okay technical issues can you all hear
Us
online okay all right it's all yours
excellent all right well thank you all
for joing us this morning apologies for
the slight delay um like to call this me
meeting to order um feel like we should
probably go around say our names
introduce ourselves and we will ask him
if we have a for U I'm for Sky I'm very
happy to be starting out first meeting
as chair pa
pa special guest AJ
Hall
John no long CEO but I am also chairman
of the board of shine so um Workforce
Development issue for utility SC solar
in Virginia paie Leon um a market
development director re beep attorney at
Gentry lock and president Gentry lock
consultant Ben German Virginia
Department of energy mik wsh Sherman and
Sterling and Ken appear do not have
porum is that correct correct so would
you mind remind the members present and
folks online what we're able to do and
not do today without a quum we can do
anything you can do anything except vote
on material matters like minutes or
resolutions or anything like that
excellent so we still will be able to
take minutes today take testimony and
absolutely discuss future meetings
absolutely and are there any members
online right now I can't read those I
know a couple folks said they wanted to
call in
doesn't appear so okay but would like to
remind folks who are joining us
electronically we will have time for
public comments at the close of the
meeting so appreciate virally and uh
looking forward to hearing from some of
of you all if you'd like to share some
thoughts with the authority um we will
skip item number two and before we move
on to uh presentation on grid enhancing
Tech Technologies I'd like to add a
couple items to the agenda uh first
would like to add uh a discussion of
future meeting dates and um hopefully
get a schedule for 2024 in the books
with some venues locked down for
everyone's benefit in the long term and
we also like to discuss well actually
just have an open discussion in case
folks on the authority want to share
thoughts on activities so far and uh any
other matters so um do I need a motion
to do so Ken I don't think so uh one
note though on meeting venues if we're
going to continue to use the libraries
which is what we've historically done
you can't book them more than 30 days in
advance so that becomes a little
problematic so unless I can find a
location that we can use consistently
and regularly um we can lock in the
dates but the locations might be a
little more problematic excellent well
thank you Ken I will Reserve time the
close for those two items um without
further Ado I'm happy to introduce AJ
Hall I'd like to thank hen for making
this happen uh this first suggestion at
the most recent meeting uh to have a
grid enhancing Technologies presentation
so AJ thank you for making the trip down
from Indiana thanks and then down 95
today uh but excited to hear what you
have to share yeah oh great thank you
love you presentation and I'll need to
share my
screen
okay okay I want to confirm for everyone
online can everyone see screen it looks
like yep okay yeah
perfect okay so um being that this is
the only presentation today um you know
I'm happy to take questions during the
presentation um and there's something
interesting that comes up and someone
wants to just raise your hand or
interrupt happy to do that and then I'll
try to pause uh through Midway through U
to take questions and of course do
questions at the end but anyway so as
Skyler introduced my name is AJ Paul I'm
a portfolio management director at AES
and this presentation is on grid
enhancing Technologies and how AF is
exploring a suite of flexible
technologies that we think can unlock
transmission capacity or the energy
Transit
transition okay so first a little bit
about
as so first headquartered in
Virginia uh so you know it was about an
hour down 95 to get here this morning um
we're a global Energy company and what's
unique about ases is we not only have
you know mostly generation so you know
32 uh gws in operation in a pipeline of
another 5.4 under construction
but we also have utilities so we can see
both sides of the energy transition we
have two utilities that serve a million
customers in Ohio and then serve most of
the country of El Salvador with another
four utilities and another 1.5
customers okay so jumping into the
presentation what are the key
takeaways so energy demand and
especially it was really uh really
appreciate this opportunity so got me
the opportunity to look into the
interesting low grow story here in
Virginia um but demand is growing
rapidly and Supply is queuing up to meet
that demand renewable Supply so we'll
talk about that but really transmission
compe city is a major bottleneck in inte
in delivering that uh supply to the
growing demand and so asc's great
enhancing Technologies or gets as as is
know in the industry um as a solution to
unlock this transition uh this
transmission and then we'll look a
little bit further into some
applications for dynamic line rating or
drr and then storage is
transmission um and then finally finish
with some recommendations on how
integrating prens Technologies can
position Virginia as a lader in energy
transition okay so this demand story
this is really interesting so you know
and I'm sure as many folks in Virginia
are well aware the the data center Hub
in M County and data center alley um pjm
recently revised its forecast uh you
know the grid operator for Virginia um
for the Dominion area a four to 5% low
growth over the next 15
years and this was in January and and
most of it is driven by data centers so
you can see there you know was a peak of
almost three gigs last year they're
looking to almost double that Peak by
2030 for data center load and this is
before AI really rolled out in in
Earnest right before J GPT and all those
things that are going to drive data
center load um so I could see that
dotted line there on the right hand side
going up even
more and then in the out years you after
2030 we're seeing and just say similar
Trends across the country more
electrification from uh transportation
to EVs and and then you know heat pumps
and other electrification of of Home
devices really kind of tell the story
later on in pjf load
forecast so Supply is queuing up to meet
that demand you can see the cumulative
growth of the pjm
interconnection queue here and it's
mostly renewable you can see Virginia
has 90 gaw um which is you know almost
90% renewable
um and the major growth that we're
seeing in solar solar you know hybrids
solar storage and then finally standin
storage at 50 times increase from 2018
in the que which is the storage is in
the purple bars there it's kind of hard
to see on that graph yeah so you got
2013 and 2022 yes I would assume that
going back to like 2019 and earlier is
actual not just what's in the queue it's
what's been installed is that correct
was that this is this is capacity in the
queue only so this is not this is not
looking at install base in this graph
this is just oh some some of it is
installed I mean going back to like 2015
2016 you're going to take actual data
right that was installed that point yeah
yeah this is this comes from Florence
Berkeley laboratory to the study on
interconnection cues it's been pretty
popular in the industry this year um so
this comes from their database so yes
some of the
2022 uh or 2013 projects that are
showing far left are in service but
likely actually the ones in 2019 are
not now a lot of the things that are in
the queue though and this is comes from
our past annual reports I I'll do a
synopsis of what has dropped out of the
queue and quite a bit of what's in the
queue eventually drops out of the queue
that's so what is the the likelihood
that this will actually come to fruition
to that level great question thank you
for Le
slide I get so so yeah it's taking five
years right to get through the pjm Q
right now yeah and in fact the Q has
been paused right for over a year as
they work on Q reforms and if you
submitted a project
today it wouldn't even be looked at or
studied by djm until
2026 yeah yeah so it's taking you know
five years it used to take only three
back in 2019 you get through the queue
and it's costing these projects why are
they dropping now well you know going
going back to the transmission capacity
there's not the capacity to connect
these projects so the network upgrade
cost or the cost that the property pays
not just to you know the ti line to the
transmission but the actual effect of
that generation on the system or network
upgrade cost they've ballooned from $29
a kilowatt in 2019 up to 240 today and
that's on average that's active projects
in the the queue in the previous slide
that's the average Network up Coss W but
of course they can drastically vary a
project that goes through might only
have $5 per kilowatt depending on
location um the average for storage for
instance is
$336 per KW so it's becoming five 10% of
the capital cost for these projects uh
just the interconnection
process and then yeah so why why that's
leading you to complete um you know if
you look at just the data from Lawrence
Berkley 15% of projects requested in
2017 have been completed and back in if
you had requested a project back in 2012
30% chance of completion so less are
completing if you look at pjm's data
they're discounting their queue all the
way down to only 5% of projects in their
queue will
complete um so that's why the you know
the PGM has been forecasting a um you
know uh resource Stacy U issue with coal
plants retiring and and uh you
know G gas plants retiring faster than
