE THAT FLAME SHEET COMES INTO PLAY WITH CONTROL SYSTEMS IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THAT.
AND, AND WHERE DO YOU PLAN ON GETTING THE HYDROGEN FROM? SO THAT IS THE NEXT GREAT QUESTION, RIGHT? HYDROGEN IS, UM, IS SOMETHING THAT HAS NOT DEVELOPED YET AS AN INDUSTRY HERE.
THERE'S A LOT OF MONEY BEHIND IT.
SO, UM, AS YOU GUYS ARE WELL AWARE, THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT HAS ALLOCATED QUITE A BIT OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR HYDROGEN DEVELOPMENT IN THIS COUNTRY.
MUCH LIKE PRODUCTION TAX CREDITS DID FOR WIND IN TEXAS BACK IN THE EARLY OR LATE NINETIES, EARLY TWO THOUSANDS.
AND SO WE HAVE SEEN $7 BILLION COMMITTED TO HYDROGEN HUBS.
ONE OF THOSE HAS BEEN AWARDED RIGHT HERE IN, IN THE GULF OF, OF, OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.
UH, WE ARE SEEING, UM, $3 PER KILOGRAM SUBSIDIES FOR GREEN HYDROGEN IF IT'S MADE WITH GREEN HYDROGEN, WHICH IS ABLE TO REALLY PUSH DOWN THE PRICE OF HYDROGEN.
UH, AND WE SEE THAT JOE BIDEN HAS A GOAL IN THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT FOR THE UNITED STATES BE PRODUCING 10 MILLION, UH, METRIC TONS OF HYDROGEN BY 2030.
SO WE ARE SEEING QUITE A BIT OF INVESTMENT OUT THERE TODAY, UM, BY A LOT OF LARGE FUNDS AS WELL AS BY THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP SUPPORT THE, THE BUILD OUT AND GROWTH OF HYDROGEN.
BUT TO YOUR POINT TODAY, THAT IS NOT SOMETHING THAT IS READILY AVAILABLE.
SO WE'LL BE LOOKING AT CONTRACTING WITH ELECTROLYZERS AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE TO HELP BUILD OUT THAT INFRASTRUCTURE.
[01:30:01]
WHAT ABOUT THE PIPELINES? ARE THERE EXISTING PIPELINES INTO THE SERVICE AREA THAT CAN CARRY HYDROGEN? SO RIGHT NOW, AN EXISTING NATURAL GAS PIPELINE, YOU COULD BLEND IN SOME, I BELIEVE UP TO 5%, BUT YOU WOULD, IN ALL REALITY, WOULD BE LOOKING TO BUILD NEW PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE.AND I THINK THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE IN TEXAS IS, IS WORKING ON THAT RIGHT NOW.
SO MUCH LIKE YOU HAVE NATURAL GAS PIPELINES BUILT THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF TEXAS, THERE'S THE THOUGHT THAT THEY WILL BE UTILIZING SOME OF THOSE SAME RIGHT-OF-WAYS TO BE BUILDING HYDROGEN PIPELINES AS WELL, RATHER THAN RETROFITTING EXEC EXISTING PIPELINES.
BUT THE CLOSER YOU BUILD AN ELECTROLYZER TO THE POWER PLANT, THE SHORTER THAT PIPELINE WOULD HAVE TO BE, WHICH COULD REDUCE COST AS WELL AS ALLEVIATE SOME CONCERNS ON PIPELINE INTEGRITY.
WOULDN'T THE ELECTROLYZER INHERENTLY NEED TO BE OUTSIDE OF THE SERVICE AREA TO ADDRESS YOUR LOAD ZONE COST ISSUES? THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO DIFFERENT WAYS.
I MEAN, WE'RE GETTING A LITTLE BIT MORE INTO IMPLEMENTATION, UH, BUT THERE ARE A COUPLE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT YOU COULD LOOK AT DOING ELECTROLYZER.
YOU COULD BE OUTSIDE OF YOUR SERVICE TERRITORY TO WHERE THAT YOU ARE NOT INCREASING ADDITIONAL LOAD, WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE IMPORT CAPACITY.
I WOULD SAY THAT SOME OF THE ELECTROLYZERS WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT ARE DEVELOPERS WE HAVE TALKED TO.
WE'D ACTUALLY LOOK AT A CAPACITY FACTOR, NOT OF A HUNDRED PERCENT, BUT MORE LIKE 60 TO 70%.
AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE REAL TIME PRICING WITHIN ERCOT, YOU'LL, YOU'LL GO BACK AND LOOK AT IT, YOU'LL SEE THAT ABOUT 70% OF THE TIME WE SIT $130.
UM, AND SO WHEN WE START TALKING ABOUT THESE BIG PRICES AND BIG COSTS TO OUR LOAD, IT TENDS TO BE WHEN THE LOAD IS VERY, VERY HIGH.
SO IF YOU'RE ABLE TO USE SOMETHING LIKE LARGE FLEXIBLE LOAD TO TURN THAT LOAD BACK DOWN, MUCH LIKE YOU'RE SEEING WITH DATA CENTERS OUT IN WEST TEXAS, THAT CAN HAVE A BENEFIT FOR US.
I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS, BUT I CAN, I CAN TELL YOU HAVE ONE ON THIS.
UH, I HAVE A, I HAVE A COUPLE, UH, ALL OF WHICH IS, UH, DO YOU, HAVE YOU PRICED, HAVE YOU PRICED EACH OF THESE OPTIONS OUT OR THAT'LL BE DONE IN THE FUTURE? WE, WE ARE, WE HAVE, YEAH.
SO WE ARE ACTIVELY TALKING TO DEVELOPERS IN ALL OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES ON A REGULAR BASIS.
UH, RECENTLY WE HAVE BEEN WORKING, WE'RE TALKING TO TWO DIFFERENT DEVELOPERS.
WE HAVE LOOKED AT PRICING AND DIFFERENT STRUCTURES OF HOW THAT WOULD WORK.
UM, AND WE ARE SEEING THAT WITH THE TAX CREDITS AND WITH CERTAIN ASSUMPTIONS ON THE FEED COST OF POWER TO GET INTO THE ELECTROLYZER THAT WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE HYDROGEN, GREEN, HYDROGEN NEAR PARODY WITH NATURAL GAS, GIVEN THE FORWARD NATURAL GAS CURVE AND EXPECTATIONS FOR INCREASED LNG EXPORTS THAT ARE OCCURRING DUE TO THE UKRAINE, RUSSIAN CONFLICT AND, AND, UH, ALL OF WHICH IS THESE HYDROGEN CAPABLE, UH, THEY'RE GET, THEY'LL BE, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT BUILDING A NEW GAS PLANT THAT'S HYDROGEN CAPABLE, PRESUMABLY DECKER, UH, WOULD BE THE LOCATION OR SOMEWHERE.
SO I DON'T KNOW IF OUR LOCATION HAS BEEN DECIDED YET.
WE, WE WILL LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS WITHIN OUR SERVICE TO THAT ARE, THAT ARE FEASIBLE.
YOU KNOW, COST OF LAND IS EXPENSIVE.
WE'LL ALSO BE LOOKING AT BALANCE OF PLANTS.
SO THINGS LIKE TRANSMISSION AND EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE WILL BE IMPORTANT.
YOU DON'T WANNA RECREATE THAT NECESSARILY IF YOU, IF YOU HAVE AREAS WHERE YOU CAN LEVERAGE THAT TODAY.
UH, BUT I DON'T BELIEVE THERE'S ANY SITE DETERMINED RIGHT NOW.
WE'RE, WE'RE MORE TALKING ABOUT THROUGH OUR MODEL MODELING, WHAT DO WE NEED TO ADD INTO OUR RESOURCE PLAN? AND THEN AS WE APPROVE THESE RESOURCE PLAN, WE'LL WORK ON THE IMPLEMENTATION SIDE OF THAT.
AND, AND PRESUMABLY THE, UH, CONVERT THE CONVERSION WOULD, WOULD FIRST TAKE PLACE AT SANDHILL PRIOR TO, UH, CRE BUILDING A NEW GAS BUILDING, A NEW GAS HYDROGEN CAPABLE PLANT.
SO WE, WE WOULD LIKE TO WORK TOWARDS, UH, BLENDING HYDROGEN, GREEN HYDROGEN INTO SANDHILL.
UH, BUT WE ALSO WOULD LIKE TO GET STARTED ON THIS DISPATCHABLE GENERATION AS WELL AS WE HAVE SEEN OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS WITH EXTREME LOAD ZONE PRICE SEPARATION, UH, LARGE FINANCIAL IMPACTS ON OUR CUSTOMERS.
AND WE'RE NOW STARTING TO SEE, UM, RELIABILITY CONCERNS ON OUR TRANSMISSION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN THIS AREA AS WELL.
UH, AND, AND THESE, THESE ARE QUESTIONS THAT CAME UP IN THE WORK GROUP, BUT I DON'T WANT TO PUT THE, PUT THIS ALL AT THE TAIL END, UH, AT LARGE SCALE, UH, WHAT PLANTS ARE RUNNING THAT ARE, THAT ARE USING THIS TECHNOLOGY NOW, WHAT PLANTS ARE RUNNING THAT ARE ABLE TO BURN ACROSS THE TODAY, ACROSS THE COUNTRY? HOW WIDESPREAD IS THIS? WELL, THE TECH, THE TECHNOLOGY CAN TO COMBUST THE FUEL TO MAKE ELECTRICITY IS, IS PRETTY WELL DEVELOPED.
IT'S JUST THE FUEL SOURCE OF WHAT YOU'RE COMBUSTING.
UM, I THINK THEY HAVE BLENDED HYDROGEN IN CERTAIN AREAS.
I, I'M NOT AWARE OF A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN BURNING, UM, PLANT TODAY, BUT I THINK THAT'S LARGELY DUE TO SUPPLY, NOT DUE TO TECHNOLOGY.
AND, UH, UH, THE, UH, HYDROGEN LEAKAGE, UH, WAS MENTION WAS MENTIONED.
IS THAT IN, WAS, IS THAT A, A CONCERN? AND IF SO, HOW WAS IT ADDRESSED? I, I THINK METHANE LEAK LEAKAGE OR HYDROGEN LEAKAGE OR LEAKAGE OF ANY KIND OF CONCERN.
AND IT, AND IT COMES TO MAKING SURE THAT,
[01:35:01]
UH, WHEN YOU ARE BUILDING AND DOING THESE THINGS, YOU'RE DOING UP THE RIGHT STANDARD AND YOU'RE USING THE RIGHT INTEGRITY AND YOU'RE TRYING TO ENSURE THAT YOU'RE, YOU'RE DOING IT RIGHT, NOT CUTTING CORNERS TO ENSURE THAT YOU'RE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THAT AS BEST AS POSSIBLE.I MEAN, THEY'RE, THEY'RE UTILIZING HYDROGEN, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN HAWAII TODAY OF UP TO A 20% BLEND.
UH, AND WE'RE STARTING TO SEE IT IN CALIFORNIA AS WELL.
AND SO HYDROGEN IS BEING IMPLEMENTED INTO THESE NATURAL GAS PIPELINE SYSTEMS TODAY.
UM, AND I'M, I'M NOT AWARE NECESSARILY OF, OF HUGE ISSUES WITH THE LEAKAGE LEAKAGE TODAY, BUT IT'S CERTAINLY SOMETHING WE'D WANNA MONITOR AND TRACK AND ENSURE THAT WE ARE, WE'RE NOT ALLOWING TO HAPPEN.
THOSE, THOSE ARE MY QUESTIONS.
COULD I FOLLOW UP JUST ON THAT? UM, ARE, DID Y'ALL ASSUME A LEAKAGE RATE IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, CLIMATE IMPACT ON THE HYDROGEN? OUR ANALYSIS WAS MORE ON THE CAPABILITY AND RUNNING THROUGH THE MODELS.
UH, WE HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO A POINT WHERE WE ARE MAKING ASSUMPTIONS AROUND LEAKAGE RATES AT THIS POINT.
WELL, I GUESS I JUST SAW THAT THEY WERE ALL ASSUMED TO MEET A CARBON FREE GOAL.
AND SO I'M JUST WONDERING HOW YOU'RE ADDRESSING THAT ISSUE.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT CARBON FREE PER STACK EMISSIONS.
WE CAN CERTAINLY LOOK AT TECHNOLOGIES TO MONITOR ANY TYPE OF LEAKAGE IN AND AROUND OUR POWER PLANTS, DEPENDING ON HOW THE HYDROGEN SUPPLY BUILDS OUT, MUCH LIKE THE NATURAL GAS SUPPLY, THERE COULD BE THINGS OUTSIDE OF OUR CONTROL.
YEAH, THAT IS MY CONCERN IS, I MEAN, IT IS A HUGE FACTOR WITH NATURAL GAS, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE OF THE GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL OF NATURAL GAS COMPARED TO THE STACK EMISSIONS, WHICH ARE KIND OF JUST AS THE CARBON THAT'S COM YOU KNOW, THE, A RESULT OF COMBUSTION IN THE SAME AS TRUE OF HYDROGEN.
IT'S, YOU KNOW, MUCH HAS MUCH HIGHER GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL.
