to hear uh your observations and or any
questions you might have um so please
don't I would hope you consider this the
end all of uh what's going on with
energy storage uh but it is a pretty
nasic I think industry and project type
in our in our state and uh I hope you
would also add in your experiences to it
so that said real quick East Point
Energy uh is now holy only by equinor a
broad International Energy company uh it
was founded though by a number of folks
in charlotsville area with had done
renewable energy development before uh
we have currently 8 megawatt hours of
projects uh in operation in the State uh
and there's two other projects that we
sold to Dominion a couple years ago that
we expect to be operational uh soon um
and then we have a large portfolio
across the rest of the United States
also that's in
development uh more importantly though
and for here in Virginia this is uh the
number of projects and their locations
where we've been able to find them uh
there's we do not know of one central
location where all they're all listed uh
necessarily but um as you can see by
this map there's a number of them in
South Southwest Virginia and Central
Virginia a little bit on the Eastern
Shore but I the interesting thing here
you might note is there's not a lot up
in Northern Virginia you might say uh
where of course we're having a lot more
discussions about uh low demand and and
Peak and transmission issues ETC so but
and you will see here that a lot of them
are on the smaller side almost 12
megawatts or less uh lots of 2 megawatts
um so more piloting we're not seeing the
100 megawatt 150 megawatt uh you know
plus projects that are present in other
states in the in the US like Texas or
California uh just kind of what we're
seeing and understanding has been
helpful for us so far at kind of would
say the state level of state level for
infrastructure uh we of course out of
the Virginia clean economy act has a
target for better energy storage systems
of 3.1 GW by 2035 which is helping uh
Drive demand for some of these projects
from dominion and
appco uh we are seeing now local level
or sorry at the state level also the SEC
is taking on distribution level
interconnection reform uh
which will be helpful to help accelerate
I think from the developers perspective
um getting these through
interconnections and then clarifying
those things and reducing costs
associated with that um and finally we
do have some State legislation uh some
of the more important ones that we found
helpful or finding helpful is a permit
by rule that simplifies the state level
permitting process for these projects
that are smaller than 150 megawatts and
then also there's Clarity for
municipalities and Developers at least
an option around Revenue sharing uh that
was paired with a lot of Solar
Development but basically starts out at
$1,400 in megawatt but that
municipalities can uh basically request
kind of simplify the taxation of these
Pro these
projects uh some of our you might say
micro level uh
related observations uh around the state
are we've had some recent permitting
success uh city of Lynchburg earlier in
the year and we're expecting to see some
permits come out LA County later this
year uh and not not having a lot of
issues in in that again loud area we
have had some problems in other
municipalities though specifically city
of
Chesapeake um in general our feedback is
been positive for sites uh that are
industrial zone or commercial areas but
lesser extents in in residential and
agricultural areas that tend to have um
residences near near them um
specifically for residential areas uh
it's been interesting even though we
have pretty large setbacks uh more than
100 to 200 feet that folks are still uh
pushing back against that a lot uh I
think there's just uh not a lot of
understanding about these types of
projects and that
uncertainty uh leads into the
discretionary permitting process uh out
of kind of out of the state control
issues so we also still seeing a lot of
interconnection Cu backlogs with PGM
that is delaying a lot of these projects
significantly because they're not
necessarily being able to uh tap into
what we call the Market Revenue in the
future um and then we also are seeing
some challenges with the procurement uh
we'll say the batteries have not dropped
doesn't cost as much because a lot of
the ramp up in EV battery EVs and then
the need for batteries for them uh we're
also seeing those as the long lead times
for our Utility Partners and their inter
connections that need to be done with
for equipment like Transformers has been
delaying the projects also utilities are
needing 18 24 months to get the
Transformers and other equipment in
place that are required to interconnect
our
projects uh just looking ahead and then
a couple things that we think would be
be helpful um you one is continue and to
see through the interconnection reform
process for the SEC and that would help
remove some friction again that it's
time that's taken to study these things
and reduce upgrade upgrade costs
potentially um it would be helpful to
have some byright state level guidance
that would uh ensure let's say an
industrial Zone sites or commercial
zones areas that all our projects are by
right and then would uh
kind of reduce the amount of
discretionary permitting uh we might
have to do at some localities and
finally U we're seeing a lot of
confusion with localities around
sighting agreements uh there's not a lot
of knowledge among them around what
should go in these what they should look
like Etc and obviously there's
differences in different municipalities
and they have different needs but um
we're seeing that as a as a problem and
and some folks going over board and
other folks maybe not asking for
enough so uh I will stop there uh for
again I don't know if other colleagues
have some observations they want to add
on here or have questions about what I
present thank
you thank you Chris um appreciate you
keeping it brief and allowing for some
discussion time among some of the
members um we'll open the floor for
anybody to ask questions of Chris while
is still with
us Chris this is Paul Duncan um question
for you on the friction that you alluded
to on the previous slide wasc if you had
to
prioritize uh the interconnection reform
what would be the biggest targeted areas
from your perspective that you'd want to
address uh let me channel my development
Engineers uh which I am not
I I think there is in general
unfortunately maybe a lack of capacity
on some utilities uh side of things and
getting just responses back in
time
um so it's it's more of a can
we accelerate the process of getting the
back and forth done um I think we have
less concerns about the rules that are
being used uh I think one other thing
that sorry I know I that comes to mind
around this is how our battery projects
uh get treated when we were be for
example be charging and discharging a
lot of times they're considering that
we'd be charging at peak times also
which is would not be the case we also
probably be discharging so that we
should be studied not necessarily at at
the worst peak time but that we' be
charging up our projects but actually
you know when we we most likely be um
filling the batteries up and thus
reducing not really actually adding
pressure onto the gri let me let me
understand that and Par it that back so
on that latter part you're effectively
suggesting uh the development of ESS
charging and discharging
schedules is that correct correct that
would better reflect how the batteries
the Battery Systems would be are
actually used
versus um this theoretical sometimes
that one would be charging it times your
perspective is that through the use of
the ESS charging and discharging
schedules then you would be able to
better align the sizing of the system
with whatever available capacity is
available with the host
utility correct
okay and is is from your perspective is
the existing uh Virginia interconnection
policy uh specifically to charge or to
assume uh the 247 365 with no
seasonality
no impact or no uh allowances so
whatever the the worst case study uh
interconnection demand or capacity is
what's used for sizing and
interconnection is that a true state
so yeah Paul my understanding is we're
usually studied at worst
case again 365 you know there's no
seasonality Etc
247 so I will ask my de engineer though
get more spefic into that and get back
to you with the group and confirm yeah
there there's obviously a lot of things
that are involved here and so the time
to study upgrade cost Etc they're all
interrelated so having from your
perspective having an input just on what
you would see to remove some of that
friction would be useful but there are
constraints obviously they're regulatory
constraints and then they're just
operational procedural constraints so uh
having a clear view from your
perspective would be
useful finish your
thought yeah no I I'll get more specific
response back you on on that my
apologies uh but in general I think what
you said is and that's how we understand
it
also thank
you Chris we've heard that the uh
Revenue sharing legislation it's a
couple years old now has been uh pretty
successful with Solar Development to
date has is the story similar with
storage development or these
localities enjoying that Revenue share
to the
are with with with solar
projects uh
from my understanding at the moment in
all the projects that I listed we
haven't seen any
[Music]
municipality um utilize the fixed