they can add Renewables so go back to
the previous slide yeah sure So based on
that those I here in 2021
2022
um are those projects that were
scheduled to be completed from the ENT
the queue or is that is that the
estimate is now yeah the estimate is so
like those bars on the far right uh the
estimate would be at least five years so
maybe insert commercial operation dates
of 2026 2027 for this so that so it's
wider than it looks there yes
yes good question thank
you okay so you know what is the rec
calls of this it's really transmission
capacity transmission capacity has not
kept up with the electrification demand
that we see and the r the demand for
Renewables as you know ulatory and um
honestly just the the economics of of
Renewables have come down so much and so
a pron study that's been widely used in
the industry um seees that we need
additional 60% of our transmission
capacity by 2030 so that's building
Decades of transmission infrastructure
in the next seven years um and you can
see you know how do we do that well the
traditional methods are very expensive
and take a long time you know citing and
permitting and building the transmission
can be as much as you know as if you
look at capacity per mile um you know
10,000 per MOG Mile and this is based on
data from pjm uh post at project
estimates for um transition Improvement
projects that that have been submitted
so just a rough analysis of those
projects but then you can see some
options for Grand caning Technologies
below such as Dynamic line reading and
storage and transmission um can be a
solution uh for much less time and
then much less cost than
transmission so it's something that we
can
consider all right so what are these
ghing technology
IES so before I kind of get to the the
text on the left just to
cover the the different Technologies
here and and I'll just preface this with
there's no standard in the industry on
what is a grid enhancing technology
there's some that would only three of
these would be you know a technology
that can improve transmission capacity
but really I think as takes a broad view
and says any flexible technology that
can alleviate transmission capacity
whether that's demand response or um a
something that you put in the aset on
the transmission system is something we
want to explore so starting at the top
left um flexible Alterna current
transmission systems for fast these have
been around for decades right so these
are like serious capacitors um that you
can put on a long transmission line to
compensate for reative power allowing
you to transfer uh more energy
and then a modern evolution of that with
Solid State power Electronics is
powerful control so these are Solid
State power electronics that be located
a substation that could kind of push and
pull power away from different
transmission lines storage and
transmission we'll talk a little bit
about uh later in the
presentation but suffice to say that
it's solving problems locally versus uh
you know delivering energy locally
versus transmitting power over a long
distance to all the optimization looks
at um the the grid and looks for areas
where you can reconfigure it um that
will solve contingencies or solve issues
on the grid so for instance opening a
tiebreaker at a substation while you may
be uh intuitive that you should always
have all the breakers closed that can
allow power to flow suboptimally um and
so there's there's been some examples of
the market of U you know switching out
switches or Breakers uh in order to re
power Dynamic F ring again we'll touch
on further but it's it's monitoring
ambient conditions and in the field in
order to get the most out of
transmission line capacity and then
finally virtual power plant that's I
would say you know primary like demand
response programs right so I have an
electric vehicle icon on there but it
could be EVS bed air condition units Etc
then again solve the problem locally so
you don't have to transmit as much power
all of these are solutions that should
be
evaluated alongside traditional upgrades
and and how do they provide value so
before it's before transmission is built
right they can offset or um defer a
traditional investment and solve those
Network upgrades that we were talking
about previously uh for less expensive
costs and then you know during
construction all of the infrastructure
that we have to build all the
transmission we have to build uh in the
next decade or so to integrate this
these Renewables are going to involve
outages and things like drr where you
have a sensor that you can mount below
transmission line um and and get up and
running in three months you could do
that prior to
construction mitigate that outage so you
have more capacity on that line and as
soon as transmission is built pull Those
sensors down and move them on to the
next project um because they're at a
cost and uh you know installation time
that allows you to do that I mean these
transmission construction projects could
be years long so you can do three six
months Preparatory work for that and
then finally just after transmission is
built right you consider them if you're
building a new line consider putting
some of these Technologies in place such
as flexible Alterna alter correct
transmission systems you're building a
long transmiss transmission line um you
know consider these different
technologies that can make their cost
benefit ratio even
higher any questions on this slide I
know there's kind of a lot a longer
review before we'll jump into um DLR and
storage after this will you be talking
at all so this is the technology
solutioning component of this there is a
significant regulatory both at the level
as well as at the state Corporation
level that has to be addressed in
parallel to this in order to do this
because right now there's a number of
challenges that would includ will some
of this work being paid for etc etc I
completly agree and we see the
regulatory push in parallel to one
investing into Technologies and and at
the same
time going to State uh Corporation
commissions and going to um the RTO pjm
um and pushing for moving from Pilots to
demonstrations of these Technologies um
I get to that a little bit the
recommendations but happy to yeah I
think that's really where a lot of the
discussion is because uh you know a
regulated utility is incentivized it's a
Cost Plus benefit model right so it's as
has regula utility so I understand that
U speaking uh carefully here but we are
also looking at um what is the right way
to
incentivize uh you know using a cheaper
faster technology than a than a
traditional investment that you would
earn a higher you know rated return reg
rated
return so yeah we I think we'll maybe
have some more discussion on few slides
from now good so any other questions on
the
Technologies it's a real broad overview
again I'm not going to get into all six
of these uh today
but
okay so
drr so the industry is and most the most
widespread practice across the industry
is using static line ratings which is
just a conservative approach assuming
kind of worst case conditions either
summer or winter or sometimes it's it's
a standard rating all year um for what a
conductor uh the power conductor can
transmit which you can see on the right
hand top right uh you know there's a lot
of there's different factors that affect
a conductor's heating um and again why
why do we about conductor heating
because as transmission lines heat up
they sag into an unsafe area so there's
there's limits to how much they can sag
as well as um you know really high
temperatures they can cause a kneeling
on the conductor and damage the
conductor and so you know there's
there's three Factor well really four
one is how much current you're putting
through but other than the power you're
transmitting it's radi of cooling so
what's the ambient temperature outside
how much is how much sunlight is inting
the conductor or solar Radiance and then
uh convective pulling or wind and that
is the most in the heat equation that is
the most important factor is the wind
and what angle it's bling against the
conductor so FK is already active here
and
881 requires utilities by 2025 to use
ambient adjusted ratings so take into
account that radi of cooling on the
conductor however that still uh makes a
lot of assumptions you know you're using
local you're not using um local
localized data on the transmission line
you're you're you know looking at a
broad weather area and still having to
use some conservative assumption so
maybe that gets you again uh maybe 10 to
15% additional capacity on the line but
really what the technology can enable is
dynamic line range so putting sensors in
the field to monitor uh the assets
directly and take into account that
solar heating and most importantly the
wind speed u in conditions on the
conductor and so you see it what does
that do on the graph at the bottom right
you know on a cool cloudy and windy day
when you take all those factors into
account you can see the amount of
additional capacity or megawatts that
You' been transmit on a on a line um
versus you know even on a hot sunny and
calm day it's likely drr is going to
divide Radiance above and beyond what
static radi do and of course drr can sit
prevent you from hurting your conductor
you can see the line starts to dip a
little bit below at the end the red line
This below the blue which is blue is
static rating um there's a there's times
when it's actually not safe to transmit
as much power as the line is rated for
and the drr can help with that as
well so how can DLR be applied so uh and
as is actually partnering with the