SO EVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF LEAKAGE CAN REALLY, WE CAN CERTAINLY TAKE THAT IN ACCOUNT IN THE CONTRACTING PROCESS TO ENSURE THAT THERE IS SOME KIND OF, UH, LEGAL TERM OR SOMETHING TO PROTECT AGAINST LEAKAGE TO ENSURE IT'S DESIGNED CORRECTLY.
UM, WELL, I MEAN, I THINK IT'S MORE ABOUT WHAT DO YOU ASSUME FOR THE SYSTEM WIDE? 'CAUSE IT'S NOT JUST A MATTER OF YOUR PLANT, RIGHT? IT'S THE WHOLE SYSTEM.
I CAN TELL YOU AT THIS POINT, WE HAVE NOT EVALUATED SYSTEM-WIDE HYDROGEN LEAKAGE THROUGH THE PIPELINE SYSTEM THAT HAS YET TO BE DEVELOPED.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
BUT, UM, LOOKING AT LAZARD, UH, LEVELIZED CAUS OF HYDROGEN, THEY TALK ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF ELECTROLYZERS, PEM AND ALKALINE.
I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, BUT ARE YOU MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHICH TECHNOLOGY WOULD BE USED IN YOUR ELECTROLYSIS? THAT THAT'S MORE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION SIDE AT THIS POINT? SO, SO NO, WE ARE, WE ARE WORKING WITH DIFFERENT DEVELOPERS THAT MAY USE DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES.
WE'RE A LITTLE BIT MORE FOCUSED ON WHAT IS THE, THE END PRICE GONNA LOOK LIKE FOR THE INPUT TO THE PLANT TO MAKE SURE WE CAN MAINTAIN THAT AFFORDABILITY AS WELL.
SO THE ANSWER WOULD BE YOU'RE LOOKING AT DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES THAT THAT IS CORRECT.
WE'RE NOT TO THAT IMPLEMENTATION STAGE YET.
WE'RE, WE'RE MORE AT, THESE ARE THE ATTRIBUTES WE NEED WITHIN OUR SUPPLY PORTFOLIO IN ORDER TO MEET THESE OBJECTIVES AND MITIGATE THE RISK TO OUR CUSTOMERS.
BUT YOU ARE, YOU ARE MAKING AN ASSUMPTION THAT THE IDEA IS TO GET TO 75% GREEN HYDROGEN AS PART OF THE BLEND IS THAT WE'D LIKE TO BE A HUNDRED PERCENT GREEN HYDROGEN.
AND I, I, I, I ASSUME, BUT I DON'T SHOULDN'T, UH, THE, THIS, UH, HYDROGEN CAPABLE GAS PLANT, UH, WOULD BE OWNED AND OPERATED BY AUSTIN ENERGY.
IT WOULDN'T BE ANY TYPE OF CONTRACT ARRANGEMENT.
THAT DOES SPEAK A LITTLE BIT MORE TO IMPLEMENTATION.
UH, MY PERSONAL DESIRE IS YES, THAT WE WOULD OWN AND OPERATE IT.
AND I GUESS JUST ONE MORE POINT TO POINT OUT, WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT NOX, UH, IN THE AUSTIN AREA, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE BEEN RUNNING VERY, OUR OLDER GTS HERE THAT HAVE A HIGHER HEAT RATE AND HIGHER NOX RATES.
THESE NEW GENERATORS WOULD HAVE EFFICIENCY THAT IS HALF OF THAT, UM, DECKER GTT, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO YOU'D BE ABLE TO PRODUCE THAT SAME MEGAWATT BY CONSUMING HALF THE, UH, THE FUEL.
SO THAT WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER NOS AS WELL.
UM, DOES YOUR MODEL ASSUME ONLY USING GREEN HYDROGEN ONLY USING ELECTROLYSIS? SO FOR THE IZED, SO THE, THE MODEL LOOKS AT THE GREEN HYDROGEN AS THE COST INPUT.
AND IN ORDER FOR US TO DRIVE THE COST DOWN NEAR PARITY TO NATURAL GAS TO UNDERSTAND, WE WOULD WANNA USE GREEN HYDROGEN.
GREEN HYDROGEN WOULD ALSO HELP US OR WOULD HELP SUPPORT THE CARBON FREE ASPECT OF THAT, THAT WE'RE NOT USING CARBON GENERATION TO CREATE THE HYDROGEN TO THEN RUN THROUGH A FACILITY.
WE'D LIKE TO USE THE RENEWABLE ENERGY TO CREATE THE HYDROGEN TO THEN RUN THROUGH THE FACILITY IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THAT CARBON-FREE OBJECTIVE.
BUT THE MODEL, THE, THE MODEL DOES NOT, DOESN'T CARE IF IT'S GREEN, PINK, GRAY, IT COLD
[01:40:01]
DERIVED VERSUS METHANE.IT LOOKS THE POWER PLANT AND SAYS, WHAT ARE THESE POWER PLANTS ATTRIBUTES, AND WHAT IS THE COST TO GENERATE POWER? AND THEN IT LOOKS AT HOW THAT WOULD DISPATCH THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE ERCOT SYSTEM TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALL THE TRANSMISSION LINES AND ALL THE OTHER POWER PLANTS IN THEIR OFFER CURVES.
BEFORE WE GET TOO FAR INTO THE MODELING DISCUSSIONS, WE WANNA TURN THE, UH, POWERPOINT OVER TO BABU.
I DO WANNA SHARE THAT IN THE BACKUP SLIDES HERE.
YOU WILL SEE A SUMMARY SLIDE FOR EACH ONE OF THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT MIKE JUST WENT OVER.
AND ALSO, I BELIEVE WE HAVE ALSO EMAILED YOU A ONE PAGER OR A A HAVE WE, HAVE WE EMAILED THEM THE DECK? NO, NOT YET.
NOT THE DECK, BUT THE, UM, DETAILS FORMATTED, NOPE, THAT'S BEEN FORMATTED.
SO WE'LL JUST GET, ROBIN CAN WORK WITH KURT TO GET THAT INFORMATION.
WE HAVE, UH, DETAILS BEHIND THE AS ASSESS THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS ASSESSMENT FOR EACH ONE OF THOSE, UM, UH, TECHNOLOGIES.
UH, UH, GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS.
I'M THE MANAGER FOR MARKET ANALYSIS AND RESOURCE PLANNING.
UH, I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE PRODUCTION COST MODELING RESULTS.
UH, JUST TO RECAP ABOUT, UM, THE APPROACH THAT WE HAVE TAKEN, THE, UH, SO WE ALREADY DISCUSSED IN THE LAST MEETING AND WHAT THE APPROACH WE ARE TAKING.
SCENARIOS MEAN THE FUTURE STATE OR THE ENVIRONMENT THAT AUSTIN ENERGY HAS TO NAVIGATE THROUGH.
AND WE'LL LOOK AT THE TECHNOLOGIES AND THE TECHNOLOGIES BOTH ON THE SUPPLY SIDE AND THE DEMAND SIDE, WHAT TECHNOLOGIES WE NEED TO CONSIDER.
AND MICHAEL ALREADY TALKED ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY, THE DNS MAP, UM, AND ALSO WE'LL LOOK AT THE SENSITIVITIES OR, UH, CHANGING THE VARIABLES OR STRESSING THE VARIABLE.
HOW TO, HOW DOES A PORTFOLIO WILL, UH, PERFORM UNDER DIFFERENT, UM, STRESS VARIABLES.
UH, OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO FIND OUT THE LEAST COST CARBON, PRE DISPATCHABLE, RELIABLE, OPTIMAL PART THAT CAN HELP US AUSTIN ENERGY, MITIGATE THE RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES THAT WE MIGHT HAVE IN THE FUTURE.
SO THESE ARE THE THREE FUTURE SCENARIO, UH, SCENARIOS THAT WE HAVE MODELED.
UM, SOME OF THEM ARE BASED ON THE HISTORICAL, UH, THAT WE HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED.
UM, WE HAD A, UH, EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS LIKE URI, AND WE ALSO HAD A HOT SUMMER.
WE TRY TO MODEL, LIKE IF YOU HAD A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE AN EXTREME WEATHER EVENT, OR YOU HAVE A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE A HOT SUMMER, OR YOU HAVE A SITUATION LIKE, UH, UM, WHERE YOUR RUN, UH, PRODUCTION OF WIND AND SOLAR IS, UH, VERY LOW, HOW DOES YOUR PORTFOLIO BEHAVE UNDER THOSE TYPE OF SITU UH, CONDITIONS? AND SIMILARLY, UM, LOCAL CONGESTION, AS MICHAEL ALREADY TALKED ABOUT IT, WE HAD A CHANGE IN OUR PORTFOLIO MI MIX.
AND AFTER OUR RE UH, RETIREMENT, OUR DECKER STEAM UNITS, WE HAD A SIGNIFICANT LOAD GROWTH.
WE HAVE, UH, 2023, WE HAVE WITNESSED A SIGNIFICANT PRICE SEPARATION BETWEEN OUR, UH, LOADS ZONE AN AND THE REST OF THE MARKET.
UH, WHAT THAT MEAN IS THAT WHEN YOU HAVE A HIGHER PRICE IN, UH, IN LOAD ZONE, AEN, OUR CUSTOMERS ARE PAYING HIGHER COST THAN THE REST OF THE MARKET.
UH, SO THAT IS A LOCAL CONGESTION.
UM, WE TRY TO MODEL THAT, UH, THAT SCENARIO.
AND, UH, WITH THE U EVEN THERE IS A LOT OF DISCUSSION, UH, HAPPENING AT THE, UH, PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS.
AND THERE ARE ALSO A LOT OF UPCOMING, UH, MARKET RULES THAT HAS BEEN WIDELY DISCUSSED.
AND, UH, THE FOCUS HAS BEEN SHIFTED FROM, UH, UH, UH, TOWARDS RELIABILITY.
AND THERE'S MORE EMPHASIS ABOUT THE RIGHT TYPE OF GENERATION THAT IS NEEDED TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, UM, AND THE, UH, AND THE GRID.
SO WE ALSO TRY TO LOOK AT IT, UH, IF YOU HAVE A MARKET RULE CHANGES BASED UPON MAYBE APCM OR MAYBE A COST BASED ON A COST CAUSATION PRINCIPLES, OR MAYBE SOME KIND OF, SOME SORT OF A LOADS LOAD SERVING OBLIGATIONS, WHAT WOULD YOU, HOW DO, HOW WOULD YOUR PORTFOLIO BEHAVE? AND JUST ON THAT, SO THE REGULATORY CHANGES, SO THAT'S A, THAT'S SORT OF A, A SCENARIO DR.
IN OTHER WORDS, THAT'S LIKE A, BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN, RIGHT? WE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN WITH PCM OR LOAD SERVING OBLIGATION.
ALL OF THAT IS KIND OF DEPENDS ON WHAT FIVE COMMISSIONERS DECIDE ESSENTIALLY.
AND, AND THAT IS, SO THAT IS, SO IT'S MORE LIKE A, A RISK TOLERANCE OR HOW DO YOU IT'S A RISK.
IF YOU HAVE, UH, A PARTICULAR TYPE OF MARKET DESIGN, WHAT IS YOUR RISK MIGHT LOOK LIKE? OKAY.
UH, SO, UH, AGAIN, FROM A TECHNOLOGY SIDE, WE LOOKED AT ALL THE TECHNOLOGIES, UH, THAT MICHAEL ALREADY MENTIONED, THAT, UH, THAT PASSED, UH, OR CHECKED THE CRI READINESS CRITERIA, UH, UH, TO, WE LOOKED AT LOCAL SOLAR, UM, AND WE LOOKED AT DISTRIBUTED STORAGE
[01:45:01]
AND DISTRIBUTED STORAGE MEANS WITHIN THE, WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA, KIND OF DISTRIBUTED ACROSS THE, UH, DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS TO CAPTURE THE FOUR CP BENEFITS AND SOME PRICE RESPONSIVE.UH, WE LOOKED AT CARBON, UH, CARBON FREE GENERATION, UH, AMONG THE CARBON FREE GENERATION.
WE LOOKED AT SMRS, SMALL MODULAR REACTORS.
UH, WE LOOKED AT, UH, UM, GEOTHERMAL, AND WE LOOKED AT, UH, HYDROGEN CAPABLE COMBINED CYCLE OUT OF, OUT OF ALL OF THE THREE HYDROGEN CAPABLE COMBINED CYCLE MET THE CRITERIA.
AND THAT'S ONE OF THE, UH, THAT IS THE TECHNOLOGY, OR THAT'S THE TECHNOLOGY WE ARE LOOKING IN.
OTHER PART OF THE, UH, PORTFOLIOS, UH, WE DIDN'T, I MEAN, WE WERE INITIALLY THINKING ABOUT MODELING DIRECT AIR CAPTURE, BUT AGAIN, THAT DIDN'T PASS THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS SCREENING.
SO WE HAVE NOT MODELED THE DIRECT AIR CAPTURE.
UH, WE LOOKED AT THE LONG DURATION STORAGE, AGAIN, LONG DURATION STORAGE.
UH, WE HAVE ASSUMING EIGHT HOUR LITHIUM ION BATTERIES.
AND WE ALSO LOOKED AT LOCAL LONG DURATION STORAGE, CITING THE STORAGE WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA AND SEE HOW THAT MIGHT PERFORM.