Revenue share
yet
um for for battery energy storage
projects uh it it so it is I think it's
nice to have and point out to them uh my
meetings you know usually we're meeting
with commissioner
revenues folks
and most of them are still getting their
heads around how you would tax these
things even the folks up in North
Virginia with data centers um and so you
know them running their numbers re us
running the numbers and understanding
okay which would the best choice for the
um
municipalities um
is yeah I guess it's still nassa um and
they haven't I haven't seen a
municipality yet really do the hard math
on okay yeah we want the the $1,400 a
megawatt that escalates every five years
or we want um we just want to you know
use our MNT tax or our real estate tax
you know plus whatever that CC uh is
going to use for their uh depreciation
and um schedules for so uh
yeah I think what what is helpful is
that it gives kind of options for folks
uh that if they're they're confused they
don't want to do the math
necessarily um which is kind of complex
math unfortunately um that they can just
say hey we want to simplify this we want
to know what we're going to get and not
have to worry
about um some kind of rules changing in
five to 10 years from now
so thank you I was just going to
context um I have seen a few localities
pass a revenue share ordinance
specifically for storage um and in some
cases they pass a revenue Share St
ordinance just for storage I think aamac
County did that um Rockingham County um
so it is being done and there's also
localities that have previously passed a
revenue share ordinance for solar and
storage they may have only had a solar
project to date so it it is being used a
little bit in my experience and there
has been projects approved that will
ultimately use the revenue share
ordinance um
policy thanks for correcting
me another question just in terms of the
battery that you are installing what if
it's being discharged it sort of the its
full capacity full rate what is the
discharge time from s of uh start of
discharge to um when the batter is
utilized
fully sorry I didn't quite catch that
Miss Bond viewers that yeah how how long
is the discharge time if the battery is
in um is is going to be discharging sort
of at full capacity to discharge how
long does it take to go from fully
charged to
zero well I think it my understanding
how these things are operated is you
have various durations on them and and
again based
on uh market conditions and demand maybe
whoever owns them again they will be
discharged at different rates uh you
have your Peaks uh which is again what
the the megawatt is and then they might
go for two one hour two hours three
hours or four hours at those durations
and then we can fill those back up
though also based on you know what
you're seeing on the grid and what makes
sense
um so there's I think there's no one
answer there if I understood your
question correctly but there's certain
amount of flexibility also I guess I'll
ask the question a bit differently so
let's say that you've got a project
that's attached to a utility scale large
scale solar project and the idea is that
this essentially the sun goes down the
solar is no longer generating but while
did generate some of that energy or all
that energy was stored and those
batteries that are nearby sun goes down
all the way those batteries are fully
charged and they're called upon to
discharge at sort of full speed what is
the time that those batteries will take
at that sort of full speed of discharge
to go from fully charged to zero and
you're needing to be uh
recharged may I add something here um
just not to speak for you Chris but it
depends on the design of the battery
system so I don't know if the page that
listed the Virginia projects had
durations as well but a battery could be
designed to have 1 hour duration twoh
hour duration 4 Hour duration so it just
depends on yeah I was for their for like
listed a couple
projects could go back to that project
page it might have had
megawatt hours in addition to megawatts
it did not okay um then yeah can't
really do you happen to know if those
were 4our systems or one hour
systems my understanding there's there's
a mix you have one hour to four hour
systems for example so yeah they could
again we'll meet that sun goes down they
can do that six to seven Peak a lot of
things again kind looks like if you're
also on the PGM and so what is your your
minimums there things are getting built
for two or three uh because that's the 5
to 800 p.m. or the 4 to 7: p.m. kind of
peak Windows where people need it um
having that extra hour which has extra
cost make it from a three-h hour
duration to four hour duration doesn't
make sense then in some cases because
there won't be the demand for that extra
hour
so yeah there's each project a little
bit different and sorry yeah we don't
have the the duration for all
those can I add a question here um
because this Colleen L uh I'm curious if
B 2222 the order that is allowing behind
the meter resources to participate in
the wholesale Market is going to
influence at all the direction of how
best is developed in Virginia so for
example would that open up
revenues or behind the meter projects
that would otherwise have not been
possible and do you see those Trends
starting to happen at
all sorry this is the recent the FK
ruling that on how the the batteries are
related to the capacity Market sorry or
you're talking about the
interconnection no this is 222
it is distributed energy resources
participation and wholesale markets
right
um I'm not specific into the weeds all
that my my apologies and maybe you can
elaborate a little bit more on that but
things that we're looking at though that
where we would have more Market access
um would accelerate basically the
deployment of these resources because we
have other additional Revenue sources uh
to basically
stack onto the projects so we're not
just limited to then certain um types of
services in Virginia and and limited
maybe do a distribution but also again
we can play in those wholesale markets
uh in pjm then and you have more Revenue
basically coming in and thus you know we
can build bigger and more
projects just to maybe I should ask my
question more generally for the project
s you're currently developing at the
distribution level do you feel like you
have access to those revenue streams at
the wholesale level or are there
barriers to entry there yeah the
majority of the projects that without
getting into too much company Secrets
but I think
we're always having an eye on them
accessing the bgm wholesale
Market thank
you Chris how does Virginia compare to
other states that East Point is
developing in terms of the ease of
getting one of these projects
online well we
uh it's interesting I think that we're
looking at projects up in the north New
England area where discr permitting is
basically impossible uh and and and all
the way down though to Texas where there
is no discretion
permitting um so I think Virginia is
pretty pretty much in the minute uh in
as much uh kind of the state level
policies that are in place and the ease
of Permitting basically at the local
level Visa other states I I will say
also helps that we're in the PGM and and
while they're figuring things out in
their interconnection queue but that
will also one second I think get solved
and some of these per rules uh opened up
a little bit better and these projects
get treated better VIs other generation
sources uh we'll
see that kind of regional being able to
play in those Regional markets also
helping our projects get more projects
get developed in
Virginia finally I also just say you
know offshore when more offshore wind
more Renewables that get built here
there's more demand and need for these
things and and that those other kind of
macro level renewable energy
developments in Virginia which which are
happening uh is also very helpful which
but those are not necessarily happening
in other
to different degrees in other
states Chris good morning my name is
Joan Scott web I'm a I'm a land owner
coming from that that actual as aspect
is landowning we have the Scott Sol how
I have a question that do you find in
Amia County one of our projects they
have now has for 5,000 ft between
battery storage um and so this has
becomes an issue because you know this
really really eliminates many many
landowners to be able to apply to have
th000 foot from a home and 5,000 foot
from battery storage can you comment on
that or give some suggestions or some um
some comment on that this issue it comes
back to education of course but you know
when the county sets this it becomes an
real issue it hurts it hurts a a smaller
project or farmer that wants to do this
or another Temper Temper owner it
becomes a real not many project not many
land bases can actually um qualify for
that for those kind of um
P yeah I think our experience
is that it is the responsibility in the
developers to I think educate not only
the decision makers but the neighbors
and and other members of the community
and and about um the safety of these
projects
um what we're seeing this is a new
technology and so there's a lot of
questions uh if you Google it usually a
lot of things that you Google you might
find worst case scenarios they get they
get complet with um your battery for
your electric bikes Etc and those things
and there's not to say there hasn't been
some fires recently in some of these
projects but the