company showing the picture there line
Vision our utilities in Ohio and Indiana
but you know it can take less than two
months to deploy uh these again there's
different technology some involve
sensors on the line some involve um just
local wind State uh
we stations or or anemometers and things
like
that but it can take weeks really to
deploy on a transmission line and then
you know another three months or so can
train the the data in order to um you
know get the computational flu Dynamics
models and the the the algorithms to get
to the point where um they can provide
uh Dynamic line readings and so you know
just some examples in the industry but
you know a 500 or half a million dollar
$500,000 uh DLR installation can Offset
you know a $10 million transmission
rebuild and again this is not uh not
saying that we're
never going to build transmission of
course transmission is a solution it's a
yes and we're going to build
transmission but drr can in a targeted
sense if you're building a new
transition line to solve a 10%
overload that's a great DLR solution um
now if you're if you if you have 100%
overload DLR is not uh you're going to
need more transmission right uh but
we've seen instances is in our
experience where we can we've been able
to offset potentially offset major
transmission builds and this is proven
with B so actually in pjm right now
they're using DLR in their transmission
operations control center um PPL won an
Edison award for this which is a
industry Innovation so they're using it
now but are they are they using it to
evaluate projects entering a
que they're using great question they're
using an operation right right now not
and that I'm glad you brought that up
because that is the the biggest push and
that goes back to Paul's question on on
regulatory it needs to be a planning
solution not just an operational
solution and those those Horizons are in
the industry are uh melting together
more as software tools and forecasting
gets better um but it's it's it's a push
we need to make in the industry uh
to actually make a no planning
solution okay was just
PPL yes now others um including I think
some Utilities in Virginia do have
active Pilots of drr technology I think
Dominion for instance has uh some pil
with line V Vision or I'm not sure
exactly the vendors but um just on some
brief research yes than so I'm just
curious yeah so this is monitoring the
conditions on the line what is it doing
to actually control the the conditions
yeah so it's it's monitoring when um
again there's different Technologies
line Vision uses a lar sensor you can
see at the top there that actually is
going to tell you how much your
transmission line is
sagging um but there's others that just
use localized wind speed and and and um
all of them use some kind of weather
data right right but it's not actually
controlling the power flow it's just
informing the operation cing the
Operation Center um hey you are able to
transmit 1,600 amps on this
line at this time and it's forecasting
that right because it's not valuable
they can't if you can't forecast out
because a lot of um you know planning
and and transmission operations happens
in like you know day ahead uh
reliability studies and day Ahad markets
that are Bid into for generators
um so yeah typically they can forecast
two weeks out but you know weather
forecast two weeks out are not the most
accurate in the world so they're more
accurate of course uh coming
into Horizon I'm sorry another question
so based on that it seems to me that
your your best capacity would be during
the winter is that correct it's actually
the shoulder Seasons okay usually yeah
but not when the demand Capac is going
to be the highest
um yes so I I going back to one more
slide like you see hot sunny calm so
like so a day like today it's 90 degrees
maybe there's not a lot of wind um yeah
you're not going you might not get as
much capacity out of the line so that
that has to be factored in to your
solution now you might get still an
additional 10% and that might be all you
need right and and there's you know two
2% of the year that you might uh you not
have more capacity than static line read
can I yeah SP a little on that because I
I think what John where you were going
was that because it's colder because
you're left there yeah you get more head
but because many utilities have winter
peaking
load available
capacity even though you do get more
margin as you can see look wor case
scenario exactly so in the shoulder
months we have a reduction in cooling
load as well as heating load so in terms
of available capacity shoulder periods
probably have the lowest demand which
then increases our heads in hosting
toate yeah and that's a good point and
also a lot of Chili's have winter static
ratings already and so if you look at
actual Improvement this would build you
know that blue line in the winter might
be actually higher for instance U
seasonality yeah if they spr
that few questions
thanks okay so storage so I example
there's an example here from from
Germany uh but there are some instances
in the US we can talk about but
essentially what storage can do is it
can allow transmission lines that are
typically radial connected so think of
like this example in they have all the
wind generation in the north and they
have the low centers in the South and so
you have a limited number of long
transmission lines that can carry that
power and so if one one of those lines
goes out um then there's you know a lot
of curtailment right that happens and so
what storage can do is when located at
each end it can provide that back in a
contingency it can solve uh it can you
know provide the power of the
contingency and allow you know both
lines in the middle pain here to
transmit more power there's a similar
example in N Tucket
uh n National Grid has you know there's
subseed cables that feat and Tucket and
they were looking at putting in a third
subseed cable at $200 million they
decided to do a six uh think it's a six
megawatt 8 Hour battery um to provide
power at you know maybe a cost of 50
million the actual project cost but much
cheaper solution so storage based on the
C based on cost right now really need
needs to be applied in areas where you
have very high cost for transmission
upgrade or high cost to uh in
availability to find rideway for
transmission you can site storage
locally right without um major right
away but I would say the storage of
transmission in the US is not as far
along in the
commercialization as Dynamic blind
ratings but it's coming
soon in terms of storages applicable to
transmission to yes storages
transmission sometimes it's prer to
storage as a transmission only adet or
as transmission uh obviously storage
sided with um Renewables and and for uh
uh you know gas keeper Replacements
those things as far along we saw that
back in the queue but specifically for
transmission which is
how uh right now even in in the German
example it's the full capacity of that
storage is reserved for that
transmission contingency so that there
can't you can't be also using it as a an
asset fit into the commercial energy
market so it's for resource adoc
capacity right you can't do that that's
right that's right so can you opine on
why in the US were behind what they're
doing in Germany where we have the same
capacity
strings
um I don't I don't really have a a good
answer there I the example here is from
flu which is an as sister me I know
col's former all mo here so um call you
have any comments it's a good question
I'm I'm wondering if there regulatory or
policy reasons why it becomes a more
accepted solution in Europe first um I
think probably a lot of it is finding
the right applications Germany very
specifically there's that you know
Renewables in the north and and load in
the South um it's also a newer um uh
technology in terms of the inverter
technology so grid forming inverters
rather than grid following inverters
which are the typical technology that
energy storage uses and that enables it
to respond you know essentially
instantaneously the way that a spinning
generator would and that that technology
is becoming more widespread and it's a
more sophisticated application of energy
storage and as is also looking at some
opportunities within our
utilities
been
offsetting a new distribution substation
in a local area by using storage as an
example so there's like I said I think
is coming in the next couple
years all right so this is my final
slide on recommendations so and this
will get back to some of things were
talking about Paul so what what are the
things we can do um here in Virginia so
we should encourage continued
demonstration or demonstration of a new
flexible grid abling Technologies so
there is increased Federal funding for
this right now the DOE
um grent program as well as others
offers uh you know cost shares to either
utilities or even um universities and
other research
organizations um for demonstrating new
technologies and then this gets to the
the question here about planning
processes know we need to require
utilities to consider gets in the
transmission and IRP uh planning
processes
and provide justification that they're
not used you know the next IRP cycle or
the next transmission planning
cycle that utility should be able you
should ask the question why are you not
considering great enhancing Technologies
this this is a way to uh you know
deliver capacity for the these coming
loads like for instance data center
alley these customers want to be up in
operational in 24 months and you can't
build transmission that fast so so as a