AND WE ALSO LOOKED AT THE DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT WITH CONCEPTS LIKE VIRTUAL POWER PLAN AND DEMAND RESPONSE.
DID YOU, SORRY, DID YOU AT ALL LOOK AT, UM, THE POTENTIAL FOR HYDROGEN FROM FUEL CELLS VERSUS A STEAM TYPE TECHNOLOGY? UH, SO THE SOURCE OF THE FUEL WE HAVE, ASSUMING HYDROGEN IS AVAILABLE, UH, SO AGAIN, UH, WE, THERE ARE SEVERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ELECTROLYZERS AND ALL THOSE THINGS.
AGAIN, IT'S SIMILAR TO A, LIKE A NATURAL GAS PLANT WHERE YOU HAVE A FUEL IS COMING FOR SOMEBODY'S PROVIDING THE FUEL.
SO SIMILARLY, HYDROGEN HAS BEEN, I MEAN, SOMEBODY'S TAKING THE COST OF THE HYDRO ELECTROLYZER AND HE, UM, THEY'RE PROVIDING US HYDROGEN TO US.
I'M JUST ASKING 'CAUSE, UM, AGAIN, I'M NOT AN ENGINEER, BUT, UM, MY UNDERSTANDING IS A FUEL CELL COULD BE RUN IN A WAY THAT DOESN'T CAUSE EMISSIONS, LIKE NOX VERSUS A TRA YOU KNOW, A MORE, YOU KNOW, MORE OF A STEAM ENGINE OR A, A DUAL.
SO FOR, FOR THIS STUDY, WE, WE DID NOT, 'CAUSE WE DIDN'T SEE THOSE AS READY, BUT THAT IS CERTAINLY A TECHNOLOGY WE'RE WATCHING AND, AND LOOKING INTO.
UH, SO HERE THE, UH, PORTFOLIO OPTION THAT WE LOOKED AT IT, THERE IS A LOT OF INFORMATION IN THIS PARTICULAR SLIDE OR IN THE FOLLOWING COUPLE OF SLIDES.
UH, THERE'S A LOT OF ACRONYMS, AND AGAIN, PEOPLE, SINCE WE ARE WORKING WITH IN AIRCO, WE KNOW WHAT THAT, HOW MANY ACRONYMS WE ARE GO USED TO IT.
UH, SO, UH, ALL OF THESE PORTFOLIOS INCLUDE CARBON FREE BY 2035, AND AT THE SAME TIME MEETING OUR RENEWABLE GOALS THAT LAID OUT IN THE, UH, 2030 PLAN.
UH, SO FOR EXAMPLE, THE PORTFOLIO NUMBER ONE IS A CARBON FREE 20, UH, BY 2035.
IT INCLUDES, UH, REACH DISPATCH AND IT ALSO MEETS THE RENEWABLE GOALS.
UM, AND THE, UH, THE SECOND PORTFOLIO IS A SIM, UH, IS A SIMILAR TO THE FIRST PORTFOLIO, BUT WITHOUT THE REACH ADDER.
AGAIN, THIS IS JUST TO BE DONE FOR COMPARISON PURPOSE, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THE MAGNITUDE OF, UH, OF THE COST OF THE REACH TO THE CUSTOMERS.
UM, AND IN THIS TWO PORTFOLIOS, WE HAVE NOT ADDED ANY RESOURCES.
THESE ARE ONLY, INCLUDES RETIREMENTS ONLY AND DOESN'T INCLUDE ANY, UH, RESOURCE ADDITIONS OTHER THAN WHAT IS REQUIRED TO MEET THE CAR CARBON FREE, I MEAN MEET, UH, OTHER THAN WHAT IS REQUIRED TO, UH, UH, GET RE MEET THE RENEWABLE GOALS.
SO, UH, PORTFOLIO THREE AND FOUR, UH, AGAIN, IT LOOKS AT, UH, OKAY, NOW YOU HAVE A, A PORTFOLIO.
NOW IF, SEE IF YOU ADD A, A LOCAL SOLAR TO THAT PORTFOLIO, HOW IS, HOW IS YOUR RISK, UH, UH, HOW IS YOUR RISK IS PERFORMING UNDER THAT PORTFOLIO SCENARIO? SO SIMILARLY, WE ALSO LOOKED AT, UM, PORTFOLIO NUMBER FOUR, WHERE WE ADDED A, A STANDALONE LONG DURATION STORAGE, WHICH IS TRANSMISSION CONNECTED AND PORTFOLIO.
NOW, UH, PORTFOLIO FIVE IS AGAIN, UH, CHANGING THE SUPPLIES, CHANGING THE TECHNOLOGIES, AND LOOKING AT WHAT THE RISK LOOK LOOKS LIKE.
AND, AND THE 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ARE A COMBINATION OF TECHNOLOGIES.
UH, AS WE GO THROUGH THE RESULTS, I WILL BE WALKING THROUGH THOSE IN MORE DETAILS ABOUT WHAT HAS BEEN CONSIDERED IN EACH OF THE PORTFOLIO.
SO YEAH, HERE'S OTHER PORTFOLIO THAT WE LOOKED AT IT, WE LOOKED AT, IN TOTAL, WE LOOKED AT 11 PORTFOLIOS AND WITH, UH, AND, UH, VARIOUS COMBINATION OF TECHNOLOGIES LIKE, UH, THE TECHNOLOGY WE ALREADY DISCUSSED.
UH, SO WE'LL, WE'LL DISCUSS MORE IN MORE DETAIL AS WE DISCUSS THE RESULTS WORKING.
[01:50:01]
EVERY, UM, FOR EVERY MODEL WE HAVE TO, UH, WE NEED SOME, UH, ASSUMPTIONS OR WE NEED TO LOOK AT WHAT THE COST INFORMATION.WHEN YOU ADD, WHEN YOU ADD A, A NEW SUPPLIES OR A NEW, UH, UH, LOAD OPTION OR THE SUPPLY SIDE OPTIONS, YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE COSTS ARE SO THAT YOU CAN, UH, YOU CAN, YOU CAN, UH, UH, YOU CAN LOOK AT WHAT THE COST IMPACT ON THE, ON YOUR PORTFOLIO.
SO THESE ARE THE TECHNOLOGY COSTS FOR THE RESOURCES OR THE, UM, OR THE RESOURCES ON THE SUPPLY SIDE OR ON THE LOAD SIDE THAT WE, UH, LOOKED, UH, LOOKED INTO AS A PART OF OUR PORTFOLIO OPTIONS.
UM, UTILITY SOLAR WAS NOT A PART OF THE PORTFOLIO, UM, OPTIONS, BUT WE, WE HAVE TO ADD, UH, UTILITY SOLAR TO MEET OUR RENEWABLE GOALS, UH, 65% GOAL BY 2027 AND MAINTAIN, THEREFORE, BECAUSE WE HAVE A COUPLE OF PPAS THAT, UH, WITHIN THE PLANNING CYCLE THAT ARE ROLLING OFF, AND WE HAVE TO FILL THOSE, UH, PPAS BY, UM, ADDING, UH, RENEWABLES TO MEET THAT, UH, TO MAINTAIN THAT, UH, GOAL.
AND, UH, IN THIS, UH, ALSO WE ALSO MENTIONED WHEN IT'S THE TECHNOLOGIES, UH, UH, WHEN IT'S FIRST AVAILABLE, AND MOST OF THIS TECHNOLOGIES HAVE BEEN MET, THE
AND, UM, SO WHEN WE MODEL, WE, WE DON'T, WE DON'T ONLY LOOK AT AUSTIN ENERGY, UH, IN, UH, IN ISOLATION.
WE LOOK WITH THE AUSTIN ENERGY WITH, WITHIN THE CONTEST OF AIR AIRPORT MARKET.
UH, SO WE ARE A PART OF AIRCO, SO WE LOOK AUSTIN ENERGY AS A PART OF THE AIRCO.
SO WE, WE HAVE TO MODEL AIRCO AS A WHOLE.
UH, SO WE NEED, UM, THE, UH, DRIVERS OF THE INFORMATION THAT, UH, THAT FOR THE MODEL TO RUN.
SO WE HAVE TO, UM, WE HAVE TO LOOK AT WHAT THE GAS PRICES MIGHT LOOK LIKE FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS.
WHAT ARE THE NUCLEAR PRICES? WHAT ARE THE COAL PRICES? SO WE, UH, THESE ARE THE INPUTS THAT WE HAVE USED IN OUR MODEL, UH, FOR MAKING THE MODEL RUNS.
AND IN ALL OF THIS, UH, IN ALL OF THIS, UH, PORTFOLIOS, WE HAVE ASSUMED, UH, PP IS RETIRING, UM, UH, BY 2030.
UH, AGAIN, THAT'S AN ASSUMPTION.
AG, UH, AS MICHAEL ALREADY MENTIONED, AND LISA ALREADY MENTIONED ABOUT IT, UH, FOR MODELING, WE HAVE TO MAKE AN ASSUMPTION.
WE MADE AN ASSUMPTION THAT WE'LL BE RETIRING BY 2030.
UH, THE KEY ASSUMPTION, ALL OF, I'M, I'M SORRY, CAN I ASK, UM, ONE QUESTION ABOUT THE ASSUMPTION ON THE HYDROGEN, UH, CAPITAL COSTS OF A THOUSAND TO 1100, IS THAT BASICALLY THE SAME ASSUMPTION AS FOR A COMBINED CYCLE GAS PLANT, OR IS IT, OR DID YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF MORE GRANULAR INFORMATION TO SAY A GREEN HYDROGEN COMBINED CYCLE PLANT WOULD COST IN THIS RANGE, OR IS IT REALLY BASED JUST ON A NATURAL GAS NO COMBINED CYCLE? THIS IS, THIS IS MORE ABOUT, UH, BASED ON THE INDICATIVE PRICING THAT WE, UM, THAT, UH, UH, WE RESTART RESEARCHED ON.
SO IT IS NOT BASED ON THE GAS COMBINED GAS COMBINED CYCLE.
IT'S BASED ON A HYDROGEN CAPABLE COMBINED CYCLE.
I'LL JUST MAKE THE COMMENT THAT IN THE LAZARD COST OF HYDROGEN KEY ASSUMPTIONS, THEY HAVE A MUCH BIGGER RANGE.
YOU'VE CHOSEN SOMETHING SHORT OF MORE TOWARDS THAT LOWER END.
BUT I'M JUST MAKING THAT COMMENT THAT, SO LAZARD IS, AGAIN, IT, IT, IT DEPENDS UPON, IT'S IT IS FOR THE ENTIRE US.
SO THIS ONE IS MORE FOCUSED ON TEXAS.
AND GABBY, IF I COULD JUST JUMP IN AND JUST SUGGEST THAT, UM, I, I WANT US TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A ROBUST DISCUSSION, BUT I THINK THAT, UM, A LOT OF THE QUESTIONS Y'ALL WILL HAVE ABOUT THE MODEL WILL COME ACROSS AS RIGHT, THE RESULTS COME OUT, AND THEN OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS AS WE PROVIDE FEEDBACK AND WE CAN TWEAK DIFFERENT ASSUMPTIONS AND WHATNOT.
SO KEEP TRACK OF THOSE ITEMS SO WE CAN CONTINUE THAT DISCUSSION AND NOT TRY TO SOLVE ALL OF THOSE ITEMS HERE.
I JUST HAD KIND OF A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION THOUGH ABOUT THE ASSUMING NO ADDITIONAL SUPPLY RESOURCES THAT WAS A SURPRISE THAT, LIKE YOU'RE SAYING, THE CURRENT PLAN, AUSTIN ENERGY ONE.
SO LET, LET ME HAD ANY SUPPLY, I HAVE NOT WALKED THROUGH THIS SLIDE.
I, LET ME WALK THROUGH THIS SLIDE.
SO, UM, SO WHAT, WHAT WE ARE TRYING WITH THIS EXERCISE IS THIS IS NOT A FULL-BLOWN RESOURCE PLAN.
THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THE RESOURCE PLAN AND TRYING TO FIND OUT, UH, UH, THE WASTE OF WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS THAT YOU HAVE TO MITIGATE THE RISK THAT HAS BEEN PRESENTING TO US.
SO IN, IN, IN OUR CURRENT PLAN, THE CURRENT PLAN CALLS ABOUT RETIREMENT OF ALL THERMAL GENERATION OR ALL THE FOSSIL GENERATION.
SO WE HAVE A RETIREMENT, ABOUT 1400 MEGAWATTS OF UNITS RETIRED BY 2035.
[01:55:01]
YOU, I MEAN, WHEN YOU RETIRE A A 1400 MEGAWATT OF, UH, UH, RESOURCES WITHIN YOUR PORTFOLIO, YOU HAVE A CAP.YOU, YOU HAVE A NEED, UH, OF RESOURCES THAT HAS TO BE ADDED TO YOUR PORTFOLIO TO, FOR OPTIMALLY UH, MANAGE YOUR PORTFOLIO.
SO FOR THAT REASON, WE LOOKED AT, UM, UM, BASED UPON OUR ANALYSIS, WE, UH, WE THINK A THOUSAND MEGAWATT OF ADDITION RESOURCE EDITION WOULD BE AN OPTIMAL TO MANAGE THE RISK THAT HAS BEEN PRESENTING TO US IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS.