actual damage and or negative impacts to
the neighbors uh how these systems are
being designed now have been
significantly reduced and or mitigated
so
the uh you know we I think land owners
and neighbors have valid concerns about
some of these things that they require a
th000 or 5,000 fo setbacks from U
property lines Andor buildings that we
think is um a bit excessive um and that
there are other kind of safety
mitigating items that can be put in
place
um there pretty easy also to kind of do
vegetative screening around these things
Etc um and and so getting folks
comfortable and I think active Outreach
to those that are concerned you know
before the project is already maybe in
the final stages of its pering process
are pretty important and I think the
good developers are are trying to do
that and usually find success um with
land owners and the discretionary permit
deciders uh you know if they can execute
I think a pretty good uh landowner
education program to put a lot of those
concerns at ease
did I answer your question sorry yeah
but you not on your sides is the fact
the fact as far as that reaching out to
the actual communities that's a real you
put look your scale your slide on on
looking ahead looking forward talk your
last note is about talking to the the
community I think that's a real
important issue and a media we only have
13,000 people so it's a very rural
community but you that was the issue
where we had with that when that I just
mentioned but I do think that is a you
know trying to communicate these rural
areas is very very vital and
critical to get the education to get the
real understanding comprehension about
this I'll just say real quick on the
students for those rural areas we know
that people appreciate their their rural
viewscapes Etc and the benefit and that
these types of projects us be the solar
we're usually doing these projects on 5
10 acres Maybe maybe 20 um Isa actually
side footprint so they're very different
scale Vis what you're seeing for the
solar developments and not to say that
solar devs I don't think do good job in
trying to um mitigate all their their
impacts on the vi shs Etc but um that's
another thing to kind of take into
concern uh when thinking about these
things
thanks any final questions for
Chris
Chris thank you so much for joining
today it's always great to see a
Virginia based company coming to present
the authority and sharing their
perspectives this is very helpful we'll
be able to include everything that you
mentioned and and this surrounding
discussion in our annual report that
we're working on later in this meeting
and we'll have to uh the governor and
the general assembly later this year so
thank you so much Chris for your
time appreciate your time good luck with
the rest of your meeting and Paul I'll
get back to you with some more respond
or more articulate response regarding
your questions on inter connection thank
you thank
you well as discussed earlier want to
make sure we have as many folks here to
participate in the discussion on the
annual report as possible so if Aon we
could pause in the S the solar sighting
and solar for all letter we will um go
ahead and dive into our annual report uh
thank you Ken for putting this together
um I think it did a very good job of
summarizing our activities this year
sharing pulling from the the minutes of
our various presentations and
discussions that we've had um as a
reminder for folks who may have missed
emails or meetings in the past uh
the I guess Secretary of Commerce and
trade energy department has asked us to
significantly paired down our report
this year to five to 15 pages uh they
want the the executive summary version
they want as much information packed
into those 5 to 15 pages as possible and
that's why this report is is going to
look different this year um the big part
we need to get to eventually is what
recommendations we plan to make to those
who will receive and read this report
but before we get there is there
anything that folks have to mention
on to to add to subtract to change on
the overview of the authority and our
activities over the past nine or so
months
sections
um in the annual report I think there's
aop just it's section a page
three
while while folks find these Pages um
want to gauge the interest in perhaps
moving the history of the authority to
the appendices I don't think this would
be a strong way
to introduce the report I think the
folks that are reading it are going to
know the history but perhaps moving it
to the
appendices if they want to continue
reading on just to date back to 2017
and learn about how it's set up and the
doing legislation folks be amendable to
doing
that
absolutely explain that again so the the
section A-1 history of the
authority I think it'd be wise to move
that to the end or mention it in in an
appendices uh perhaps toss in a brief
introduction paragraph here but I I
think it'd be stronger if we had an
introduction and then went straight into
the update on the priority activity does
that make sense I think so do you want
to take that first section now and just
move it to the
end so on that's
page yes and if if you all want please
feel free to mark it up with track
changes and send it back to me with
whatever changes you want okay
sure that'll make it I go lot with today
I mean I got a few things for example on
the next page related to um the out
heing exam report and know few other
details that are followups Rel public
available information but having to just
send it to you as a do of the
suggestions sure you can just mark it up
and send it to me that would be great
and then will you just recirculate one
that condenses coms back to this yeah so
I think on on the housekeeping topic I
would love to discuss this get into it
make some recommendations today and for
the next month or so circulate a draft
of this to the authority uh with most
up-to-date version uh take that to dat
version modify make make recommendations
make changes so that we have a widely
circulated number of drafts then on a
hopefully virtual meeting in the month
of October come together and approve
this report as really early October if
not this month it'll be early October
then um but ultimately get the uh
you know vote
to approve the report as written so very
happy to do a lot of this via email but
do want to take advantage of folks um
here today discussing this
openly moving on and everybody please
please chime in and speak up um if there
are items to discuss and suggest in
front of other abor members present
um and I I do want to make sure we
mention the three companies
that actually on section
two I want to make sure we mention and
the second par last paragraph of section
two update on Authority activities there
was a solar a storage developer course
today and then a solar
sighting uh discussion today as well
after that happens don't want to
discount would happen
today
then I think we could probably beef up
the local permitting discussion um that
was a long discussion with the
executives of three different companies
I think a lot more was discussed we can
probably pull from the minutes there in
terms of some of the specific examples
that they've given in areas that they've
developed and um some of the other
difficulties that folks are facing at
the pering level so happy to circulate
some additional language but I don't
feel like this paragraph totally
encapsulated that that wide ranging
conversation in
April just keep in mind I was working
under the pr set we need to keep it
short yeah but if you want to add some
stuff to
that
yeah this was the meeting where we had
new tech newly uh also presentation
correct so that was not on local
permitting but I believe the
interconnection issues that was under
interconnection
okay and have you get to mention the
name like the companies at least there I
might have missed it I we haven't and I
completely agree is that all right with
board members to mention who
specifically yeah I purposely left that
out because just for anonity say but if
you want to put it back in it's your
your report I it's public it's a good
idea
just
yeah so we had the three utility scale
developers right then it was the
Coalition excuse me the Virginia
distributed solar Alliance that did the
interconnection issues
correct correct and then it was as well
as the community
soers the second part of thep was
interconnection of larger systems both
one I see the second interconnection
discussion and that was Nissan from new
eny excellent Katherine any any comments
to raise now on on additions for the
interconnection I'll just send them to
mostly a little bit appear
examiners
okay
um any other comments on what we've
covered so far I was struck so I know
we're we're being solicited to do
section c
recommendations I'm struck by we're
presenting what we did for the
year we're not we haven't I don't think
synthesized the commonalities of what
the challenges are we presented
viewpoints from different providers and
developers
Etc but we haven't intersected
necessarily what are the commonalities
and what would be the things that we
want to Target so in the recommendations
they're going to we're going to have to
take from what is that synthesis of the
commonalities and then here's how we
start blocking tackling and and you know
knocking these down so that we're clear
in what the measurable outcomes of
recommendations would be should the
general assembly and others you know
want to go for that so I think we've
still got even the Pres