carent for
you know utilities you want this load on
your system these Technologies can
actually get that load onto your system
faster um and then we can interconnect
generate the you know solve that
interconnection queue with some of these
flexible Technologies and prevent you
know only 15% of uh those projects or
only 5% let's say in those projects in
the PGM Q from or the ne are allowed to
complete and then
ultimately load pays for all of this
whether it's if generation is more
expensive to connect or um we need to
build more transmission to connect data
centers customers pay for this and their
in their bills and
um we should be looking at the best uh
Solutions the best available technology
in order to uh make sure that this
energy transition is
Affordable and then finally on the
incentives piece you know recommend
advising the SEC to support regulatory
incentives so greatness and Technologies
can compete on equal footing and that
can look like some performance incentive
that can look like um incentives for U
you know a cost savings share where the
the what's what's Sav and rate base in
the utility can share some of that cost
savings there's some models being talked
about in different jurisdictions and you
know B put because I put a tweet in
there maybe it's called an X now or
something elon's changes but um you know
Burke is coming out with an
interconnection noer uh or a ruling on
the interconnection noer that was put
out last year could be even this week um
and it's going to have language that
says utilities should use great advaning
Technologies as a part of the
interconnection processes at least
that's what the industry I I don't have
a crystal ball um but fer has been very
active and looking at how do we that
they recognize the same problem with
limited transmission capacity and they
recognize the problem that it's going to
be very expensive to build that capacity
if we don't use all the tools in our
tool
boxs and that's I think that's yeah
that's the last slide so um can any
question ask a question this is going to
be a dumb question for everybody else in
the room so I apologize um how much if
any of our need to enhance transmission
is due just to the demand side The
increased demand for electricity versus
the shift to Renewables on the
generation side I think it has to be I
think it has to be both you know
developers aren't building um projects
with no off-taker right and so um yes
the que I mean you looked at go back to
that pjm Q um didn't 297 gaw is is more
more than pjm's peak of like 160 or
something like that some Peak so yes not
all of this is going to be built that's
a very inflated 2007 is probably like
160 or something yes agree agree with
you and got think that Renewables don't
have you know the effective lcer
capacity is not their name plate
capacity right so we're going to build
more name plate capacity then we have
Peak but yeah to your question uh I I
think it's both you know at least from
speaking from as's standpoint like we
are not building Pro we're not looking
at developing projects where we don't
have an off-taker so we're seeing both
yes there's incredible with the demand
for building Renewables with the IRA um
but we're also seeing offers you know
and uh you know load serving entities
consistently to you know demand
renewable but but it's nothing special
about Ren reble generation it's just the
increased demand that's going to require
I think that I think
it's yeah it's both and you got to think
too that with the transition these solar
uh farms and and then also um you know
wind generation is located away from the
load centers typically right more maybe
so than a gas or a coal or nuclear plant
um and so that hence requires more War
transmission the generation profiles
highly different that you would expect
from
like plan gas yeah because of because
they're not uh you know
98% uh online all the time you need more
transmission to to share when the sun is
you know wind is blowing one place so so
Skyler and I and others deal with policy
makers a lot some of whom aren't super
supportive of our transition Renewables
and so these are the types of things
that they point going to and say see
these costs you're piling on because of
the transition so so what I would
actually add to that is that this year
so for
2022 there were 20 billion dollar of
transmission congestion costs for
consumers in the US the year before that
it was 13 billion the year before that
it was half that so it's not that we're
trying to make room for New Generation
and new load it's that there isn't room
for the new generation and the new load
that is already there so it's like these
are costs that can be
alleviated by using gets by you know
using storage is transmission and
integrating Renewables that way so the
congestion I want to make sure I get
that's right so the congestion charges
your statement suggests that instead of
like the day ahead demand and the same
day demand which which is you know
pushing us towards those congestion
charges by introduction of this into the
planning process as well as the
operation process that 20 billion or 40
billion in projection whatever the
number is going to be for next year we
shifting and
reducing by getting active now so an
investment now could potentially reduce
congestion charges which are being
passed on they're either absorbed by the
utility and then
manest themselves as a GRC approval
right a general rate case approval or
they get passed on depending on the cni
they to deal with in terms of capacity
charges and Ratchet charges things of
that nature exactly and to take it to
like a really you know simple example if
you have a line that's congested today
because it has a static rating and you
could apply DLR and you could increase
that rating by an average of 40% or by
up to
40% then the congestion charges due to
congestion on that line would go down
that's just kind of like the that's the
the core action that would help
alleviate congestion across the
US what are the besides the cost of
investment what are the counterarguments
to this are there any besides
cost in Virginia Dominion is not
incentivized to
implement Catherine B she's not on the
call she on the call no I don't think so
back
minutes we can't we can't take
minutes um I is this stuff not covered
by grid
mod uh the doe program or these
Investments I mean obviously dominions
incentivized to build more transmission
and F C they are so they they can be
capitalized by utilities that's right
they're at lower cost than transmission
so that's that's a hindrance rather
build the transmission but that's a
hindrance to the regulatory construct
that utilities are using not an actual
hindrance to the you know benefits of
the grid other than incentive which I I
agree is the biggest one I think there's
there's the trust issue too right so
this is a technology this is not Steel
wires in the ground so you have to build
enough trust in the industry to move
into that planning Horizon you have to
convince you know pjm and the utilities
and
say yes we can prove we have enough data
we can prove that you're going to get at
least 5% additional capacity of this
line all year because some some major
transmission lines will be rebuilt at
tens of million dollars a cost for a 5%
overload of a contingency so not in real
time but if this other line is out this
line is going to be overload by 5% which
might only
happen and maybe 5% of the year and so
or less four or less it could happen
once it could happen once every 10 year
and some that's how some of the planning
processes are so we have the technology
to move to move away from some of the
conservative approaches that we've had
in the past and we have to move more
toward a problem istic planning versus
determinist that we use another barrier
is the fact that pjm's not using VR in
their valuation studies as a developer
I'm not going to assume they will be
sometime in the future when I develop a
project I'm just going to go with what
they're doing right now right so that's
going to keep a developer from assuming
that he's not to pay for an upgrade on
transmission
line he's going to assume he's going to
have to pay yeah but putting aside the
incentives and uh and I get all of that
if to me it was just altruistic suddenly
tomorrow are there barriers to them
doing these types of making these types
of
Investments um legal
barriers um I I you know as far as you
know the technology uses like a lot of
them use cellular networks and things
and there's a lot of you know course
data um privacy in cyber security that
has you you're putting more sensors out
there but that's no nothing new the
smart greater grade mod programs that
probably Dominion is already working on
um so I don't really see a material
barrier from a a legal standpoint um I
mean these
industry the industry from like from a
DLR honestly almost everything on this
page maybe except for um you know the
VPP which is domain response is well uh
know and then the facts on the top left
is pretty well known um you know they're
they are somewhat new there's a lot of
of uh you know companies doing pilots
and few have operationalized it as I
mentioned I didn't have a really good us
example of stores transmission other
than in Tucket so there's not a a lot of
Market traction but it's coming that's
why you know uh Colleen and I are both
in our new AJ Technologies Group at as
and so you know as as well as a lot of
other companies I think including like I
said including Dom men I believe um are
looking into some of these Technologies
sorry goad so From aes's perspective and