AND WE ALSO SAW A INCREASED LOAD GROWTH WITHIN THE FOOTPRINT, AND WE ALSO HAVE LOCAL CONGESTION ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED AS WELL.
SO IN THE 2030 PLAN, UM, SO WE ARE DOING COMPARISON AGAINST, UH, DIFFERENT PORTFOLIOS.
SO 2030 PLAN AS IT IS, IT, IT CALLS OUT RETIREMENT OF ALL THE FOSSIL GENERATION, UH, BY 2035.
AND, UM, AND MEETING THE RENEWABLE GOALS, UH, AND WHEREVER IT IS DEFICIENT, WE TRY TO SERVE THROUGH THE MARKET.
WE ARE NOT TRYING TO SOLVE FOR THE LOAD.
WE, IF YOU HAVE A, A SHORTAGE OF GENERATION REQUIRED TO MEET YOUR LOAD, IT'LL BE SERVING FROM THE MARKET.
SO THAT'S ONE OF THE REASON WHY WE HAD A, UH, THERE IS NO SUPPLY ADDITIONS IN THE 2030 PLAN.
WHAT ABOUT MEETING THE RENEWABLE ENERGY GOAL? WOULDN'T THAT REQUIRE PROCUREMENT? YES, WE, IT MEETS THE, IT MEETS THE RENEWABLE GOAL, 65% RENEWABLE GOAL BY 2027 AND THEREOF.
SO IT ASSUMES THE PROCUREMENT TO GET TO 65%.
AND THEN YES, IT DOES NOT ASSUME PROCUREMENT AFTERWARDS.
WELL, THE PROCUREMENT IS THAT THOUSAND MEGAWATTS OF THE DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY TO SEE HOW THEY COMPARE BLOCKS.
I'M TALKING ABOUT THE BASELINE SCENARIO, THE BASE CASE.
DOESN'T THAT, YES, THE BASE CASE, UH, TRY TO MAINTAIN THE, WE ARE SOLVING FOR MEETING THE GOALS.
SO THE BASE CASE ASSUMES SUPPLY ADDITIONS UP TO 65% RENEWABLE GOAL AND MAINTAINING THEREAFTER.
I GUESS I'LL JUST COMMENT, IT'S AN INTERESTING INTERPRETATION OF THE CURRENT PLAN.
I, I'M FRANKLY LIKE QUITE SURPRISED THAT THAT AUSTIN ENERGY WOULD INTERPRET THE CURRENT PLAN NOT TO BE ENVISIONING REPLACEMENT OF THAT GENERATION ANYWAY.
BUT COMMISSIONER WHITE, I THINK I UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT, AND I THINK THAT WHAT YOU'LL SEE, RIGHT, IS THAT THE CURRENT 2030 PLAN DOES NOT ALLOW FOR ANY NEW CARBON GENERATING ASSETS.
AND SO I THINK WHAT YOU'LL SEE IS SOME OF THE WAYS THAT YOU COULD ENVISION ADDING MORE ASSETS, RIGHT? WE, WE NEED ONE THAT HAS NO NEW ASSETS FOR A BASE CASE.
UM, BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT SOME OF THE OTHER PORTFOLIOS, UM, WELL, AND WE'LL HAVE TO GO, YOU'LL SEE 'EM WHEN THEY GO THROUGH, BUT THE ONE THAT SHOWS JUST LOCAL SOLAR OR JUST LONG DURATION STORAGE, YOU MIGHT CALL THAT MORE LIKE WHAT THE CURRENT, UH, 20, 30 PLAN SHOWS.
SO I THINK THOSE NUMBERS ARE RUN, UM, AND YOU'LL SEE THOSE RESULTS SHORTLY.
AND SO MAYBE, I GUESS JUST FOR CLARITY OF COMMUNICATION, I THINK LIKE CALLING YOUR BASE CASE, THE CURRENT PLAN ISN'T LIKE, IT'S NOT LIKE THE CURRENT PLAN ENVISIONS REPLACEMENT RESOURCES AS WELL, SO I JUST, I THINK YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A COMMUNICATION GAP THERE.
WE UNDERSTAND AND, AND WE CAN MAKE THOSE ADJUSTMENTS.
YEAH, SO, UM, SO HERE'S, UH, UH, WE TALKED ABOUT THE KEY ASSUMPTIONS AND WE LOOKED AT, UH, DIFFERENT COMMON.
I MEAN, UH, I MEAN, WE ARE LOOKING INTO DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF RESOURCE EDITION AND, UM, AND RETIREMENTS, AGAIN, THE RETIREMENTS ARE SAME ACROSS ALL THE PORTFOLIOS.
UM, SO THIS PARTICULAR, UH, TABLE SHOWS YOU WHAT THE COMBINATION OF ADDITIONS OF THE RESOURCES ACROSS EACH PORTFOLIO.
UH, LIKE FOR EXAMPLE, LET'S SAY, UM, UH, PORTFOLIO NUMBER THREE, UH, THE CURRENT PLAN OR THE BASE CASE WITH A HUNDRED PERCENT LOCAL SOLAR.
I'M TRYING TO SEE, OKAY, IF YOU ADD A HUNDRED PERCENT OF LOCAL SOLAR AND TRY TO, UH, RUN THROUGH YOUR MODEL AND SEE HOW THE, HOW THAT PORTFOLIO MIGHT PERFORM UNDER DIFFERENT RISK ENVIRONMENTS, UH, I'M GOING TO WALK THROUGH THAT RESULTS, UH, I PROMISE I'M NOT INTERRUPTING WITH, BUT JUST, SO IN THAT CASE, WOULD THAT MEAN A THOUSAND MEGAWATTS OF LOCAL SOLAR? OKAY, NOW I UNDERSTAND.
AND, UH, UM, SO SIMILARLY, ALL OF THE, THE COMBINATION OF, UH, UH, TECHNOLOGIES IT'S CONSIDERED IN, UH, IN ALL OF, IN ALL OF THESE PORTFOLIOS, SORRY.
[02:00:01]
SO HERE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES, I'M GOING TO WALK THROUGH THE RESULTS DIDN'T GO THROUGH.SO BEFORE I WALK THROUGH THE RESULTS, I'M GOING TO, UH, UH, KIND OF GIVE YOU THE FRAMEWORK HOW THE RESULTS ARE ORGANIZED.
UH, YOU, YOU HAVE THIS CHART BAR CHART ON THE Y AIS IS THE LEVELIZED COST TO THE CUSTOMERS PER YEAR.
AND ALL OF THESE NUMBERS ARE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
AND THE GRAY, THE GRAY BAR OR THE GRAY BOX IS THE LEVELIZED COST OF THAT PARTICULAR PORTFOLIO UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS, IF YOU HAVE THAT PORTFOLIO, A LEVELIZED COST PER YEAR, UH, FOR THAT PORTFOLIO PER YEAR.
AND IT INCLUDES, UM, UH, IT INCLUDES ALL THE, UH, FUEL COST AND AN INCREMENTAL, SUPPOSE IF YOU HAVE A PORTFOLIO THAT HAS A CAPITAL ADDITIONS, IT INCLUDES, UH, IT INCLUDES INCREMENTAL COST, UH, FIXED COST AS WELL IN THAT PART IN THE GRAY BAR.
AND IF THERE IS A RETIREMENT AND THERE IS A SAVINGS IN O AND M SAVINGS OR ANYTHING OF THAT NATURE, IT'LL TAKE, IT'LL, UH, TAKE OUT THOSE ADDITIONAL COSTS FROM THAT, UH, GRAY BAR.
SO THE GRAY BAR IS AN, UH, IS A, IS A, IS A FUEL COST PLUS NET OF INCREMENTAL CA UH, COST OF CAPITAL ADDITIONS ON RETIREMENT.
UH, FOR JUST COMPARISON PURPOSE, THIS IS, UH, IF YOU COMPARE WITH THE PSA OF POWER SUPPLY, UH, ADJUSTMENT COST, UH, OUR PER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT IS ABOUT A $585 MILLION PER YEAR.
UH, MEANS, UH, LAST YEAR, PSA COST, UH, THE NEXT, THE BLUE UH, BOX, UH, THIS IS THE RE THIS IS THE COST OF RISK IF YOU HAVE AN EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS.
AND IF THIS, THIS QUANTIFIES THE RISK OF AN EXTREME EVENT, WHAT THAT RISK PER YEAR MIGHT LOOK FOR THAT PARTICULAR PORTFOLIO, UH, THIS ORANGE BAR OR THE RED BAR, UM, AGAIN, THE RISK OF, UH, THE RISK OF A LOCAL CONGESTION, UH, ON IF, IF WE HAVE A PORTFOLIO, HOW MUCH OF THE RISK TO YOUR CUSTOMER BY HAVING LOCAL CONGESTION IN THAT PORTFOLIO AND THE THE OR IN LO UH, IS, UH, RISK ABOUT THE MARKET RULE CHANGES? WHAT IS THE ADDITIONAL COST TO THE CUSTOMERS? UH, IF YOU HAVE A, UH, UM, IF YOU HAVE SOME MARKET DESIGN CHANGES THAT REQUIRES, UM, THAT IS BASED ON THE ELCC OR EFFECTIVE LOAD CARRYING CAP, UH, CAPABILITY OF THE PORTFOLIO, WHAT IS THE ADDITIONAL COST AS A, AS A LOAD WE HAVE TO PAY, UH, FOR ENSURING THE RELIABILITY OF THE GRID? UH, SO THE TOTAL, UH, IS THE SUM OF ALL THOSE BARS AND GIVES YOU THE TOTAL FOR THAT PORTFOLIO PER YEAR.
UH, SO THE, UH, THIS IS, UH, UH, FOR PORTFOLIO NUMBER ONE, UH, IN THIS PORTFOLIO.
THIS IS THE BASE CASE OR CURRENT GOAL CASE.
WE HAVEN'T ADDED ANY, I MEAN, IT DOESN'T INCLUDE ANY NEW, UH, NO NEW THERMAL SUPPLY ADDITIONS.
IT INCLUDES, UH, 1400 MEGAWATT OF FOSSIL PARCEL GENERATION BY 2035.
IT MEETS THE RENEWABLE, UH, GENERATION GOAL, UH, AS IN THE 2030 PLAN.
IT INCLUDES THE, UM, REACH DISPATCH.
UH, SO IF YOU GO, UH, IF YOU LOOK AT THE BARS OF THE GRAY BAR, THE UNDER NORMAL CONDITION FOR THIS PORTFOLIO, THE LEVELIZED COST, IT, IT IS ABOUT COMING ABOUT $899 MILLION.
TO PUT IT IN CONTEXT, THIS IS ABOUT A $400 MILLION HIGHER THAN WHAT WE HAVE TODAY.
UH, THAT MEANS APPROXIMATELY TRANSLATING INTO HIGHER COST TO THE CUSTOMERS, ABOUT A 35% COST TO THE CUSTOMERS.
NOW ON THE SAME PORTFOLIO, IF YOU HAVE AN EXTREME WEATHER EVENT, IT IS, UH, $477 MILLION, UH, COST TO THE CUSTOMERS.
AND IF YOU HAVE A, AND THIS PORTFOLIO ASSUMES ALL OF THE RESOURCES ARE RETIRED, SO YOU DO NOT HAVE A SUPPLY WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA.
SO THERE IS A LOCAL CONGESTION.
SO IF YOU HAVE THAT, UH, FOR THAT LOCAL CONGESTION, YOU HAVE AN ADDITIONAL COST OF $294 MILLION.
AND, UM, AND FOR THIS PORTFOLIO, FOR, UH, FOR IF, IF YOU HAVE MARKET DESIGN CHANGES AND, UH, THE EFFECTIVE LOAD CARRYING CAPABILITY OF THE EXISTING PORTFOLIO UNDER THIS PARTICULAR, UH, PORTFOLIO HAVE AN ADDITIONAL RISK ABOUT A 1 7 170 $3 MILLION PER YEAR TOTALLY ADDS UP ABOUT $1.843 BILLION PER YEAR.
AND THIS HAS A HIGH COST TO THE CUSTOMERS.
IT DOESN'T MITIGATE ANY OF THE RISKS THAT, UH, THAT AUSTIN ENERGY WILL BE HAVE TO NAVIGATE IN THE, IN THE PLANNING CYCLE.
[02:05:01]
AND THIS WOULD BE A 2035.SO IN 2035, IF THESE THREE THINGS OCCURRED, THIS WOULD BE THE KIND OF RISKIEST THAT'S THE TOTAL COST THAT MIGHT BE BORNE BY CUSTOMERS.
THIS IS PER YEAR LEVELIZED COST? YES.
SO THIS IS, AGAIN, A PORTFOLIO TWO IS THE SAME AS THE PREVIOUS ONE, BUT JUST AGAIN, FOR A COMPARISON PURPOSES TO SHOW THE IMPACT OF REACH ON THE PORTFOLIO.
AND THIS IS SLIGHTLY, UH, I MEAN, REACH HAVE ADDED A COST OF $7 MILLION PER YEAR, BUT THE REST OF THE, UH, REST OF THE RISK STILL REMAINS THE SAME BECAUSE IT'S THE SAME PORTFOLIO, EXCEPT THE ONLY CHANGES IS THAT WITH AND WITHOUT RISK ADDER, UH, REACH ADDER, SORRY.