presenting
uh discussions need to be synthesized to
a commonality and then we can do the
recommendations based upon how we do I
know it's a lot to do in 3
so yeah we supposed to bring forward
recommendations by stat Sorry by Statute
are we supposed to bring forward
recommendations and what is the nature
what does the statute say Aaron do you
have that
handy I
try AC in in here in the
back on page 11 honor before October 15
of each year the authorities shall
submit an annual summary of its
activities and recommendations to the
governor chairman of the house on
Appropriations in the Senate so it's the
only you know report what we've done and
then make recommendations the only two
things we required of doing this
report and again in the past the
authority has not made any
recommendations so that's why I left
that placeholder at the back so if you
all have recommendations that's where
it'll go
yeah that's kind of where
the that's where the expertise is right
that's how do we move this forward how
do we meet the governor's goals how do
we identify what some of the barriers to
those goals are going to be and you know
people with the checkbooks can figure
out the prioritization on what they want
to
address if we don't make any
recommendations I don't think we're
leveraging the expertise that's in
yeah so I hope folks have taken some
time to think about the presentations
and what the authority has done to date
this year uh and at least brainstormed
some potential recommendations this we
are not writing legislation or
regulation we're just saying what we
recommend should happen and let elected
folks take that step forward to decide
if action needs to be taken in what form
and fashion it should be I sort of have
the same question unless there's
language that's not here that's
somewhere else so we've got an
obligation to submit a summary and
recommendation
but that doesn't specify that they are
legislative or public policy is that our
understanding if you look at the
offshore with authorities report the
recommendations that are in there are
really recommendations for what the
authority not legislative type
stuff I'm not sure how decision made the
other reports are recommendations are
during the next year we will solicit
feedback on or discuss such and such
topics
or more about is it's more that than
yeah it's it's more internal
recommendations not what the general
assembly should be
doing then no change from my
perspective these meetings and these
presentations are for not if we're not
making recommendations for for solid
change in the future CER um it's and I
think
that group isn't yeah and so what is the
process based on the framework that's
set up in the um gu the charter of the
group and terms of developing and
approving those is it the Civil majority
is it concurrence of the board what is
the pretty much
concurrence and they do vote to approve
the their end report uh this group has
never voted to approv it's any kind of
consensus yeah so we're certainly
looking
for
process going going back a couple years
you know we we solicited we selected
strategen stratagen developed reported
the
state of renewable and energy storage
within Virginia there was a set of you
know kind of the snapshot of as now
here's where we are and then here's
where regulatory National framework is
and then here are some general Trends
within the overall United States that
are going to influence that and then of
course we had our own State legislation
and the governor mandates to to move
things forward so now the question
becomes how do we leverage that
educational piece
and make sure that we're identifying
clearly some of the roadblocks as we
just heard to move things forward now
again we don't have the authority to
knock those down because we have no
budget but we certainly can say if this
is going to be a reality here are some
things that need to be addressed and if
you look back from my perspective and
maybe I have this wrong can and correct
me if I
do I don't know of any other agencies
aside the SEC and they're overburdened
and over tax other than that I don't
know who can be bird dogging some of the
big things that need to be addressed and
need to be on people's agendas to make
sure that we are aware of things and if
we deem that they are necessary to knock
down that we're actually focusing effort
time resources to knock them down so
that we can move forward as a state and
and meeting overall leadership
objectives I think that's our role here
and so I think the recommendations are
here's what the state needs to do in
order to be successful to meet the
vision that has been established in
leadership we I I think we know what we
need to do internally and I don't think
voting internally on what we're going to
do next year is
necessarily going to be productive I
mean people have put us in these
positions because they feel we know what
we need to do that's sta complete so now
let's do what we think we need to do in
order to advance this maybe that's a
little more outside the range of what
we've done in the past and
okay I'm that disagree with you yeah
again it's it's up to you all see what
what are those what do those
recommendations look
like that's what we're here discussing I
have a few ideas to to share um I think
we can in some areas directly pull from
what our presenter said uh talking about
the grid enhancing Technologies made
several concrete recommendations so I'm
having I believe the SEC you know
incentivize our utilities to look into
these uh in order to avoid huge upgrade
costs in areas where they
might be well suited um I think our
utility scale
presentation um they ask for some more
unanimity across counties um there's one
a beauty to each County doing something
completely different from a neighboring
County uh but and there's absolutely no
consistency um from from County to
County uh there's been a lot of
discussion about uh whether the
moratoriums and harsh restrictions that
prevent any development of any size to
come forward if that's uh even
constitutional if it's legal um one
concrete recommendation could be to ask
the Attorney General's office to look
into these Mor points are they uh
consistent with you know our current
laws is a locality allowed to restrict a
project to death on paper and then that
project not be at all feasible to to
come forward I think some clarity there
could help you know a lot of folks in
counties to understand what their
ordinances can and can't
do
um there's several more do you do you
have any to add
C serious to also the recommendations of
the what's the role of the
authority in public
education especially at the local
legislative
level we
have we have we have to go back to the
legislation that the authority the
purpose of the authority there is
nothing there there's
no you see something I don't see
anything I see it's that we need be
report what
else I don't see
advocacy are other citizen advisory
boards
advocating to that degree I know V the
offer wind Development Authority isn't
they will submit letters of opinion
letters comments to B and others but U
they've submitted letters in the past to
thec uh but I would call it
advocating I don't know what
the you're on that
right we just for
about not an
ethicacy not advocacy
per or or funding forly we're OB going
with that question was you know if if a
county community whatever is adopting a
5,000 F foot setback as an
example there's
something you know there's something not
necessarily conducive to the business
climate there's not something conducive
to the problem that that could
potentially be addressing both for the
municipality in context of be shaving
savings and all the stuff that for the
rate paays their local rate paays let
alone you know as a as a bigger bigger
portion I don't know I the Genesis of
the question was do we write a letter do
we engage do we do anything on a
Proactive or do we just use that as a
data point that some unties some
municipalities counties whatever the
case are adopting ordinances that are
going to you know say this is the way
way things are and we remain silent on
that except for noting
that it's happened right and so not
necessarily an advocacy but there has to
be a balance in I don't want to
there's a reason that they've they're
adopting that and it's it's going to
have a negative impact on those folks
who who want to engage in what the
mission of of you know these policy
objectives are so there's got to be a
rationale of where that comes together
and I don't know if that's our
responsibility with the expertise we
have here to to say we'd like to talk
more about this or we we don't think
this is in the best interest of
something or do we remain silent and
that's really
if we don't have the
authority I don't know if we can do that
possibly what we could do is to send a
positive education to the local
authorities put out a newsletter on a
monthly basis or as part up meeting and
figure out and let the local authorities
know what is the right thing to do or
what are the com and that that basically
educating people that do not know
because that 5,000 foot limit is just
arit that somebody might have picked up
there no science doing I'm pretty sure I
would say that in this case because I
was involved with it and Aon you some of
those meetings and I think that
situation where you know the developer I
think thought that was have to happen
going to happen do you know I'm I think
the developer you know it was such a
we've had a year and a half I guess of