I know obviously you're you're
representing your your company's
position here you had a comment there
about getting sec to support regulator
incentives so that gets can compete on
equal footing with traditional upgrades
that's an alternativ analysis that has
to be introduced at the fundamental
component because the SEC and we know
the engineering gr at the SEC they don't
have the resource EX to do this let
alone advise the non-engineering side of
the SEC on how to best proceed so in
your perfect world where do you see
Virginia the SEC and and by the way the
SEC doesn't direct pjm yes they direct
the state of Virginia the Commonwealth
of Virginia and bur and pjm have the
overall umbrella on transmission
jurisdiction and and what happens so now
you set up a a contest between these two
entities where they're not necessarily
aligned in objectives or their processes
how do we address that and and what's
what's our role here to influence that
and and bring those worlds together I
mean so going to the first
recommendation one we need to De we need
more Market traction so we need to do
more pilots and then further operational
operationalizations so like uh PPL did
right so you if you prove the technology
it's hard for Regulators to say well
this is
unprovable this is not what we should do
um as so we are also in my because we
have a utility indana so we recently
presented at their planning uh uh it's
called a planning activity committee uh
where they they govern that how do we
plan our transmission and so we
presented a similar presentation there
so I think working at ases is working at
all levels so we're looking with ber we
submitting comments to you know B doe
doe I would say is very like FK is very
active um you know we are working at the
Congressional level as well on some of
these uh initiatives but of course um
you know Congress mov that okay so we
recognize that um and then so again so
yeah working pjm and miso and then with
our utilities we're actually looking not
just in our own but we're looking at
other Utilities in our Serv territory
where as might have projects and and go
into that utility and saying hey we
think we could do DLR here to mitigate
this network upgrade and having them say
you know they can say yes or no but
we're going to bring that issue up to
the um Regional transmission
organization or RTO um and keep pushing
that off lad so I think you have to kind
of work that at all levels and I I we
have seen that again do per from the top
side of that say which they were talking
about I think is they are pushing
through this we've seen a lot of
traction on that and I would just add to
that you know I think that uh of course
SEC you know they they don't have
jurisdiction over pjm for but
um we we do need to implement FK 881 in
in a way in Virginia and if in Virginia
we say hey we're implementing 881 with a
preference of using
DLR uh that is a good message to send to
F to say this is how we've implemented
ambient adjusted ratings we have done
something that qualifies for ambient
adjusted and goes beyond that um we've
used the best available technology that
that we can use to to do that and then
on on pjm side what's great about
already having a pilot example in pjm
you can go to pjm's website and under
the transmission operations line ratings
you can download the everyday's um DLR
ratings on the lines that it's being
used on and so that's that process is
already in place to operationalize DLR
and pjm and and so that's you know where
Dominion can so what is there is just
contined awareness
education yeah effectively laying out
the road map for how SEC is going to do
this how pjm and SEC could work
together yeah sounds like we need
legislation yeah so my question Greg
might be able to answer this but order
for these recommendations that you make
AJ to to take effect requiring utilities
to consider
advis which both of those require
legislation with the advice
SEC
ba something the government could do
unilaterally yeah I'm not exactly
sure well yeah that's why I was asking
if this stuff's covered by the grid mod
bill and when you go back to the
legislation that's been passed like to
get
the the solar legislation to scale solar
I think it' be the same sort of thing
yeah I mean to to direct the SEC to
interpret the rules liberally to to let
those sort of projects they through
easier than other projects yeah I mean
there's the SEC has some general like
rate payer protection language that they
can if they were a little more
aggressive of of a utility regulatory
body could extend to saying we can
direct some of these things but they
that that's totally different than
Virginia has ever done so certainly if
you're going to try to direct SEC is not
going to have the power to direct it be
done right all they all we can all
legislation can do I think is is tell
them they can interpret existing rules
liberally to give those projects prer
and I mean you could pass a bill that
says SEC can only
approve costs submitted by the opinion
where you know these Technologies are
you can do
that right literally that's literally
you could pass a bill to did that if you
had the
votes could you say a certain amount of
investment in Gs or a certain amount of
investment in pilot projects be in
public interest yeah yeah although
everybody's hating the public interest
language more and more yeah
Administration last week and they said
they're trying to get rid of as much of
that as they can no you could you could
make it clear what they can be
reimbursed on you could say they shall
consider these as a lower cost
alternative there's lots of ways you
could put it in there um and there are
already times where you know the
opposite of this is like the de SEC said
hey the wind project that's super
expensive but we're not allowed to say
you can't do it therefore we're going to
let you do it but had you not said we
can't say that we would have told you
can't do that project when it comes to
Dominion really comes down to what's
best for them um and if it's the bottom
line it's better for them to build a
transmission that's what they're going
to do well they have a fici
responsibility they're share holders
just like the ads right I mean that's a
corporation that's a corporation unless
you um as we did with solar say a
certain amount of this is in the public
interest so then the way used do
Virginia is the pilot program legislated
yeah I go back to you though it is in's
interest to put more
days that and so this is something you
could do in six months on an existing
transition line you know in Northern
Virginia that is where they're looking
at Major 500 KV upgrades things like
that that are going to take years so to
me and we as is seeing the same thing so
the initial use cases are and we're
seeing a lot of you know uh like Honda
for instance just announcing a battery
Factory in Southern Ohio that's in our
service territory that certain the
existing problem of getting solar on the
grid it's not going to be
evaluated yes it it's but to me if
you're if you're utility doing that for
a customer how are you not doing that
for Generation as well right it's not
most but it is a wedge it's getting it's
it's saying you now have this on your
you're now evaluating this as part of
your toolbox uh for integrating load it
should also be it again I think it still
advances The Narrative there is barrier
I ad it's not the same Integra
generation is an exact same I I think to
the the extent that a corporation has a
a primary obligation of safety
reliability secondary obligations to
shareholders that's as a public
corporation we have to align the
Technologies and the Alternatives
analysis for that this if is if this is
possible to meet that level of of cost
reimbursable or fair value then it has
to be you know presented that way if you
don't do that just because it's a
technology solution
it is not
necessarily able to people who are not
technology folks are not necessarily
going to be able to make a financial
jump in the Alternatives analysis to say
this the a better solution and I think
that's what the industry needs to do
here in order to move this forward
because the go the do nothing solution
is a
powerful momentum you know solution onto
how we upgrade the grid because safety
and reliability become the first thing
so I think it the the honest is on
industry to put this in a way and
demonstrate to the regulators and
demonstrate to the our ISO toos that
this is a viable solution and it does
alleviate some of the capacity
constraints and can be used as part of
the planning process for dynamic ratings
to to give you some breath and maybe
allow some of these prodcts go forward I
don't think it's been demonstrated at
least not to the extent where people
would have confidence to adopt and
that's the demonstration projects that I
think we everybody
yes with that thank you so much AJ we'll
uh keep you around in case there's extra
time or additional questions during open
discussion but appreciate you taking the
time to be here and filling Us in on an
exciting topic thank you copy that yeah
would you be willing to share one
y thank
you appreciate that um moving on now is
back perfect timing Ken um want to
briefly discuss the annual report and
what we can be doing to prepare for this
fall um I'll have Kim remind us of the
instructions that the Administration has
given us on a shortened report and um
and a harsh deadline or a deadline that
they expected the meet this year but
before we do so I shared some copies of
um essentially the legislation that
renewed the solar and solar energy
development and energy storage Authority