UH, THE NEXT PORTFOLIO IS, UM, ADDING LOCAL SOLAR IN THIS.
SO IN THIS PORTFOLIO, UH, WE HAVE ASSUMED WE WILL BE HAVING A HUNDRED PERCENT LOCAL SOLAR ADDING A HUNDRED PERCENT LOCAL SOLAR OF THE CAPACITY THAT WE THINK OPTIMALLY REQUIRED TO REQUIRED FOR OUR PORTFOLIO.
AND OUT OF THAT A HUNDRED PERCENT LOCAL SOLAR, WE ASSUMED 50% OF THAT'S COMING FROM CUSTOMER SIGHTED, AND 50% IS COMING FROM COMMUNITY SOLAR.
UH, FROM A FEASIBILITY STANDPOINT, WE THINK THIS IS TOO MUCH OF SOLAR, IT IS INFEASIBLE, BUT WE WANTED TO DO A THEORETICAL EXERCISE, TRY TO SEE WHAT THAT COST MIGHT LOOK LIKE, AND IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE COST OF THE REAL ESTATE.
IF YOU WANTED TO CITE ALL OF YOUR, UH, SOLAR WITHIN AUSTIN SERVICE AREA, WE ALL KNOW THAT HOW EXPENSIVE IS HERE.
IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE COST OF REAL ESTATE.
UH, SO THIS PORTFOLIO HAS A HIGH LEVELIZED COST OF UNDER NORMAL CONDITION, $933 MILLION.
UH, AND THE, YOU STILL HAVE THE RISK UNDER EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS, YOU HAVE STILL HAVE THE RISK OF ABOUT $417 MILLION SINCE THE PORTFOLIO IS SITE, SINCE YOU HAD A LOCAL SOLAR IN THE, WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA, IT DOES MITIGATE THE LOCAL CONGESTION RISK, ASSUMING, UH, IF THEY'RE PERFORMING, THE SOLAR IS PERFORMING AS PREDICTED AND YOU DON'T HAVE A VOLTAGE ISSUES, UH, IS PROVIDING ENOUGH VOLTAGE SUPPORT THAT IS NEEDED FOR THE, UH, LOCAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM.
AND, AND THIS PORTFOLIO AS FROM AN ELCC STANDPOINT, EFFECTIVE LOAD CARRYING CAPABILITY STANDPOINT, IT STILL HAVE THE MARKET RULE RISK ABOUT $164 MILLION.
AND, UH, FROM A FEASIBILITY POINT OF VIEW, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HOLD, I MEAN, UH, TO OBTAIN, UH, THAT HUGE QUANT AMOUNTS OF SOLAR.
AND ALSO FROM A HOSTING CAPACITY STANDPOINT, I DON'T THINK OUR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IS CAPABLE OF HANDLING THAT LARGE CALL QUANTITIES OF SOLAR.
UH, SO THIS IS, UH, UH, UH, THIS IS A PORTFOLIO WHERE WE REPLY, WHERE WE ADDED LONG DURATION STORAGE, LONG DURATION STORAGE WA UH, WAS ADDED OUTSIDE THE, OUTSIDE THE SERVICE AREA.
UM, AND IT'S A, WE ASSUME LONG DURATION IS AN EIGHT HOUR LITHIUM ION BATTERIES.
UH, THIS PORTFOLIO IS, IS ALSO EXPENSIVE, UH, BUT LESS EXPENSIVE THAN THE CURRENT, UH, BASE CASE.
UH, IT, IT ALL, IT, IT DOESN'T MITIGATE ANY OF THE, UH, RISK THAT WE HAVE.
IT'S BECAUSE THE, IT IS NOT LOCAL CONGESTION RISK.
IT DOESN'T MITIGATE BECAUSE IT'S CITED OUTSIDE THE SERVICE AREA AND YOU STILL HAVE THE, UM, EXTREME WEATHER RISK.
UH, BUT IT DOES PROVIDE FROM AN EFFECTIVE LOAD CARRYING CAPABILITY, FROM THE STUDIES THAT WE HAVE SEEN, IT DID PROVIDE SOME, UH, UH, RISK MITIGATION FOR THE MARKET RULE RISK.
UH, BUT ONE THING, UH, WE KNOW THAT IF YOU HAVE A WEATHER EVENT MORE THAT IS LASTING FOR MORE THAN EIGHT HOURS, YOU MAY, YOU, UH, THIS MIGHT MISS, THIS MIGHT NOT SERVE THE PURPOSE AND IT IT WILL PRESENT MORE ADDITIONAL COSTS.
IF YOU HAVE A PORTFOLIO UNDER THE, UNDER EXTREME EVENTS THAT LAST MORE THAN EIGHT HOURS, AND WHICH WE ALREADY EXPERIENCED, THAT URI EVEN LASTED MORE THAN EIGHT HOURS.
AND, UH, SO THIS IS A PORTFOLIO WHERE, UH, UH, WE ADDED TO THE EXISTING, UH, CARBON FREE BY 2035 AND REPLACED, UH, BY, I MEAN, ADDING COMBINED HYDROGEN CAPABLE COMBINED CYCLE, UH, THE TECHNOLOGY IS
[02:10:01]
THERE A HUNDRED PERCENT IT RECITED LOCALLY.AND THE RIGHT NOW, THE TECHNO, THE AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY CAN BURN 75% HYDROGEN, UH, AS WE SPEAK.
AND WITH THE M MI, UM, SLIDE MODIFICATION, IT CAN BURN A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN, AND IT'S FULLY DISPATCHABLE.
IT IS FLEXIBLE, AND, UM, IT CAN OPERATE IN DIFFERENT MODES OF OPERATION.
UH, THIS IS A THREE IN ONE, UH, COMBINED CYCLE.
IT CAN RUN IN, UH, AS A STEAM, UH, UH, AS A STEAM TURBINE.
MEAN NOT A GAS TURBINE AS A TURBINE.
UM, BUT BURNING HYDROGEN, UH, IT CAN RUN IN, UH, GAS.
I MEAN, IT'S A TURBINE AND A STEAM TURBINE, OR IT CAN RUN TWO, I MEAN, IT CAN RUN IN A MODE LIKE TWO TURBINES AND ONE STEAM TURBINE AND THREE TURBINES AND A ONE STEAM TURBINE.
SO DIFFERENT MODES OF COM, UH, UH, MODES OF OPERATION YOU CAN HAVE WITH THE SAME COMBINED CYCLE.
IF I, IF I COULD ASK IN WITHIN A GIVEN DAY OR A GIVEN MONTH, CAN IT, CAN IT, UH, GO FROM HYDROGEN TO NATURAL GAS AND BACK AND FORTH? AND IF SO, WOULDN'T IT BE AT, AT FROM A BUSINESS STANDPOINT WITHIN AUSTIN ENERGY, BUDGETARY, UH, TO SAY WE'RE GONNA GO WITH GAS WHEN IT'S CHEAP AND WE'RE GONNA GO WITH THE, UH, HYDROGEN, UH, QU WHEN IT, IN OTHER WORDS, ISN'T THERE A BUILT-IN INCENTIVE, AT LEAST FOR A WA, FOR A PERIOD TO ALWAYS FAVOR NATURAL GAS IN THAT SITUATION, WHICH AS YOUR SUPPLY SOURCE? YEAH, THAT I, I THINK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT AN OPERATIONAL DECISION AND, AND WHETHER THERE'S A BUILT IN INCENTIVE, RIGHT? WE KNOW THAT WE CAN BUILD IN AN OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINT JUST LIKE WE BUILD IN THE REACH OUT OR NOW TO KEEP US FROM RUNNING IN A WAY THAT WOULD, YOU KNOW, EMIT ADDITIONAL CARBON INTO THE ATMOSPHERE.
AND SO, UM, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT USING NATURAL GAS AS A BRIDGING FUEL, BUT AT SOME POINT, RIGHT, WE WOULD BE LOOKING AT, UM, RUNNING IT A HUNDRED PERCENT GREEN HYDROGEN, AND, UM, SO IT CAN ALSO PROVIDE ALL SUITS OF, UH, ANCILLARY SERVICE THAT CURRENT MARKET, UH, REQUIRES FROM A THERMAL GENERATION OR, OR A DISPATCHABLE GENERATION.
SO YOU CAN ALSO BENEFIT FROM THAT REVENUE STREAM THAT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE MARKET.
UM, THIS, UH, THE KEY TAKEAWAY OF THIS PORTFOLIO, IT IS, IT RESULTS IN A, A REDUCTION OF THE COST BY ABOUT A BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR IN COMPARISON TO THE CURRENT PLAN.
UH, IT MITIGATES ALL THE, I MEAN, IT MITIGATES THE RISK THAT WE STUDIED.
I MEAN, TO SOME EXTENT THE EXTREME RISK, IT MITIGATES THE LOCAL CONGESTION RISK.
AND IT ALSO, UH, FROM AN EFFECTIVE LOAD CARRYING CAPABILITIES, IT IS, PROVIDES A GOOD, UM, UH, GOOD BALANCE TO THE OB UH, TO THE OBLIGATION FOR THE, AS A LOAD YOU HAVE UNDER THE NEW MARKET RULE CHANGES.
AND AGAIN, YOU'RE ASSUMING THIS WOULD BE LOCATED OPERATIONAL IN 2026, AND IT WOULD BE A THOUSAND MEGAWATTS IN THIS CASE OR, OR NOT.
UH, SO WHEN WE BUILD UP THIS PORTFOLIO, WE HAVE NOT ADDED ALL OF AMONG ONE YEAR IS, IS PHASED OUT, AND, UH, ALONG WITH THE, AS THE RETIREMENTS ARE COMING OFF THIS, THIS CAPACITY ADDITIONS THAT ARE HAPPENING.
SO IT'S AS THOSE RETIRE, YOU ADD THIS YES, BUT IT'S, IS IT APPROXIMATELY A THOUSAND MEGAWATTS OR NO, IN THIS PARTICULAR PORTFOLIO? YES, IN THIS, IN THIS ONE, YEAH.
SO HOW MANY DIFFERENT UNITS WOULD THAT BE? IT'S FIVE, FIVE UNITS, FIVE DIFFERENT UNITS.
WE NEED TO CLARIFY
YEAH, WE JUST, WE DO NEED TO CLARIFY THAT IT'S A MODELING ASSUMPTION THAT WE ARE BUILDING A THOUSAND MEGAWATTS OF WHATEVER TYPE OF GENERATION IS IN ANY ONE OF THESE PORTFOLIOS, BUT THAT IS NOT THE INTENTION WHAT WE WOULD NEED TO BUILD OUT.
AND SO THIS IS REALLY LOOKING AT, UM, IF WE WERE TO RETIRE ALL OF OUR EXISTING LOCAL GENERATION, THEN WE WOULD HAVE TO REPLACE IT WITH OTHER LOCAL GENERATION.
BUT THERE'S ALSO THE CAPABILITY OF CONVERTING EXISTING GENERATION OR PERHAPS FIGURING OUT HOW TO, UM, RESOLVE OUR LOCAL CONGESTION, UM, AND OUR PRICE, UH, OUR LOAD ZONE PRICE SEPARATION ISSUE UPFRONT, AND THEN ADDRESS, UM, THE REST OF THE BUILD OUT AFTER THAT.
SAID ANOTHER WAY YOU ARE PRESENTING MODEL A MODELING EXERCISE TONIGHT, YOU ARE NOT GIVING US A PLAN.
[02:15:01]
THAT IS CORRECT.SO THIS, YEAH, SO FOR THE BENEFIT OF, OH, UH, FOR THE BENEFIT OF TIME, I'M NOT GOING TO GO THROUGH THE, UH, PORTFOLIO SIX TO 11.
UH, IF ANYBODY, UH, CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THOSE, UH, UH, RESULT, I MEAN DETAILED, UM, UH, DETAILED KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THOSE PORTFOLIOS.
AND IF ANYBODY HAS ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE REACH OUT TO US AND WE CAN MORE THAN HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE.
BUT WE CAN LOOK AT PAGE 28 TO GET THIS APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGES THAT'S RIGHT OF THE, OKAY.
MM-HMM,
UM, SO YOU HAVE DIFFERENT, UM, ATTRIBUTES OR, UH, METRICS THAT, UH, WE LOOK AT IT, WE LOOK AT CARBON FREE BY 2035 AS A METRICS, AND WE LOOK AT RENEWABLE GOLD DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT GOAL.
THOSE ARE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY GOALS AS PER THE 2030 PLAN.
AND WE LOOKED, WE LOOKED AT THE AFFORDABILITY AND WE LOOKED AT THE TOTAL COST OR, UH, RISK FOR THE PORTFOLIO PER YEAR.
AND, AND WE LOOKED AT THE LEVELIZED COST, WE LOOKED AT THE RISK EXTREME, UH, COST UNDER THAT EXTREME, UM, EXTREME WEATHER AND LOCAL CONGESTION COSTS.
AND, UM, AND THE MARKET RULE COSTS, AND ALL OF THE DOLLARS ARE IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
AND, UM, BASED UPON THE, UM, WE, UH, THE CRITERIA, LIKE IF IT IS A GREEN COLOR, I MEAN, IT MEETS CRITERIA MEANS IT, IT IS, UH, IT, IT MEETS, UM, UH, RISK METRICS.