parings and so a very hard process to
get that to be um AG the count AG this
project it's a c it's a piece of
property that's um that's almost
isolated you know it has a prescriptive
right away anyone knows what that means
and it has um another part has you know
it's a large project but it's um I think
the developer probably gave caved on
that sure and you know I'm not I'm not
happy about that because I think from a
political standpoint from a from a for
the other landowners that would like to
do this I work for them I aie for them
I'm going to speak to them too I'm going
to speak for people that also want to do
projects not always torn up one or two
solar ordinances had to have my right
about that they've gone through two and
they've torn them up you know we have a
budet in there that's been talked about
you know it's just there some of the
counties just take it um I think it
comes back to educating the benefits you
know what s can do to help our
communities to move us forward and
certainly I also think we'll have fossil
fuel we need to you know fossil fuels
forever probably also but I think solar
is certainly a certain a smart plan for
us to move forward but it's it's hard to
get people in these rural areas and
that's where there are there is land
that is um I speak for timber because
I'm a Timber po we have an oversupply of
Timber in the whole sou we have an over
Supply our prices are where they were in
the 80s the prices are terrible but but
I speak because I want to
work but um I just
think training to education I think it I
don't know whether we could ever have
meetings in local areas that may be a
ridiculous idea but it it came to my
mind you you know these rural areas have
the people want to do this but the the
boards you know people comply and it
doesn't happen so I guess I'm also
mindful of what you said I'm mindful
that there's obligations that for
example we have in the Virginia clean
eom act um also mindful that in each
locality and their representatives has
to do what Fest for their locality and
no two localities are exactly the same
so I'm mindful of the
um we should I don't think we are in a
position to recommend how locality
should is 5,000 the right number is
2,000 the right number is seven the
right number to you so I I don't sitting
here making that recommendation I would
hesitate to support um however if an
observation that is included in the
report is that there are differences by
locality right that range from this to
this
um that there's not uniformity in
certain standards or um what's required
for conditional use permits that it it
varies widely um that to me seems like
very fair and accurate observation and
perhaps it serves as a conversation
starter without going so far as to say
they're not doing it right does that
make sense I'm trying to to also strike
a balance yes and and you know um and
comment along those lines just could be
that um you could even say something
like uh the more restrictive
requirements you don't have to stay
locality but the more restrictive
requirements reduce the amount of land
that is available
for f that just might be a way to
balance what I think that I was welome
government was always the best in this
process I didn't feel quite so positive
about that position but yes that's very
excellent way of forwarding it yes I
mean if it's steeped in safety right I
think there are plenty experts
throughout the Commonwealth who can
address safety and energy storage and
things related to that so that the
education piece that you're talking
about if if the rationale is because of
safety then the education F focuses on
saf if the rationale is based upon we
just don't want it the nimi I don't want
it in my backyard type thing I want it
out of sight out of mine that's a local
perception of which the elders you know
are making those determinations because
that's what the people want so I think
that's hard to address I think you're
you go down 460 going to the be or
whatever there's solar panels that have
they're right on the side of the road
their houses are around it's amazing
differences in localities May a
suggestion and and that is that there's
been some great and valuable
informations been gathered the vast
majority of the conversations that and
the discussion we've had the presenter
the presenters have and developers I
would suggest that a recommendation for
2024's Focus would also be to engage the
diverse perspectives and engage the
locality that has a 5,000 put said back
Engage The localities and maybe have one
meeting where either representativ of
BML and B are present or representatives
of individual localities are present
that um that can speak to that not
putting on the hot seat but then maybe
just talk through so we can better
understand the rationale before we go so
far as to making recommendations
um but that I think those are important
perspectives to to hear from so I would
encourage us as part of 2024 to um
solicit
feedback not excluding the developer
Community but outside the developer
community in terms of those who are um
you know impacting where and how
development OCC in the future does that
make sense yes so Catherine uh our last
meeting we invited V to participate
invited them to participate this week
and uh cited scheduling conflicts and
not being able to speak openly about
this until their annual meeting is fall
so we've invited them that's huge
priority for 202 everybody we don't
always schedule a lot of notice
so we just keep in mind that I mean if
we I think the associations understand
the needs of their members but in order
to be able to represent the needs of
their members they may also have a
process they have to go through in order
to be to be able to engage and get the
okay in terms of whatever it is that
might present and it could be that we
opt for a couple of individual
localities so are willing to come but
part of that is also going to be giving
them enough Advance no so when the
meetings are going and virtual option
may we do have meetings slated for the
entire 2024 year on the books um and two
point invest County staff and
supervisors to come and speak and they U
said it would literally take an act of
the board to allow them to come speak
publicly on behalf of the county so
another difficulty that we've run into I
totally agree with the with the point
hey Scott let me make a couple comments
um and they're not necessarily
responsive to any particular comments
but they just sort of go to the the
structure of the annual report and sort
of the purpose of it um the idea of
using the recommendations portion of the
annual report to make recommendations
about internal Authority stuff makes no
sense to me because we're reporting to
people that couldn't give a crap about
like the governor doesn't care who we're
going to call at our meeting next year
or we're going to focus on next year
that's not what a recommendation means
that's just internal stuff you can
schedule whereever you want you bite
wherever you want all that kind of stuff
it doesn't make sense to make
recommendations to the subject matter
committee
chairs and the administration unless
they are policy recommendations
otherwise that language wouldn't be in
the code there are there are tons of
directives in the code whether it's
directing an authority directing a
commission directing an agency to report
back to a body and it is always because
they are tasked with evaluating the
issue in a more robust way than the
general assembly can in a session come
up with some recommendations and report
back those recommendations then what the
general s the governor Etc do with those
is obviously totally up to them y um I
think the idea that that's not advocacy
also doesn't make sense to me because
the very filing of that recommendation
is advocating for a position now whether
or not there's followup advocacy or not
is a decision that and will be made on a
case-by Case basis but I I mean to me if
all we do is this group of people who's
already cting weeds in this industry
listens to some experts throughout the
course of a year and then tells the
general assembly we've listened to some
experts but we're not making any
suggestions then frankly I would vote to
disband The Authority yeah that really
make any sense to no purpose to it so
now whether or not we can get consensus
on recommendations is always the problem
in a group decision making process and
what the process for gaining consensus
and um all that is can obviously be
tricky but to me if we're not making
recommendations then the board the board
just becomes a box checking exercise
which just work for Ken to do it just
goes into dther talk about again um and
and you know reports could be reports
could be very specific and GR could be
very specific greater they could also be
very broad like we've heard a lot about
issues in getting approval at the local
level for solar projects we believe the
general assembly needs to take a closer
look at the role localities play and the
state place and the approval of these
projects like we're recommending you to
evaluate issue or it could be we've
heard enough here's the answer we think
a bill should say the fall like that
would be very specific um and different
ities and and groups and commissions and
all sort of like if you're the code
commission that I was on you literally
bring back legislation you hand them
bills and say vote on this bill um there
are other ones that are just they just
make recommendations or provide advice