uh until 2025 I just want to call to
everyone's attention a few different
items um in terms of the the purpose
among other things of the authorities to
facilitate coordinate and support the
development of these Technologies in
Virginia and promote the Commonwealth
solar and energy storage Industries
positioning the Commonwealth as a leader
in research development
commercialization manufacturing and
deployment of
energy energy storage and solar energy
technology um in terms of the powers and
duties of the authority uh you have the
entire list but I'll call your attention
to number 11 identify and take steps to
mitigate existing state and Regulatory
or administrative B barriers to the
development of solar energy and energy
storage Industries including
facilitating anyting
processes number 13 collaborate with
entities including institutions of
higher education that increase training
development Workforce needed by the
solar and energy storage
Industries 15 promote collaborative
efforts among the Commonwealth public
and private
institutions uh Higher Education and
Research development and Cur
personalization of efforts related to
energy storage and 16 to monitor
developments of energy storage
technology and employment nationally and
disseminate relevant
information and research results and in
terms of the the the requirement to
submit an an annual report it's it's
rather vague but it says two things we
need to include in the report our
activities of the authority as well as
recommendations with the governor to the
leader of the leaders of the general
assmbly including the relevant
committees so with this report and a
more digestable 10 to 15 page package um
we hope to take the step forward this
year and make some recommendations and
and follow what the authority uh was was
set out to do in legislation and hopes
that the general assembly and the
governor sees fit to extend and pass
2025 so Ken would you remind us briefly
about the uh what the report will look
like well I don't have the guance in
front of me but generally it's keep it
short keep it to what the authority
actually worked on don't go into items
that are outside of what the authority
has looked at over the past year uh and
that's basically what the entire report
in the past has been it's what is
happening in
Virginia and if it doesn't have anything
to directly do with the authority
apparently they don't want to see it y
well I hope that frees up some brain
power of authority members and for staff
to uh get a a very solid shorter list of
recommendations and summaries of
activities in the past the authority has
never made any recommendations they
chose to instead do this very
long you
know narrative on what's going on in
Virginia can I make a comment please um
so I I don't remember this bill in 2015
when we voted on it so I apologize I
don't remember the pitch of it but it's
inter in to me that this is not a
commission it's an authority um and it's
a political subdivision and it has
significant Powers Beyond advising and
making suggestions I mean in theory this
Authority could develop solar projects
I'm not suggesting that's a good idea um
but I mean I you know I was on the code
commission the code commission evaluates
legislative ideas Valu proposals takes
feedback and makes recommendations
that's what a commission does it's not
it's not an authority it's not a PL
subdivision plal subdivisions can borrow
money invest money run programs all
kinds of
things to me like and I I don't again I
don't remember how it was pitched but um
I feel like my impression is it's kind
of act as acted as a commission maybe
that's what it ought to be and maybe
ought be reenacted as a commission not
an authority um but I'd be curious for
folks to spend some time actually
reading 1902 what it can actually do and
is there space to actually um make
advances using the unique powers given
to an
authority I don't have any answers I had
never read the enabling legislation till
I'm sure I read when I voted on it but
yeah was a Hugo bill from what I've been
able to gather but um I was one of the
people that lobed for it back in the day
but
um it's been a long time it was just at
that point in time we wanted to get
something going in Virginia regarding so
we kind of throwing spting on the while
see see what might stick yeah and we
thought having an authority um like this
would would help that but you know at
the same time we were also working with
the minion to get the 500 megawatt and
then the 5 gwatt everything else P so um
anyway here we are yeah and maybe in a
pre- clean economy act World maybe there
was different vision for how you
you don't need Authority yeah I'm not
saying we don't need it I'm not saying
that at all I'm just saying at that
point in time I think it was developed
for something different we're here now
yeah try to look at um what we have here
and and and do what we can I you know
I've talked about this before I know
focus a lot on f scale solar there's so
many working groups working on util
scale
solar um I always kind of thought that
maybe this group should focus on uh know
behind the meter installations
but that's just my thought well cly
right now the SEC work group on the
resources is meeting was BR
yeah all includes all the above right
how go in and I think initially that
then the a lot of the intent was for um
with the authority to focus on behind
met meter installation
but uh again the market of Virginia has
become something different yeah so great
so to that point that you bring up right
so you're right we do have broad po
right we have no budget no Forum well
right
now not worry about that
but one of the things in Ken by saying
you know we haven't made recommendations
I mean clearly there have been some
opportunities for us to either call in
Specialists and get
invis um there are the disconnects that
we see at the state level versus the
federal level and those are
creating basically impediments for for
forward progress and some of the things
of which we have this the right to say
something so perhaps this is our
opportunity in those 15 pages to to
address one of the problems that we're
seeing or several of the problems and
come up with Rec strong
recommendations whether they're accepted
by leadership State
leadership
is you know to be determined but of
course I think that's what the authority
could do and and we would have a basis a
path and that's often all that
leadership needs is a potential path for
people to look at and then iterate to
reality how do we actually impl things
so I think as a starting point Skylar I
I think if we could do something like
that that could be useful and and not
necessarily require a budget per se but
would require folks to think about what
budgets would be required if we were to
implement this type of road map which is
something that and you were appointed as
an independent
Authority make the recommendations
regardless of what you think they're
going to think about them that's that's
my advice they might not like them but
if you as a group feel these are
important things that need to take place
to move the market forward and make the
recommendations I see several right from
this presentation we just saw what we
can put forward to add just on the what
have we done in the past I want to
remind the group that we have executed a
storage in Virginia study that was in I
want to say 2018 I believe yeah and I
forget how we received funds to execute
that we paid for it we paid the
authority no the okay was a budget
amendment too right was you know I can't
remember whether that was State funds or
whether we used federal funds for that
to be honest with that I have to go back
and look and I I believe that was I mean
the recommendation coming out of that
report was some 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts
of energy storage in the public interest
of Virginia Which then that next
legislative session well actually that
they only shot for maybe less thousand
okay and then in the
legislation they they exceed far
exceeded that they far exceeded but
there were other lots of other
recommendations in there also that may
or may not still still be valid I don't
know you know the world has changed so
much in the last four years yeah yeah
but go back to the Strat and Report see
what they got right yeah remind
ourselves
yeah so we will
have can please chime in here we will
have um the summary of minutes from the
presentations we heard on the 28th of
April we'll have AJ's report and then
hopefully next agenda item talk about
who else we want to hear from in order
to um summarize our current activities
and then take that step forward to make
recommend ations how do we as an
authority want to uh begin drafting this
how do we want to um formulate this
report are we going to ask Ken and his
team to develop a draft maybe first
compile a lot of the minutes take a um
take some of the takeaways from each of
the presentations and and list those out
how do we want to operate as an
authority to get this document
started before our next meeting in
September that we can meet that October
deadline let me ask a question so in the
past I'm not saying that I think it's
what we should do we had always kind of
shi away from we've been kind of been
factual for information I don't know if
we had
really um been out there putting out
recommendations on for
Action um am I am I wrong what in our in
the anual annual report have we it seems
like we've been kind of this is the
state of the solar industry in Virginia
have we provided
um actual recommendations for
legislation you have not I didn't think