AND IF IT IS LOW OR, UH, IT IS SLIGHTLY CHALLENGED, YOU HAVE A HIGHER COST.
AND IF IT'S RED, IT IS, UM, RISKIER PORTFOLIO.
AND IF YOU LOOK AT THIS PORTFOLIO, THE PORTFOLIOS, UM, THAT HAS A FLEXIBLE GENERATION, UH, THE HYDROGEN CAPABLE COMBINED CYCLE HAVE THE MOST, UH, HAVE THE LEAST RISK, UH, ACROSS, UM, ACROSS DIFFERENT OF THESE, UH, DIFFERENT METRICS.
AND IT'S ALSO MEETS YOUR RELIABILITY GOAL, RELIABILITY METRICS, THE FOUR PILLARS THAT MICHAEL TALKED OUT AT THE BEGINNING, UH, RELIABILITY, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, AND, UH, COST STABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY.
UH, THO, UH, THE PORTFOLIO THAT HAS HYDROGEN CAPABLE GENERATION WILL MEET ALL THOSE, UM, ALL THOSE, UH, PILLARS OF THE 2030 PLAN.
AND AGAIN, UH, JUST A KEY TAKEAWAYS.
UM, ALL PORTFOLIOS MEET, UH, THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY GOALS.
AGAIN, WE TRY TO SOLVE FOR THAT GOAL.
SO THAT'S WHY IT IS MEET BY DESIGN.
UM, THE, THE PORTFOLIOS WITH THE, WITHOUT A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF, UH, SOLAR AND, UM, AND STORAGE, UH, UM, OVERCOME EXTREME WEATHER RISK OR LESS WEATHER, LESS WEATHER RISK, THE PORTFOLIO DOESN'T HAVE THOSE, UH, HIGHER, HIGHER SOLAR OR STORAGE.
AND THE PORTFOLIOS THAT INCLUDE HYDROGEN CAPABLE, UH, COMBINED CYCLES, MEETS AFFORDABILITY GOALS AND ALSO HELPS IN MEETING THE RELIABILITY ASPECTS, UH, OF THE PORTFOLIO.
AND IT ALSO, IT ALSO HELPS IN MITIGATING THE, UH, UH, LOCAL CONGESTION AND COST STABILITY AS WELL.
UM, SO TO MEET ALL OF THIS OBJECTIVES MOVING FORWARD VIEW, AUSTIN ENERGY PORTFOLIO SHOULD BE, UH, SHOULD INCLUDE LOCAL DISPATCHABLE, UH, HYDROGEN CAPABLE GENERATION.
AND, AND THIS WILL HELP MITIGATE, UH, THE EXTREME WEATHER RISK AND, UH, RELIABILITY RISK THAT, UH, THAT YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER IN THE PLANNING HORIZON.
UH, AND AT THE SAME TIME, IT'LL HELP US TO ADD, UH, MORE RENEWABLES, UH, AS WE WE, AS WE HAVE MORE, AS WE CAN MAINTAIN OUR RATE, STABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY.
IF I, IF I MAY ASK A QUESTION, ASSUMING YOU ALREADY HAVE THE LAND AVAILABLE, HOW LONG, WHAT IS APPROXIMATE TIMELINE TO GET A PLANT UP AND OPERATING? UM, THAT IS AN IMPLEMENTATION QUESTION, BUT I CAN ANSWER IF JACK IS NOT, UH, UH, JACK IS NOT THERE, BUT IT IS FROM A TWO AND A HALF YEARS TO THREE YEARS TIMELINE.
[02:20:01]
I UNDERSTANDING CORRECTLY THAT ALL OF THIS MODELING ASSUMES THAT AUSTIN ENERGY IS NOT PROCURING ANY MORE UTILITY SCALE, WIND OR SOLAR? UH, UH, AS I SAID, ALL OF THIS PORTFOLIOS HAS, UH, ADDITIONAL SOLAR AND, UH, SOLAR OR SOLAR OR WIND THAT IS REQUIRED TO MEET THAT 2060 5% GOALS AS OUR PPAS ARE ROLLING OFF.AND HOW MUCH IS THAT MEGAWATTS? UH, I NEED TO GO BACK AND GIVE YOU THAT.
CAN YOU FOLLOW UP WITH THAT? YEAH.
AND I KNOW IN THE PAST WE'VE HAD, UM, AS OUTPUT ALSO LIKE GREENHOUSE GAS AND OTHER EMISSIONS.
WAS THAT WORK DONE THIS TIME AND JUST NOT PRESENTED OR, UH, NOT, NOT PRESENTED HERE, BUT WE CAN, IF, IF NEEDED, WE CAN GET YOU THAT INFORMATION.
YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, SINCE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT SOURCES THAT STILL HAVE EMISSIONS AND, AND COMBUSTION, UM, AND, AND TALKING ABOUT ADDING ACTUALLY TO THE FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION IN THE NEAR TERM.
SO SEEING THE KIND OF CUMULATIVE IMPACT OF BOTH THE CRITERIA POLLUTANTS AND THE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, I THINK IS IMPORTANT.
SO GOING BACK TO THE RESOURCE PLAN AND, AND WHAT WE'RE, UM, CONSIDERING OR PROPOSING TO CHANGE, AND THEN LOOKING FOR YOUR FEEDBACK, UM, OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS BEFORE WE BRING BACK A, A FINAL PROPOSAL.
UM, SO CARBON GENERATING ASSETS, WHICH STAYS THE SAME IS AUSTIN ENERGY'S COMMITMENT TO BE CARBON FREE BY 2035.
THE PROPOSED UPDATE IS TO LOOK AT, UH, LOCAL DISPATCHABLE GENERATION WITH A PATHWAY TO CARBON FREE BY 2035.
THIS PROVIDES VOLTAGE SUPPORT IN THE AUSTIN AREA, WHICH HELPS US MEET THE RELIABILITY OBJECTIVE.
THIS MITIGATES LOAD ZONE PRICE SEPARATION RISK, WHICH HELPS US MITIGATE AFFORDABILITY AS WELL AS COST STABILITY.
AND THIS PROVIDES FOR ADDITIONAL RENEWABLES TO BE AFFORDABLY ADDED TO THE SUPPLY PORTFOLIO.
AS WE'RE ABLE TO CONTROL THAT LOAD ZONE PRICE AND KEEP IT FROM SEPARATING, WE'RE ABLE TO REDUCE CONGESTION SO WE CAN ADD MORE RENEWABLES INTO OUR PORTFOLIO AND STILL STAY AFFORDABLE.
SO THAT SEEKS TO OUR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ON CARBON REDUCTION GOALS.
UH, WHAT DOES STAY THE SAME IS CARBON FREE BY 2035.
THE PROPOSED UPDATE WOULD BE TO CLARIFY WHEN CARBON FREE GENERATION GOALS ARE PERCENTAGE OF LOAD VERSUS STACK EMISSIONS.
IF YOU RECALL ALISA'S, UH, PRESENTATION EARLIER ON THE QUARTERLY UPDATE, WE LOOKED AT CARBON FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD BEING 70%.
UM, AND WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS RESOURCE PLAN, THERE'S A LOT OF TALK ABOUT CARBON STACK EMISSIONS.
WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE GOALS AROUND BOTH.
AND SO WE'D BE LOOKING TO CLARIFY THAT IN THE UPCOMING RESOURCE PLAN.
UM, THE FAYETTE POWER PROJECT, UM, WHAT STAYS THE SAME AS AUSTIN ENERGY'S COMMITMENT TO EXIT FROM THE FAYETTE POWER PROJECT, THE PROPOSED UPDATE IS TO CONTINUE DISCUSSIONS WITH LCRA TO ACHIEVE A VIABLE EXIT TO THE AUSTIN ENERGY SHARE OF THE FAYETTE POWER PROJECT, WHICH HELPS US MEET RELIABILITY, AFFORDABILITY, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, AND COST STABILITY.
LET, LET ME CLARIFY THE, THOSE WORDS, UH, EXIT AUSTIN ENERGY'S SHARE THAT PRESUMES THAT WE'RE TALKING CLOSURE AND NOT SIMPLY SELL TO A THIRD PARTY AND THAT FAYETTE WOULD CONTINUE OPERATING AS IT IS NOW.
LC RAY HAS A LARGE SHARE OF THAT PLANT THAT THEY COULD CONTINUE OPERATING, BUT IN ALL OF THESE DISCUSSIONS, WE HAVE NOT BEEN LOOKING AT SELLING OUR SHARE AND HAVING IT TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE, WHICH WOULD BE A MORE ECONOMIC DECISION, BUT NOT WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT UNDER OUR RESOURCE PLAN.
MICHAEL, WOULD YOUR PROPOSED UPDATE NOW WE DON'T, I KNOW WE DON'T HAVE IT BEFORE US.
WOULD IT TALK ABOUT A RANGE OF DATES FOR POTENTIALLY EXITING, OR, OR YOUR PLAN IS JUST TO SIMPLY SAY, WE WANNA EXIT FROM THE FAYETTE POWER PROJECT? I THINK WE WANNA EXIT AS SOON AS VIABLE, AND THOSE DISCUSSIONS ARE ONGOING, AND I BELIEVE THEY HAD DISCUSSIONS AS AS RECENT AS LAST WEEK AROUND THOSE.
AND THEN THE, WE WANNA GET THE HELL OUT OF FAYETTE.
AND THEN FOR THE, THE SHOOT, I'LL PASS THIS OVER TO SARAH FOR, UM, DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT.
SO JUST SORT OF RECAPPING WHAT WE SPOKE ABOUT, UM, LAST MONTH, COMMISSIONERS, UM, WE ARE PLANNING ON, FOR OUR DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO, WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND PEAK DEMAND REDUCTION.
AND JUST A QUICK NOTE ON THAT, 'CAUSE IT'S NOT ITEMIZED SPECIFICALLY HERE, BUT IT IS SOMETHING THAT WE'VE GOTTEN QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT INCLUDES CONTINUING TO SUPPORT, UM, THE ADOPTION OF DER OF DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES AND, UH, IN, IN OUR SERVICE TERRITORY,
[02:25:01]
AS WELL AS, AS THE LE ABILITY TO LEVERAGE THOSE INTO OUR PORTFOLIO.SO JUST WANNA NOTE THAT, THAT, THAT REMAINS TOP OF MIND FOR US.
UM, WE ALSO WILL CONTINUE OUR FOCUS TO ON EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAMS. AND, UH, WE ARE CONTINUE, WE ARE WORKING TO ACTUALLY INCREASE OUR FOCUS ON THAT ACROSS OUR PORTFOLIO.
AND, UH, WE WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE AFFORDABILITY FOR AUSTIN ENERGY CUSTOMERS.
THOSE ALL REMAIN PRIORITIES FOR THE DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO.
A FEW THINGS THAT WE ARE UPDATING, AGAIN, THAT WE DISCUSSED LAST MONTH, ARE MOVING AWAY FROM OUR MEGAWATT GOALS AND FOCUSING MORE ON GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION IN ORDER TO IMPROVE OUR OVERALL IMPACT AND EFFECTIVENESS.
THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WE THINK IS VERY CRITICAL FOR OUR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY GOALS AND TO REALLY CAPTURE THE FULL BREADTH OF THE AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES OUT THERE.
UM, WE ALSO WOULD LIKE TO CLARIFY AND ENHANCE OUR DEFINITION OF DEMAND RESPONSE SO THAT WE CAN BETTER TAILOR OUR PROGRAMS TO THE EXPECTATIONS, UM, SET FORTH IN THE GENERATION PLAN.
AND FINALLY, WE BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THESE CHANGES WILL HELP US TO MORE EFFECTIVELY WORK TOWARDS CREATING OUTCOME-ORIENTED PROGRAM DESIGN.
UM, AND WE BELIEVE IN PARTICULAR THAT THAT WILL AFFECT ALL THOR OF OUR, OUR KEY PILLARS OF FOCUS.
QUICK QUESTION ON THE SECOND BULLET.
IN THAT ENHANCED DEFINITION, DO YOU THINK THERE WOULD BE, UM, IT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL IN THE RESOURCE PLAN TO HAVE A EITHER A MEGAWATT OR A PERCENTAGE OF PEAK WINTER AND SUMMER THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO BE CAPABLE OF, UM, REDUCING OR HOW, HOW WOULD YOU ACTUALLY, WHAT'S THE PERFORMANCE METRIC THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO GET TO? SO OUR FOCUS RIGHT NOW IS ON REALLY CLARIFYING THE, THE DEFINITION AS IT EXISTS TODAY.
AND THE GENERATION PLAN, IT'S, IT'S A LITTLE VAGUE WHAT ECONOMIC PEAK DEMAND MEANS.
AND SO I THINK WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR, AT LEAST INITIALLY IS TO, UM, ALIGN WITH KIND OF THE INDUSTRY STANDARD ON HOW WE SHOULD BE MEASURING THAT NUMBER.
AND I BELIEVE JUST TO YOUR POINT AT, AT MINIMUM IT SHOULD BE MEASURED ON AN ANNUAL BASIS, WHETHER WE DO A HEATING AND COOLING SEASON OR JUST A COOLING SEASON, I THINK THOSE ARE THINGS THAT WE ARE TRYING TO MATCH UP AGAINST THE, THE SORT OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS ON.