or act as subject matter experts
whatever so I mean I would strongly
favor literal recommendations back to
the general assembly recommending policy
positions um and we it may be too late
in the year to come up with you know to
get that approved in the next few weeks
but to me that's the whole point of what
we did like we should we should hear
from utility scale solar presenters
localities the utility and and at that
time we should receive that feedback and
then we should take that that
information and develop recommendations
at that time so just like General
Assembly subcommittee would and making a
recommendation to May on a piece of
legislation very helpful thank you gr so
we've uh chat about this for about a
half an hour now um appreciate
everybody's attention to the report this
I'm going to ask all authority members
to spend some time over the next three
weeks deliberating thinking about these
things reading over old minutes and
doing our best to come up with a a
number of different recommendations that
we can bring to the authority at our
virtual meeting and hopefully find some
consensus for a majority uh majority
vote on um we our plan is to distribute
an updated copy of this annual report to
folks on a weekly basis please uh shoot
it back reply all with some redlines and
uh Ken and Aaron and Paul will work with
you guys closely to make sure we're
getting this out yeah few excuse me you
can't do a a send it to that everyone no
more than two members can talk to each
other at the same time Mr Foya so
everything needs to come for me and then
I would need to stly to everyone it's
not the public meeting requirement is
that correct yes great so if everybody
will Channel this through Ken uh provide
him a red line of everything that you
are adding and then Ken can you work
with me to provide a red line out to
everybody and everybody see what
different members recommended we add
into a different into an updated draft
yes okay it's going to require some
attention from everybody over the next
few weeks but um think we can all be
proud of us taking the step four this
year 15 is the drop dead and the
secretary's office needs to get it in
advance for review yes so think we can
all be proud of taking the step forward
this year and fulfilling our duty as
Authority members uh to make
recommendations to the folks that will
be receiving this in board um
Aaron would you kick us off with a state
comparisons of solar
sighing do you want to do that one first
yeah thank
you all right I've got the speaker
situation figure out let me make sure
I
all
right
is fearing all the teams but it's not
showing here whatever so
that
that's all right um
so first I'll just start don't have a
position on any of this um just kind of
did an overview of um you know what's
going on on on in other states I think
just here in this discussion of like
there are challenges working with local
governments and um it's a conversation
that's occurring nationally every state
has something with a little bit
different there is no secret sauce to
this and a lot of it is often reflective
of an individual state are they a home
rule state a Dyan rule state and all
everything in between um so I just spent
some time just kind of giving a a high
level sum summary and overview of kind
of what's going on in other states um
and and potentially some opportunities
um to kind of address some of this um US
Department of energy actually compiled
some of this information recently
they've got a
website um just sort of addressing like
how what is the authority uh for siding
in different states um and you'll see
it's it's all over the place um and I
actually had to email them and get them
to change Virginia they originally had
us as yellow and I felt like we were
more of a duel and that we have the
local and then the state comes in
afterwards and permits um but it's very
complicated and there's a lot of nuance
between each one of these and I I'll
discuss it a little bit um and there's a
couple of resources that you can you can
take a look at if you're curious about
just learning more about what other
states do um one of them is solar scale
guide book that usdb funded they had um
a couple of organizations I just took a
snapshot of some of them um this is just
a compilation of you know what other
states have um who has the authority do
have any existing guidance any review
criteria um so you've got a lot where
it's just the local government you've
got some where it's local government
below a certain size and some s board
above a certain size um and then of
course in Virginia we have local
government plus DEQ or local government
plus the SEC um so that's just one
resource um there's a kind of similar
study from the University of Michigan um
where they kind of took a similar look
slightly different methodology and how
they classified it um but they also have
kind of a table you can go through and
look at you know every state where they
they fall in terms of of sighting um so
somewhat interesting um so I'll just
kind of briefly touch on you know what
our process is in Virginia right now um
like I said I think we can kind of I
would say we fit into the sort of dual
permitting process and that you know
large scale sort facilities must be
approved by the local government and
then subsequently by the state
government um so that local approval
process we've got the kind of a number
of things that included the 2232 review
of the comprehensive plan zoning
approval and then in some cases a
sighting agreement and then usually
there's also approval of a
decommissioning plan and a site plan um
that's kind of the core of the local
sighting um and then we subsequently
have a state approval process
two different options um permit by rule
which um was created in
2009 um with the purpose purpose being
to kind of exempt what they defined the
general assembly defined as smaller
renewable energy projects from the SEC
process so that was sort of the purpose
of it um it certainly changed over time
um those regulations were developed
between 2009 and 2012 and were finalized
end of
2012 um there were amended in 2017 they
were attempted to be amended in 2019 but
were never
finalized um and then they're currently
being revised which I'll touch on at the
end here um with regulations being place
by the end of
2024 um all of that is an exemption from
the SEC cpcn process um which a sore
project could opt to do that even if
they're below 150 megawatts um but at
the core of the PBR process was designed
to exempt projects from the SEC
process um it's very complicated um in
terms of what it looks like UVA and
Virginia Tech um I work with them quite
a bit this is a beta version but they're
actually working to maap out what is the
entire permitting process in Virginia um
I just took a snapshot of it hopefully
um they'll get this online soon it's
actually interactive so you click on it
and get different options um but Al you
know it kind of goes through you know
what size project what options you have
for permitting um you know what state
permit applies um so it's kind of useful
and I think this would be a good
resource just to help kind of clarify um
you know how it works especially for out
ofate developers who are not used to
Virginia um and if you just kind of
click in this is like the second page if
you're to click on kind of the standard
DEQ permit by rule
pathway and just kind of goes through
like everything that's involved up for
federal review process interconnection
process locality review process and what
what's involved in DEQ use process um I
won't go into too much detail I know UV
and Virginia Tech have been
collaborating and working on this and
they've also asked for a fair amount of
public comment from developers and folks
that have been actually doing this just
to make sure they got it right um so I
just mentioned this this will hopefully
be a resource that will be out there um
just to kind of help clarify by what we
currently do in
Virginia um the other thing I'll mention
is you know and it was already addressed
Here Local policy is very different um
and this is I kind of inventory back in
December you know what counties have
some type of standards in place for
solar um and of course even of those
that do have standards those standards
look very very different um so just
wanted to point that out as well like
there's a prettyy similar process
through the state process in terms of
how that looks but at the local level um
it's often very different we lot have a
fair amount of counties that still don't
really have any specific standards in
place we have a lot that do have
standards and the standards are are
often quite
different um so with that I'll kind of
touch on just a few other states and
what they do I think our neighboring
states in in North Carolina and Maryland
are are kind of good comparison points
um both of them actually at their core
have the SEC similar SEC a cpcn process
um but actually the cpcm process in both
of those States look totally different
from each other and from Virginia um in
North Carolina it's largely kind of a
locally controlled sighting process um
so the kind of standard local zoning
approval process is how most projects
are approved in North
Carolina uh the state's role is the they
do have a
cpcn um it's less of an intensive
application more of a kind of
registration process um that would occur
afterwards um but really is kind of less
of a review and there also is
requirement to submit registration to