so would it be inappropriate to do that
I I nope
okay the BL report is this thing what
Ken was mentioning earlier with a
direction from the director of the
department is don't give a summary of
what the industry looks like summarize
your activity and make recommendations
to the governor and to the general
assembly so that's it's going to free us
up to give a short report and give us
the opportunity to make those yes
recommendations and and we have a
director who is very tuned to these
issues and he's looking for feedback
yeah and in conversations with folks
within the administration they
understand how important this is they
understand how much demand there is for
new energy and they're looking for
advice and recommendations so I think
that there will be more interest this
year in reading this 15-page report than
in the years's past the director was at
our last imp person meeting and so it's
the deputy secretary of Commerce and
trade so they are checking on us on a
regular basis and I want to see this and
and so what my comment is to the role of
authority is it doesn't just have to be
Hey Jo somebody should pass this policy
it could be heyj somebody use the
authority this way to help Advance the
policy that you're looking for um and
whether it's a place to receive federal
monies and issue grants to try to run
pilots on some of these programs they're
like it could literally be that again
I'm not saying that's right I'm not
saying the administration wants to give
up control I'm not whatever but the
recommendations could be a role for this
group to play not just suggesting ideas
but actually implementing things to ADV
the
industry
anybody else have any thoughts on how to
move for with the
report Ken would you be willing to work
with your team to develop kind of a
framework for us to take a look at over
the next month or so um summarizing what
we've heard during our meetings in
2023 and um at least listing out some of
the recommendations that have been made
by our presenters for our consideration
at the next
meeting sure appreciate that my team
will be
made I hoping I'm hoping Aaron will help
you is he online he
was yeah I'm sure I can get some
information he's been working very
closely with the localities and there
are issues out there great and I um love
to get the some eyes on this and send it
out to the authority as soon as we're
ready to first comments before the the
hopeful September
meeting no further discussion um let's
move on to
a
brainstorm of future presentation topics
uh Colleen believe you mentioned this in
our last last meeting we discussed
offline um a desire to have the data
center uh data companies or the data
center coalitions to Come Share their
perspectives on how they want to consume
solar energy and how quickly they need
to um see this new energy come online as
demonstrated by AJ's report um I had
conversations with a data center
operator who is going to point us in the
direction of the data center Coalition
that's active in Virginia thinking that
the data center Coalition will be a
little bit more free to share some
thoughts and
recommendations uh that an individual
company might not be able to um so
there's one opportunity that we can
reach out to thank you for for that
recommendation um I'd like to hear
the um thoughts of the authority but
last time I I mentioned the desire to
hear from local leaders I've since had a
convers have had conversations with a
few different counties as well as Veo
with some
wishy-washy um commitments on whether
they would want to or whether they can
come present present their perspective
on local permitting to the authority um
I believe the line from Vego is they
might be able to after their annual
meeting this fall that would be too late
but like to extend a second formal
invitation uh to them to come share
their thoughts um and that they're very
active in this in the Solar pering
conversations at the the county level
and serve as a resource to many counties
and I figured Veo would be a phenomenal
way to uh consolidate
the the thoughts and the feelings of
folks at the county level so put a pin
in that but I have tried um also wanted
to potentially get an update from
Storage developers um I know we have
DeLorean represented on the authority
but there are several other developers
uh developing standal load storage in
Virginia um I've shared the 2018 Report
with with one of them and asked hey is
this still what you're seeing or do you
have any updates for um or thoughts that
you'd be willing to share with the
authority I think they're interested in
sharing an update of development from
their perspective um this being East
Point Energy based in in Charlottesville
very open to others and I i' hope
DeLorean would be able to chime in as
well and
lastly um there's been talk over the
last several years about a a change in
the
way permitting and sighting takes place
uh in Virginia we saw the budget
amendment this past session to create a
task force to study um ways to alter
local control or local authority over
sighting agreements with these projects
um our friend in the energy Department
Aaron Barry Hill is aware of the models
that other states have pursued and uh
their how how other models of citing
have happened uh if it's if it's
interesting to the authority I think
Aaron would be up for presenting
um a summary of other states
to share with authority members other
models that maybe don't take the control
completely away from localities maybe
you're split it may be some examples of
where no local um zoning Authority is is
exercise so just a few ideas but very
open to recommendations of others here
um we'll need to start planning and
getting some presentations lined up for
a September meeting
we dat
Fort the doodle poll no I didn't send
the doodle poll that was that was what
you wanted to discuss is locking in
dates for the whole year yeah in
2024 I would like to I wish cther were
here so I would like to hear Dominion
like to have somebody from both the
operations transmission operations group
as well as from Planning Group just to
get how they do their processes and what
do they see as the impediments because I
know they're challenged they are
frustrated in disclosure company I work
for we have a relationship with
dominum we know some of the challenges
they are facing and I don't know if you
know they're easily overcome just
because the regulatory things that
talked about earlier uh but we also have
in in the Commonwealth we have American
Electric Power right a orol
Elric and I think they they too although
they have a very very small footprint
relative to what Dominion has I think
they too have some perspective
especially in
Appalachia in general so there's going
to be some of the same resource
allocation challenges in PJ so I mean to
the extent that we can get you know
let's let's let's talk with c and see if
it makes sense and if there's no
conflict love to have dominion tell us
what their UPS one of the things that
we're ignoring is the properties and
they have a lot more latitude to do
really whatever they want to do
provideed their
their their amers agre so um if if I
don't know if I don't I'm not in that
sector though but well I I I am okay
well as far as as far as uh the gets I'm
not a dealr and all that but if if we
know that there is a Cooperative out
there that
is open to to really get into that deter
how much it does open
upd we should
so so obviously the the RO Electric
Cooperative groups in the Commonwealth I
I think there are a couple that could at
least touch base with they're surrounded
they get their power from from Dominion
yeah that group exactly so I think
there's that I think there's NOC that
also has you know
surrounded get of power so there are
certain challenges that they
have I think would also be useful and
you're right they don't have nearly the
constraint issues from the regulatory
they don't have share to they members
the
members situation yes
and and they all have to work together
right so that that's the nice thing
about it is that if you can get some of
the smaller clockers to and then there
are with Public Power there's also that
Avenue although no is not in that group
they're they're not in
the the managed Cooperative
group but they're still the same
pressure stor right they have the same
operations
so Paul if uh Dominion a or co-ops U
would come to would you be willing to uh
quarterback that for and check in
and see if they have an interest in
availability to perspectives J I'll I I
talk to Sam Bromberg for the
co-ops he's sort of the regulatory brain
for all of them
okay
so
another issue on the horizon is what
comes out of this HB 206 group I went to
that meeting yesterday and I'm a cynic
by nature but whatever comes out of that
PBR modification can have a really
chilling effect on the market and
I might put one of our guests on the
spot here to get his
opinion
well part C
richer with me all right I the camera on
me too
so uh I I can appreciate you know the
perspective on that um part of my job
responsibilities is to be The Optimist
sometimes as the solar developer uh and
having worked on that two6 regulatory
advisory panel both last summer and this
summer I see a lot more progress being
made this year um in
Bally uh finding a structure that allows
for inputs from various stakeholders to
calculate what the ultimate mitigation
would be um I don't know that you know
it would be certainly time here to
require this agenda to go into any of
those details and there are a bunch of
other like for uh limitations on it um
but what I would say is just that it's