BUT, UM, BUT THAT IS KIND OF WHERE WE'RE STARTING FROM IS, HEY, LET US, LET US ALL SPEAK IN THE SAME LANGUAGE ABOUT WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DEMAND RESPONSE.
AND I THINK IT'S BACK TO MIKE.
AND SO FOR THE FINAL SLIDE, I JUST WANTED TO, TO KIND OF WRAP THINGS UP AND KIND OF REITERATE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT.
UM, BUT PORTFOLIO DIVERSITY ENABLES CUSTOMER OBJECTIVES.
SO LOOKING DOWN HERE, LOCAL DISPATCH GENERATION OFFERS A SOLUTION GENERATION BY 2035, MAINTAIN AFFORDABILITY, UPGRADE CAPACITY, THAT'S MAINTAIN RELIABILITY, REDUCE COMMIT TO REACH UNTIL WE CAN EXIT ENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT MEASURED BY EFFICIENCY, AFFORDABILITY, AND RELIABILITY, NEW TECHNOLOGY, BE AWARE OF WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON.
AND THEN GEOGRAPHICALLY, MICROPHONE,
AND THEN, UH, GEOGRAPHICALLY DIVERSE RENEWABLES TO MEET OUR GOALS.
THERE'S A LOT OF VALUE IN BEING GEOGRAPHICALLY DIVERSE, UH, IN THE WAY WE FORM OUR RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO FROM THE SUPPLY SIDE.
AND SO WITH THAT, WE HAVE, UM, UH, OUR PRESENTATION, BUT WE'RE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS THAT WERE NOT ASKED ALONG THE WAY.
YEAH, I'M LOOKING AT THE BACKUP SLIDES SLIDE 50 ON GEOTHERMAL.
I THINK THE IDEA WITH SOME OF THE NEW GEOTHERMAL CONCEPTS IS GEOTHERMAL ANYWHERE AND NOT JUST THIS MAP, AND IT'S NOT NECESSARILY USING OLD OIL AND GAS WELLS.
UM, THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF WHAT WE LOOKED AT IN OUR TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT.
WE ARE TALKING TO, UH, GEOTHERMAL, UH, DEVELOPER RIGHT NOW THAT USES THAT SUPER CRITICAL CO TWO, UM, RATHER THAN, THAN A DIFFERENT TYPE OF FLUID, WHICH HELPS IMPROVE EFFICIENCY AS WELL AS A CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM, WHICH ENABLES THAT, UH, WE ARE STILL SEEING THAT VERY NASCENT, UM, BETTER IN CERTAIN LOCATIONS IN OTHER LOCATIONS.
HERE IN AUSTIN, FOR EXAMPLE, WE PROBABLY HAVE TO DRILL DOWN MAYBE THREE, THREE AND A HALF MILES IN ORDER TO ENABLE THAT, WHICH SEEMS PRETTY, PRETTY DEEP.
[02:30:01]
AND IN EARLY TALKS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT POTENTIALLY THEY WANT TO WORK ON A, A PILOT OF SAY, 20 MEGAWATTS TO START AND THEN SCALE UP.SO WE DON'T REALLY SEE THAT AS SCALABLE AND AFFORDABLE BASED ON THE PRICING WE'VE SEEN WITHIN THE TIME HORIZON OF THIS RESOURCE PLAN, BUT CERTAINLY A TECHNOLOGY THAT IS DEVELOPING HERE IN TEXAS.
I HAD A A QUESTION ABOUT THE, UM, SCENARIO THAT HAD A COMBINATION OF, UH, SOLAR STORAGE AND DEMAND SIDE RESOURCES.
I SAW THAT THAT WAS PROJECTED TO ACTUALLY INCREASE EXTREME WEATHER RISK COMPARED TO THE BASELINE.
AND I'M JUST WONDERING HOW THAT COULD BE, WHAT'S THE PORTFOLIO NUMBER? THIS IS 10 SPECIFICALLY IN EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS.
I'M JUST LOOKING AT THAT COLUMN, EXTREME WEATHER RISK, AND I'M JUST, YOU KNOW, IF THE BASELINE IS HAVING NO RESOURCE THERE, HOW, HOW IS THE RISK INCREASED BY ADDING THOSE RESOURCES? SO YOU IN THAT PARTICULAR, OH, SORRY.
SO, UM, UH, SO, UH, SO IN THAT PARTICULAR PORTFOLIO YOU HAVE A COMBINATION OF, UH, UH, UH, INTERMITTENT RESOURCES THERE.
SO YOU ADD, YOU ARE ADDING, UH, MORE OF, UH, LOCAL SOLAR.
YOU ARE ADDING A LO LOCAL LONG DURATION STORAGE AND A DISTRIBUTED STORAGE.
SO THEY ARE CREATING THEIR AVAILABILITY DURING E EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS MAY NOT, UH, IS, I MEAN, THEY'RE NOT AVAILABLE DURING THAT TIME.
SO THAT'S WHERE YOUR RISK IS PRE HIGHER DURING THE TYPE OF EVENT.
I GUESS MY QUESTION THOUGH IS, I MEAN, I UNDERSTAND THAT, SO, BUT HOW, HOW COULD THE RISK OF THEM NOT BEING AVAILABLE DURING THAT TIME SOMETIMES BE GREATER THAN IF YOU HAD NO RESOURCE AT ALL IN THE BASE? SO THAT'S A, A LEVELIZED COST OVER THE TIME, SAME WHOLE TIME HORIZON.
AND THOSE, THOSE ASSETS ARE RETIRING OVER TIME, NOT ALL AT ONCE.
AND SO I THINK THAT'S WHY YOU'RE, YOU'RE SEEING THAT DIFFERENTIAL.
SO TO YOUR POINT, YES, IN, IN THE YEAR WHEN ALL THE ASSETS ARE RETIRED, THAT CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE GREATER WEATHER RISK THAN THIS PORTFOLIO, BUT THIS IS LOOKING OUT FROM 2024 THROUGH 2035 AND THEN TAKING A LEVELIZED COST OVER EACH OF THOSE YEARS.
AND SO EVERYTHING DIDN'T RETIRE.
EVERYTHING DIDN'T RETIRE IN 2024.
SO THERE IN HIS, IN HIS MODELING, THERE ARE RETIREMENTS HAPPENING OVER TIME.
AND SO ISN'T THAT TRUE IN BOTH SCENARIOS, ALL THE SCENARIOS OR NO, NO.
IN, IN THIS PARTICULAR, AGAIN, THE RISK IS MORE THAN, UH, THE PRE, AGAIN, YOU ALSO, FOR A SOLAR, I MEAN FOR A STORAGE, YOU NEED TO HAVE A CHARGING COST ASSOCIATED WITH IT.
SO YOU ARE, YOU HAVE A HIGHER RISK, UH, DUE TO THE CHARGING COST YOU TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR STORAGE TO BE AVAILABLE.
YOU NEED TO HAVE THE JUICE FOR THE STORAGE TO PERFORM.
SO WHEN YOU HAVE A PORTFOLIO THAT HAS A STORAGE, IT'LL HAVE AN ADDITIONAL COST THAN THE PORTFOLIO THAT DOESN'T HAVE THE STORAGE.
SO DOES THE MODEL ASSUME THAT THE BATTERIES CHARGE NO MATTER WHAT? OR DO YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF, UM, THRESHOLD FOR LIKE, THEY'LL ONLY CHARGE AT A CERTAIN PRICE NOW? IT ASSUMES THAT WHEN, I MEAN, WHEN IT'S, WHEN IT'S OUT OF CHARGING YOU, I MEAN YOU HAVE TO CHARGE TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR AN EXTREME EVENT.
IS THAT OPERATIONALLY WHAT WOULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN OR WOULD AE WAIT UNTIL PRICES WERE LOW? SO HOW OPERATIONALLY, AGAIN, THIS IS A MODEL AND LOOKING IN A YEAH, A PERFECT SCENARIO, BUT HOW YOU OPERATE MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT THAN HOW YOU, HOW THE MODEL MIGHT BEHAVE.
I, I THINK WE CAN ASK BABU AND HIS TEAM TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE EXTREME WEATHER ANALYSIS AND THE ASSUMPTIONS BASED ON BOTH ITEMS THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE, UM, WITH REGARDS TO THOSE TWO PORTFOLIOS TO DOUBLE CHECK THOSE NUMBERS.
I'M NOT SAYING, I DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE RIGHT OR WRONG, BUT I DON'T WANNA SIT HERE AND SPECULATE ABOUT WHY, WHY IT MIGHT BE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.
YEAH, AND I GUESS, I MEAN, IT SEEMS LIKE, I MEAN, I'M ASSUMING THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU'LL HAVE HUMANS THAT CAN THINK THAT ARE, UM, YOU KNOW, MAKE A DECISION ON WHETHER OR NOT TO CHARGE OR DISCHARGE.
AND IF IT WASN'T COST EFFECTIVE, WHY WOULD YOU CHARGE THE BATTERY? I DON'T KNOW.
I, I GET THAT THAT'S HOW THE MODEL'S SET UP, THAT IT JUST AUTOMATICALLY CHARGES, BUT IT, IT, SO I DON'T, SEEMS LIKE MAYBE A FLAW IN THE MODEL.
IT'S, IT'S, AGAIN, I DON'T WANT TO BE HAVING A HUMAN JUDGMENT INTO THE MODELING BECAUSE I WANT TO BE TREATING ALL THE PORTFOLIOS ON THE SAME EQUAL FOOTING.
SO IF I TRY TO PUT A PARTICULAR PORTFOLIO,
[02:35:01]
TRY TO PUT SOME BIAS, THEN I'M TRYING TO BE CREATING A BIAS THERE.SO, WELL, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT A BIAS FOR THIS ONE SCENARIO.
I'M JUST SAYING IN GENERAL SAYING THAT LIKE, BATTERIES DON'T CHARGE ABOVE X DOLLARS PER MEGAWATT, THEY ALSO DON'T OFFSET YOUR LOAD COST AND YOUR LOAD COST WILL BE VERY HIGH WHEN THAT BATTERY'S NOT CHARGING.
SO YOU'RE STILL GONNA INCUR THAT COST, BUT WE CAN DEFINITELY DOUBLE LOOK AT THOSE.
I HAD ONE OTHER QUESTION ABOUT REACH.
ARE YOU ASSUMING THAT IT'S ONLY APPLIED TO, UM, TEYA OR THE CURRENT RESOURCE PLAN AND VISIONS OF BEING APPLIED TO THE GAS PLANTS? DOES IT GET APPLIED? IT DOES, IT DOESN'T.
I MEAN, THE CURRENT PLAN DOES, UH, CALL FOR THE, UH, GAS PLANTS AFTER, UH, FPP IS RETIRED.
SO SINCE FPP WAS NOT, WAS IN THE PORTFOLIO, WE ASSUMED IS RETIRING IN 2030.
SO WE HAVE ONLY ASSUMED THE REACH ON THE CALL PLAN.
I I HAVE MORE OF A PROCESS QUESTION.
WE HAD DISCUSSED AT SOME POINT, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A WORKING GROUP THAT'S LOOKING AT SOME OF THESE SAME ISSUES AND WE MIGHT HAVE TWO TO THREE ADDITIONAL SCENARIOS THAT WE COULD GET MODELED.
SO JUST FROM A STAFF TIME AND PROCESS, IS THAT POSSIBLE? HOW MUCH, IF WE WERE TO GET YOU SOME SCENARIOS, SAY IN EARLY DECEMBER, YOU KNOW, NOW THAT WE HAVE THIS, YOU KNOW, IF WE WERE TO CHANGE THIS OR IF WE'RE ASSUME THESE DATES OR OTHER RESOURCES, HOW, UM, I GUESS MY QUESTION, AND I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S FOR YOU GUYS OR FOR BOB, LIKE IF WE WERE TO GIVE YOU THREE SCENARIOS THAT THE WORK GROUP COLLECTIVELY THOUGHT WERE GOOD ADDITIONAL SCENARIOS TO RUN, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU COULD DO AND WHAT WOULD BE, WHAT WOULD BE THE, HOW MUCH TIME IS NEEDED TO KIND OF SPIT BACK SOME NUMBERS? SURE.
THE INTENT OF THIS PRESENTATION IS TO, UH, SOLICIT FEEDBACK.
UH, SO WE DEFINITELY WILL LOOK ABOUT IF YOU HAVE ANY FEEDBACK OR ANY ADDITIONAL, UH, PORTFOLIOS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO RUN, AGAIN, IF, AND WE'LL LOOK AT EXISTING PORTFOLIOS AS WELL THAT WE ALREADY RAN AND TRY TO SEE WHICH MEANS WHETHER ADDITIONAL PORTFOLIOS NEED TO BE RUN OR CAN BE MM IN, UH, DIFFER, I MEAN, UH, CAN BE INDUCED FROM THIS PORTFOLIO.
SO THE ANSWER IS IF WE WERE TO GET YOU SOMETHING IN DECEMBER, YOU COULD RUN IT AND IT WOULD BE AVAILABLE IN JANUARY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
WITHIN REASON, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT WE CAN 50 SCENARIOS,
I'M JUST, UM, WE'LL BE HAPPY TO RUN SOME SCENARIOS.
MY THOUGHT IS LET US SEE THEM.