sell the Rex um and of course there's
also kind of a a mixture of how local
governments in North Carolina um have
ordinances in place um and then North
Carolina I think another good point on
both of these states have had recent
legislation in 2023 to address some type
of solar um citing in North Carolina
they just passed a decommissioning bill
um that that standardizes
decommissioning at the state level so
all decommissioning um in North Carolina
will go through DEQ um in Virginia it
currently all goes through the counties
um so that was something they passed
they're updating the regulations and
it'll be in place by 2025 but their
state ddq will manage all of the over
oversight decommissioning um so there's
kind of a growing role for the state in
North
Carolina um and then by comparison in
Maryland uh the state really has control
over most sting over everything really
over two megawatts
um so that's actually through also a
cpcn process um and I think what's
important there is the state supreme
court in Maryland um kind of a firm
State
preemption uh of the cpcm process so
really this approval process kind of
Trumps any local zoning approval
um localities can participate in the CPC
improv process home rule with like rtion
or I think they are I'm not I'm not I I
don't remember exactly um so the way it
works currently is like the locality can
participate as a party to the decision
um and the Public Service Commission can
consider like the local comp plan and
ordinances um and so that goes into this
decision but ultimately the state makes
that decision the locality still has
rights to approve site plans and storm
water um but not actually zoning and
there was actually legislation that just
passed a couple months ago um where it
kind of mandates localities to approve
or deny their site plans and Stor Mar in
a reasonable time I think they're having
issues where kind of localities were not
taking action to try to delay the
process um and they also said that
localities couldn't condition the
approval of one of these cpcn through
like conditional use or special
exception permit so they kind of
affirmed that localities couldn't do
conditional use permit or special
exception permit and really the the
state through their cpcn
process um so two totally different
approaches um and both states have a
fair amount of development going on um
and then just kind of looking a little
bit broader in kind of other states I
sort of tried to classify you know where
are other states on this kind of
Continuum from local to State sighting
um you've course got quite a bit of
states that really don't have much State
involvement at all where the localities
really kind of are the the primary
actor um then you've got a couple of
States really not any many I think
Virginia's pretty unique and that I
would say that we're largely local
decision- making but there is an
additional State review process over top
of that but ultimately kind of
localities have a lot of of U Sway in
the decision- making um so I would kind
of put us not totally in the local but
local with some State
oversight um you have some states where
the localities are the decision makers
but the state has mandated what decision
they should do um so they basically said
you the locality have to approve a
project if it meets these criteria
ultimately the localities still are the
actors there but the state has sort of
told the localities what to do in a lot
of situations um so it's kind of a
little bit different um then you have a
lot of states where they sort of have
this hybrid where there is a certain
size smaller projects can go through the
local government and then over a certain
size would go through the state often
have like a state sighting board that
review then each state kind of has a
different
size um and then like I said you also
have some states where really the state
has kind of primary control over
sighting at all um scales um mostly
Maryland and New Jersey there's
certainly a lot of nuance and you can
kind of classify in between each of
these but this is just kind of generally
how I kind of classifi them um in terms
of kind of recent legislation that's
occurred really just in the last couple
of years um I mentioned Maryland and
North
Carol um legislation in Illinois has
gotten a lot of attention I I alluded to
it um the state basically stepped in and
and required every locality to basically
adopt the same ordinance of
standardized um conditions for projects
and basically mandated that if a project
meets those standards and the locality
has to approve it um that one's gotten a
lot of attention
uh Indiana did something similar but
they didn't mandate it it was more of
like an optional could choose to adopt
the standards um a lot of other states
have had legislation proposed a quick
question just BL P so on Indiana that I
guess it was an option how many
localities adopted the
option I'm not sure um I believe there
was an incentive tied to it um to like
in I think there was like a they would
had access to more of a certain tax um
Revenue I'm not sure how many did choose
to do
so
um and it's something like can take a
look at um I was also saying a lot of
states have had legislation proposed
failed or is currently
outstanding um and then in Virginia I'll
touch on really quickly we had
legislation last year that's still in
the works um in terms of how that's
going to turn out um a lot of you are
probably probably aware of this um House
Bill 206 is seeking to kind of update
the Fus permit by rule
process um to consider more mitigation
for for certain significant adverse
impacts of prime agricultural soils or
or continuous Forest lands um so kind of
just a quick update on on where that
currently is at um there's an advisory
panel which I've been a part of that's
developing and finalizing those
regulations for what mitigation will be
required um that will have to be adopted
by no later than the end of
2024 there was five meetings last year
that kind of I would say were
preliminary it didn't get very far um
and then there's an additional five
meetings there's been three so far to
actually develop the regulations by the
end of this year and then these
regulations will be open for public
comment in 2024 before they're actually
adopted um some of the proposed
regulations from the 2019 PBR update
process that were never adopted are also
being considered and potentially
included in this
update I think at a high level um what
we can expect is there will be some
baseline mitigation required for for
these significant adverse impacts um
there will likely be some type of
off-site mitigation so impacts to
agricultural soils or Forest land um
will require some typ type of off-site
conservation of similar lands elsewhere
um that appears to be kind of the
direction it's heading and then some
potential for incorporating some type of
on-site mitigation as well in terms of
best practices in terms of vegetation
and soil
management I'll happy to kind of take
questions but uh it's still kind of a
dynamic process um but ultimately I
think it is kind of shifting a little
bit there's going to be more of a a
State role and how projects are are
developed in Virginia so it is an
important one important part of this
discussion last thing I'll mention
really quickly um there are some kind of
opportunities to address this one um
that I think our office is pretty
excited about um USD just opened
submissions for a grant opportunity
yesterday um with the idea of kind of
expanding the capacity and expertise of
state and local governments around large
scale rver energy sighting and
permitting um we've been in discussions
with a number of our partners um to
apply for this I think we're in a good
position and something we really need up
to 2 million um to kind of build out a
program to you know just build more
expertise around this um
so happy to kind of engage with this
body if there's any recommendations or
if you can offer support we're kind of
beginning stages but
application um will be due in early
November um with that I'll kind of pause
if there's any kind of specific
questions or or comments um having
Tak I I'll ask a quick question I know
that we have this letter in front of us
that is not related unrated but I will
get to that give a second okay no and
and you know my followup was is
Theiss or this Authority could write a
recommendation or absolutely that's I
brought it brought it up um don't have
anything tangible to say like this is
what we want to do because the
application opened yesterday um but I do
think you know like support from from
this body would be great um we get to
that
point
excellent well thank you Aaron
appreciate it can you send a copy of the
presentation out
yeah
um all right with that I'll shift gears
to another funding
opportunity um which I've got this I'll
be very brief on that
um
what's blow that
up
see
yeah
I'm just going to roll with it
um so this is
a um you have a letter uh a draft letter
it's one with the letterhead on it
um which is for the solar for all
application that I will um that our
office is currently working on that's
due in October I'm not taking lead on it
my colleague Carri is she's actually on
out on vacation so um she asked me to
kind of share a little highle overview
and hopefully um get the authori support
on
application um just to kind of a brief
overview it's a part of the inflation
reduction act that passed on the federal
level back um in August of last year um
a component of this is the epa's
greenhouse gas production fund um
there's a number of
objectives um and kind of funding
streams and there's a lot of money um
involved this is kind of the third
component of it which is the solar for
all application um in total There's 7
billion distributed between at least
60 Awards throughout different states um
so our office is kind of leading up the
application for Virginia
um really the goal of it is to support
uh Bill savings for underserved um
community so low and moderate income um
clean energy Advisory Board which is our
other Authority or or board um this is a
little bit more specifically kind of in
what they do um our office already got a
letter support from that for last week
um and that they worked a little bit
more specifically on low and moderate
income
solar um I think it's relevant to to
this Authority more so and it's just
going to be a lot of money for
developing and deploying sour in
Virginia and just being supportive of of
that in Virginia I think is probably
where the the connection here is um just
in terms of the the overall
timeline the the application is going to
be due in kind of a few weeks in the
middle of October so we're kind of in
the process of of collecting letters of
support um from various folks um and
hopefully kind of start to get um
announcements and award wordss uh
through next
year just kind of an overview like I
said all the funding is really for for
low and disadvantaged communities um
mostly kind of for the residential
serving more distributed solar side so
we're not talking about utility scale
solar um one of the requirements of the
program is that um that there's 20% Bill
savings to any household that's served
by this program um it has to be used
within 5
years uh these are kind of some metrics
for that our team has developed in terms
of you know what we think is possible um
for for deploying this funding in
Virginia um so we think we can
potentially get up to 250 million do
award in
Virginia um and potentially that could
deploy you know up to 200 megawatts of
rooftop and Community
solar and then just kind of some general
estimates on economic impact of
deploying that solar in terms of jobs
and um I know my colleague Brian is on
the line if you all have any questions
about kind of these metrics that you
kind of work to develop some of these
and you know what we might expect if we
are
successful so just in terms of how we
plan on using the funds um is really
just like as a financial assistance tool
for eligible Technologies um to help
offset the cost um we're still kind of
working through exactly how that would
be used whether it's through just a
direct Grant a loan loss Reserve
interest rate buy down a lot of options
um so still kind of finalizing how that
will work in different
scenarios um and then also developing
technical assistance um around just
making sure that the market is um able
to support kind of this influx of
funding so just education Outreach
Workforce
Development um kind of also just
internal administration of the funds
themselves
umies that are eligible for this funding
most of it will be residential solar um
both single family as well as multif
family um could include shared and
Community solar as well that's serving
residential customers um energy storage
is also a component for you know
included with solar um at a residential
scale
as well as any upgrades necessary to
install solar such as um roof
Replacements or Energy Efficiency
upgrades
um again this is kind of just the in red
the types of solar that we expect um you
know will be stimulated by this funding
um that's all I had I know it kind of
went through it pretty quickly um so
what you all have is kind of just a a
very high level letter of support it
looks essentially very similar to what
we've asked some of our other
Partnerships Partners like The cgy
Advisory Board um I know we had DEQ also
submit a letter support and a number of
others um so I think I'm not sure can I
think the mechanics are actually to
physically vote to approve it or you're
welome to a discussion I'm not sure if
we have a quum still no you lost your
quum
so just be a
decision is there anyone to oppose to
The Authority submitting the
letter I have a question though yeah um
one of the challenges for Energy
Efficiency and solar for low income
housing is the like rent versus own like
renter versus owner and so how will this
project help make sure that the benefits
ACR to the you know low-income person
living in the house whether they rent or
own and not the land more who owns like
a multi
family yeah it's something that we've
thought about a lot um and we've also
been banging your heads a little bit
with just the current policy framework
in
Virginia um in terms of like doing ppas
and leasing um instead of ownership of
the facilities there's kind of limited
capacity to do that in Virginia right
now so that's been a challenge um we're
certainly seeing to include like shared
Community solar as well as the
multifamily shared solar program and how
funding into these existing programs
that are really for um renters
specifically that're really like well um
positioned to take advantage of those
programs um so that's been a big
especially like in the multif family
space recognizing that's like there's a
lot of LMI households in multi family
and so we've been kind of strategizing
around like the multif family Sher solar
program that does exist um I will have
out it doesn't exist in the Cooperative
territories um it only exists in
Dominion so there are some challenges
and is has been a big big focus in in
trying to address and find the right
policy Niche that that works for those
types of
customers thank you Aon um appreciate
you getting this draft together and uh
hope it helps the
application um with the timely time I
want to make sure we leave some time for
public comment if anybody in the uh in
on Microsoft teams would like to chime
in but two two more topics to run
through I believe very briefly um as
mentioned to Katherine earlier we we've
tried to reach out to Veo
representatives and I still think that
would be a very valuable perspective to
hear in early 24 I'll reup that um
similarly reached out to representatives
from the data center po Coalition
talking about the off-taker side of a
lot of this clean energy and they were
they had a travel conflict and we're not
able to present today but we're very
interested in talking with us next year
are there any other future topics folks
want to raise that we can begin working
on in schedule
for I always thought having thec come in
talk to us about where they're seeing CH
points between always a very
Illuminating
discussion because it's people process
their Technologies to process the the
dollars they have to do it and the time
they have to do it all of them
contribute to Long lead rights things
and just getting an understanding of
their availability and where there're
see joke points it could be a connection
process it could be technology adoption
lack of clarity
and governor governments Etc and I think
having that perspective I don't know if
having the SEC come in either on the
policy side or a technology side or both
and talk about each side would be useful
but I think that is that something you
could spearhead I
could okay well we'll uh brings us to
our next topic um heard the conversation
we had at the last meeting um I've
reached out to the clerk of the House of
delegates and his office and they're
very very happy to welcome us back to
the General Assembly Building um as was
the case during uh during years past
before my time
soing the General Assembly Building okay
um or the pocah building um they have uh
a brand new building that they are
opening up either later this week or
next and have asked us to connect back
with them in the month of October to
schedule out some 2024 dates so hope
that will be convenient for members
hopefully a draw to meet and keep
quorums on a regular basis but they have
all the technology we need to public
stream these and parking facilities you
name it so very excited to have that
opportunity and this will be the new
building that Happ they have all of them
that are open to us so we'll have to
pick out a um a meeting room with
them
um
is I will go ahead and open the floor
for any public comment if the several
folks online have anything to add for
the authority at this
time not hearing any uh but appreciate
everybody joining on and listening into
the authorities activities um I would
like to entertain a motion to adjourn
this point with the understanding that
we're going to be working via email uh
through our our staff leads to up some
you L your you can't
vote
to
to yeah well you got no qu you can't
hold the vote it's my
understanding St
here I believe you can still a motion
H you can still motion to a j meeting
to thank
you you I would like to to app for folks
I would like to hold a virtual meeting
on Wednesday October 4th once we've had
uh three weeks to work on this it still
gives us 11 days uh to finalize this
report
um following but we need that final
draft on October 4th so folks would BL
that off on
their calendars at this point we will
circulate a agenda and a team link to
join so thank you that's for virtual
meeting yes and what day of the week is
that that's a Wednesday
W and if you're here at the library go
out in the parking lot they've got a
whole a parking lot uh cornered off with
all the solar panels that they're about
put
on see
all
coming
down