WE'LL TALK, UM, IT TAKES THREE OR FOUR DAYS TO RUN EACH PORTFOLIO, UH, SO IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME.
BUT WE'LL BE GLAD TO LOOK AT THAT AND, AND I THINK WE'LL END UP RUNNING SOME FOR YOU.
ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? I HAVE ONE OTHER QUESTION, UM, ON THE BATTERIES, UH, DID YOU JUST LOOK AT IN-SERVICE AREA OR OUTSIDE OR DID YOU CONSIDER LIKE SPECIFICALLY CO-LOCATING THEM WITH WIND AND SOLAR THAT AUSTIN ENERGY CONTROLS? SO WE, UH, THERE ARE UH, A COUPLE OF PORTFOLIOS WE LOOKED AT AT BATTERIES OUTSIDE THE SERVICE AREA AND WE ALSO LOOKED, UH, BATTERIES WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA AS WELL.
WE CANNOT LOOK AT A CO-LOCATION BECAUSE, BUT OUTSIDE, UH, IT IS CO-LOCATED WITH, UH, WITH MEANS NOT WITHOUT PORT WITH OUR PORTFOLIO, BUT AT LEAST LOOK CO-LOCATED WITH SOME OTHER RENEWABLE GENERATION OUT THERE IN THEIR CO MARKET.
SO ALL OF THEM ARE ASSUMED TO BE CO-LOCATED WITH WIND OR SOLAR, BUT NOT NECESSARILY AUSTIN ENERGY RESOURCES? YES.
THERE, THEY'RE, THEY'RE SPREAD ACROSS, UH, ERCOT.
WOULD IT NOT GIVE Y'ALL MORE BENEFIT TO CO-LOCATE IT WITH YOUR RESOURCES IN ANY INSTANCE WHERE THERE'S CURTAILMENT GOING ON? UH, IT IS BENEFICIAL.
AGAIN, IT'S, UH, AGAIN, IF YOU OWN THE ASSET, IT IS BENEFICIAL.
NOW YOU ARE CONTRACTING AN ASSET.
UH, AGAIN, IT GOES INTO THE DETAILS OF THE, HOW THE CONTRACT IS STRUCTURED.
CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT? LIKE HOW WOULD A CONTRACT BE STRUCTURED THAT IT WOULDN'T BE BENEFICIAL? UH, LIKE, UH, YOU STILL HAVEN'T, AGAIN, I DON'T WANT TO GO IT, IT MIGHT DEPEND ON, ON OFFER CURVES AND PERFORMANCE METRICS AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE OF WHETHER OR NOT IT WOULD BE, UH, FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL OR HAVE A FINANCIAL COST FOR US.
UM, BUT, BUT TO YOUR POINT THAT WE HAVE A BATTERY LOCATED BEHIND ONE OF OUR SOLAR FARMS RIGHT NOW THAT HAS SOME CURTAILMENT ISSUES THAT CAN
[02:40:01]
PROVIDE SOME BENEFITS FOR THE OFFTAKER OF THAT BATTERY.ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? OKAY, WELL THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT.
[19. Update from the Budget & Audit Working Group ]
ITEMS MAY BE FAIRLY QUICK.BUDGET AND AUDIT WORKING GROUP COMMISSIONER CHAPMAN, ANY UPDATE ON THAT?
UH, ALL OF WHICH IS I WAS REMINDED AND SENT YOU A NOTE, UH, WE NEED TO RE-AUTHORIZE OR UPDATE THE, UH, THE WORK GROUP NOW REFERS, UH, THE RESOLUTION REFERS TO THE 2324 BUDGET.
UH, THIS IS A 20 24, 25 BUDGET AND, AND AUDIT.
SO, UH, WITH, UNLESS THERE'S OBJECTION, WE'D LIKE TO BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO MEET AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO HOW DO WE DO THAT? UH, WELL WE WILL POST SOME SORT OF A ACTION ITEM FOR JANUARY.
AND WE CAN MEET, MEET, MEET IN JANUARY PRESUMABLY.
I WANNA MAKE SURE WE GOT THE ROOM,
UH, THE, UH, ALL OF WHICH IS, I THINK THAT'S IT, BUT I WOULD ASK THE, GO AHEAD.
NO, I THINK MOST OF IT, YEAH, I THINK MOST OF WHAT YOU WROTE DOWN RELATED TO THIS LAST PRESENTATION AND THERE, THERE WAS A GOOD ROBUST DISCUSSION.
SO WE'LL DISCUSS MORE IN JANUARY AND, AND, UH, TO CLARIFY, UH, UH, GOING TO THE NEXT DISCUSSION ITEM AS WE GO INTO THE NEXT DISCUSSION ITEM, I'D PROPOSE THAT THE, UH, AND WORK GROUP DISCUSS THIS, UH, THE ROLE, UH, TO PROVIDE FOR MAYBE THE MARCH MEETING, UH, A UPDATE ON, UH, ON THE CURRENT GOALS FOR MINORITY AND WOMEN OWNED BUSINESSES AND, AND HOW WE ARE MEETING THAT AND HAVE MET THAT IN 2023.
SO SHOULD GET, GET PLENTY OF TIME LIKE TO GET THAT ON THE AGENDA.
SO LET'S FLAG THAT UNDER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. YES.
UH, WE WILL HAVE, UH, AS LONG AS WE'RE CONTINUING TO OPERATE, WE ARE HAPPY.
[20. Update from the Resource Generation Planning Working Group ]
RESOURCE GENERATION WORKING GROUP.I HAVE NO SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAKE TO THE EUC AT THIS POINT BECAUSE WE HAVE CONTINUED TO MEET, UH, WE'VE MET SEVERAL TIMES.
OUR NEXT MEETING IS TOMORROW, WHICH IS TIMELY BECAUSE NOW WE HAVE THIS PRESENTATION.
UM, WE HAVE BEEN GETTING INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS FROM WORK GROUP MEMBERS AND EXPERTS ON EVERYTHING.
WE'RE GETTING ONE TOMORROW ON LONG DURATION STORAGE, BUT WE'VE HAD ONES ON HYDROGEN LONG DURATION STORAGE, LOCAL SOLAR, UH, DEMAND RESPONSE, UM, GEOTHERMAL, UH, SO WE'RE SOME OF THE SAME INFORMATION I'M SURE YOU HAVE ALL LOOKED AT, WE'RE LOOKING AT AS WELL.
UH, WE ALSO HAVE DONE A SURVEY TO WORK GROUP MEMBERS TO SEE WHAT PEOPLE'S OPINIONS ARE ON DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES AND, AND, AND GOALS AND WHETHER THEY CAN BE EXPANDED.
UH, BUT WE DON'T HAVE THE RESULTS OF THAT SURVEY YET.
SO I WOULD EXPECT US TO HAVE A DISCUSSION TOMORROW AND THEN IN OUR MEETINGS IN DECEMBER, ACTUALLY START TALKING ABOUT RECOMMENDATIONS AND REACTING MORE TO THIS, TO THE AUSTIN ENERGY.
AND THEN WE'LL COME BACK TO YOU GUYS IN JANUARY HOPEFULLY WITH SOME ACTUAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND ALSO HOPEFULLY IN DECEMBER BE ABLE TO, UH, ASK YOU GUYS FOR SOME ADDITIONAL SCENARIOS AND ANY, ANY, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE GOT ANYTHING TO ADD, ANY OF THE OTHER MEMBERS OR YEAH, JUST UM, ADD THAT WE'RE STILL WAITING ON SOME RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS FROM AUSTIN ENERGY AND I BRING THAT UP 'CAUSE I'VE HAD WORKING GROUP MEMBERS ASKING ABOUT IT, SO I'M ELEVATING IT HERE.
WE, WE HAVE MOST OF OUR QUESTIONS THAT WE'VE ASKED ANSWERED, BUT I THINK THE LAST FEW BATCHES MAYBE WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR SOME ANSWERS THE LAST TWO.
AND WE'LL PINGING ROBIN AND AMY FOR THAT.
[02:45:01]
SO I THINK WE'RE DONE WITH NUMBER 20.[21. Discussion of report regarding City Council action on items previously reviewed by the EUC]
ANYTHING ON PREVIOUS ITEMS READ BY THE CEUC? I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING ON THAT, NO, WE'RE GOING THROUGH THAT.AS FAR AS FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS, UH, RANDY YOU TALKED ABOUT MAYBE IN MARCH, UH, LOOKING AT THE WAIVERS FOR MINORITY, UH, PARTICIPATION AND THE PROJECTS.
IT HAD SOME CONSTRUCTIVE, UM, INPUT BY A COUPLE COMMISSIONERS, UH, ALVAREZ AND SIBERT, UH, LEMME GO THROUGH QUICKLY.
THOSE 3 1 1 CAP WEATHERIZATION, STREET LIGHTS MAINTENANCE, MEDICALLY VULNERABLE POPULATION REGISTRY, UH, THE AE EQUITY SUMMIT, AE COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS EVENT, GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM, CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION STRATEGY.
UM, AND THEN SPRINKLING IN ALSO THE DIFFERENT UNITS OF AE PRESENTING THEIR WORK, HIGHLIGHTING ANY COMMUNITY FACING OR SERVING PROGRAMS. IF YOU'VE ACTUALLY HAD SOME AWARDS THAT AE HAS ONE, IT WOULD BE NICE TO HEAR ABOUT THOSE TWO.
GIVE SOME RECOGNITION TO YOUR TEAM AND BE PROUD OF THAT.
I THINK THAT MAYBE YOU ALREADY HAVE THAT LIST.
IF NOT, I'LL SEND IT TO YOU AGAIN.
CAN, CAN I MAKE AN ADJOURN REQUEST? SURE.
UM, YEAH, I'M HOPING PERHAPS FOR, UM, OUR NEXT MEETING WE COULD GET PRESENTATION ON HYDROGEN ON OUR AGENDA SINCE IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S A BIG NEW TOPIC FOR A LOT OF US.
I, WHICH AS A REMINDER IS JANUARY 8TH.
SO I, I SAW THIS, UM, CALENDAR OR OR TABLE OF WHEN WE HAVE TO SUBMIT THINGS AND IT, MAYBE I'M MISREMEMBERING, BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS THE MONDAY BEFORE, LIKE ONE WEEK BEFORE OUR MEETING THAT WE PREVIOUSLY HAD TO SUBMIT EVERYTHING AND NOW EVERYTHING IS BUMPED BACK TO THE FRIDAY BEFORE WITH UM, EUC 2024 MEETING SCHEDULE IS WHAT I'M LOOKING AT.
I'M JUST HOPING THAT WE DO NOT FURTHER PUSH IF IT SEEMS LIKE WE ALREADY STRUGGLED JUST TO GET THINGS IN BY THE MONDAY DEADLINE.
SO CAN WE STICK WITH MY, I UPDATED THAT IT WAS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PURPOSES, UM, PUTTING TOGETHER THE AGENDA, GETTING EVERYTHING READY THE WEEK OF IT'S FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PURPOSES, GETTING EVERYTHING READY THE WEEK OF, UM, TO BUMP IT UP TO THE FRIDAY BEFORE THE AGENDA POST.
I KNOW, BUT THAT'S JUST NOT ALIGNED WITH LIKE THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CLERK'S OFFICE.
LIKE THEY SAY A WEEK IS LIKE THE MAX THAT SHOULD BE REQUIRED.
SO IT'S, I I GET THAT IT WOULD HELP YOU, BUT IT PUTS A AN EXTRA BARRIER TO THE REST OF US TO GET THINGS ON THE AGENDA.
YOU KNOW, IT'S ANOTHER THREE DAYS TO WORK ON SOMETHING BECAUSE YOU'VE TAKEN THE WEEKEND OUT.
IF EVERYONE COULD WORK THEIR VERY BEST TO DO SO THAT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL FOR ME.
SO WE CAN GET THE AGENDA TO THE CHAIR AS EARLY IN THE WEEK AS POSSIBLE.
I CAN ONLY HAVE PASTOR ROOM TO DO YOUR BEST.
DO YOU WANNA ARTICULATE MORE, SOME OF THEIR CONCERNS? WELL, I THINK AIMING FOR FRIDAY IS FINE, BUT JUST AS LONG AS THE DEADLINE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DEADLINE AND AIMING FOR AND, AND YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT'S GETTING TO BE, YOU KNOW, 10 DAYS AT LEAST OUT FROM THE MEETING THAT'S, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER.
MOST OF US ARE ALSO SERVING ON ONE OR MORE WORKING GROUPS AND I THINK IT'S JUST, IF WE CAN, IF MONDAY IS THE DEADLINE BUT WE CAN AIM FOR FRIDAY, THEN THAT SHOULD ALLOW US STILL TO GET THE AGENDA COMPLETED ON TUESDAY.
AND I DO THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF WE COULD JUST HAVE A STANDING MEETING, MAYBE EVEN PRIOR TO THAT, TO LIKE GO OVER I'VE, I KNOW THAT'S HELPFUL ON OTHER COMMISSIONS I'VE SERVED ON.
LET'S WORK ON THE STANDING MEETING AND SEE IF WE CAN GET THAT LINED UP OFFLINE.
ANYTHING ELSE? I MAKE A MOTION TO ADJOURN.
I DON'T THINK WE ACTUALLY NEED A MOTION, BUT I THINK WE JUST DO IT.