been a lengthy process and I think that
you everyone has recognized need to
acknowledge the fact that house six has
already set the fact that there needs to
be mitigation for solar projects have
more than 10 acres of Prim farmway or 50
acres of of for land and so when you
when you hit those thresholds that needs
a tribal process and so the productive
part has been now there is a construct
to facilitate that starting with
calculating the amount of land based
upon certain macro level data onsite
verifications and other types of credits
that can be applied to projects even
they incorporate AC Vols or other types
of elements um that still you know help
sustain mul qualic economies so all
that's being put together um kind of
like you do like big old big old pot for
folks to stir up and make comments on
but I do think we're um in a much better
place than we were last year and um you
know feeling more optimistic that we
have something that D submit the years
rep let me ask I'm kind of about on stre
so the
uh I was on the ride three years ago The
regat Advisory panel for the the new PBR
rules
um that I I I'm pretty sure that's never
been implemented that's still sitting
somewhere being reviewed so is this
sueding that is that going to so it's
gonna it does they they're moving a
parallel so you are correct that the the
W that addressed eqs uh
modifications for solar a couple years
ago that process more or less can puted
through the state discussions but then
um didn't proceed into actually being
and then Co kind of shut down the talks
and so a part of this yes BQ I think is
envisioning um folding in some elements
from those discussions as a part of
their
reations the one thing that was just
huge in in the the recommendations that
came out of that group was mitigation
for the environmental zones I can't
that yes the cores yeah um that was I it
was just so vague and the mitigation
that would be required that it it just
that was is that going to be addressed
at all is that I think it will be y so
it's all to be determined in terms of
what the deposit puts out but uh that's
one of the factors it would be way when
C
what's the amount of
mitigation maybe problem because when
DEQ um sent their final
recommendations
to I work with the governor or
Department of energy whoever went to um
we respond I don't have you seen that
response from I think from will
ringer yeah yeah I mean never been a
couple years ago right but it addressed
all those issues that we had the
industry
had
I think the broader point is that yes
these things are all interconnected in
terms of to how do we make this
transition effectively timely cost
effectively how we do all these things
it's it's transmission addressing
transmission constraints address
constraints addressing number of factors
so yeah there's a lot of activi also
grandfathering projects that have
assumed things are going to be certain
way well moving on um setting times and
days for our future meetings um would
like to first set a date for this
September and for the conversation on
the last meeting would like to propose
Wednesday September 13th venue TBD but
um the second I guess that would put us
a week after the Labor Day
holiday
and so let's start with that um I know
folks said generally said Wednesday's
work um hoping a date two or so months
from now with some notifications to
members would be sufficient to have a
quorum does that pose any issues for
folks here 10 o'clock you talking about
same time unless we wanted to push it to
the afternoon I can do the morning I
can't do the afternoon can do in the
morning does morning work better for the
folks coming from up North espec if you
know you can take the train now well if
we're coming here yeah I think that
works very well okay if yeah that means
we'll get the spot but that's all right
well I 10 a might not work here if they
don't open until 10 oh good point 10
10:30 but um what Paul was sharing
comments before the the meeting did the
authority used to meet at the this state
capital yep and won't let us anymore and
who makes that call someone in the
capital
CL M CL I believe so yeah that was
convenient it was except for parking was
a little more well the
new a lot more
availability um and then we used to also
be met a couple times at DEQ down at uh
what's it 12th in Maine and we can't
meet there anymore either so
there's another Library um not the one
we met at last time but maybe one or two
meetings before that also that I
Fairfield I believe the really fancy new
really new one yeah that's that's a nice
one was yesterday's rap at theq it was
that's what it was the first one that
building out in Brook we can do well and
that that's an option too I can see
about whether we can get that space I
don't know if people want to come
downtown but we've got space I mean one
of the truest buildings that we've got
there's tons the conference rooms in
there you can always get I mean it's a
pain for people who don't aren't used to
going down
time um I looked into Fredericksburg
their Library System I need to get a
library
card um into
2024 uh going back to the last
meeting can't remember if it was the one
we have virtually before um we pitched
having a quarterly date where uh it it
would uh Ur as the first second
Wednesday of every quarter taking a look
at the calendar for 2024 it looks like
the second Wednesday of each quarter
misses a lot of major holidays and I
would propose that as uh meeting times
or meeting dates for 2024 that would be
January 10th April 10th July 10th and
October
9th um anybody have any thoughts
comments to share on I mean that
proposal I don't imagine anybody else
January 10's first day of
session I don't know if anybody cares
about
that I I won't be at this meeting
J but that's
okay can we get back to we said on
September 13th then we don't have a
location is that correct correct
yes what about the December meeting do
you want to have a December meeting of
this year yeah
um it is at the will of the authority I
so to stick on the conversation of 2023
the thought with September 13th would be
to hear final comments from presenters
to have a wider group discussion on the
report with draft in hand and then to
have it ready by the October 15th
deadline we could utilize the first week
of October to do a virtual meeting to
take a final look at the report if we
would like well again remember it needs
to go through the secretary's office
before it's submitted officially so
that's why we need to you need to have
it done sometime as soon in September as
you can so we can get their review on it
like when we talked on the phone I think
now that with these new guidelines it's
more likely that they can turn it around
quickly versus 165 page
report okay well we'll put a pin in a
potential virtual meeting in October but
um still being the thought for the
September 13th
meeting um with the potential difficulty
of January
10 does this sound good to you all would
we propose moving into January 9 yeah
that Tuesday
proba
okay so Ken let's share um calendar
invites with members of The Authority
we'll do second Tuesday of the year and
2024 to to remove that conflict with the
first day of session and then just for
January just for January and then we'll
stick with the winesday that folks said
were convenient for the second Tuesday
of every other quarter in 2024 second
Wednesday EXC yes yes um April 10 July
10
October great I can't remember if you
said
it um are we going to recommend in the
2024 session that they extend the
deadline on the
authority um that could be a
recommendation that we make in our
report um I think it's
the you know it is up to the legislature
and the governor if they want to I think
the governor has priority
of not having authorities that aren't
being helpful they've expressed that um
I think we need to prove ourselves to be
helpful and um you know a tool for them
they do want to to shrink the size of
government but
um but we could make that recommendation
this is not costing them anything I mean
you're a volunteer Authority so well
it's true it's costing every member
their time and their commitment but um
that's still their their
position
um
so couple couple last things to mention
we have at least one vacancy now Angela
King sent us an email and she is
resigning from The Authority um just
citing uh work complications and the
need uh the need for her time down in
Hampton and we also received an email
from Chase counts and it did not come
with a official resignation but he is
moving out of state so that might mean
that yeah you have to be a citizen of
Virginia to serve so two additional
vacancies their which STS do they
fil so uh kle was a the governor's
appoint Governor's appointee and I can't
remember whether Chase was
Senate Chase is from the Senate and
Angela was from the speaker so there are
a few
availabilities and senate senate rules
makes the appoint on it yes
sir well they won't do anything till
next
year but Point somebody if you ask to I
need to sounds like it
unless he wants to kill the authority
then he won't is off since he voted
against the bill
2015 um so wanted to raise that for you
all they sent their regrets but we
course thank them for their service to
the authority um and then also wanted to
raise the issue of a web of the website
um got an email last week asking about
the Sol authorities website and uh
whether that will be a tool that the
authority uses to keep the public
updated and engaged P can let me know
that the website along with many others
are undergoing an overhaul by the F down
the big moved behind the Commonwealth's
domain excellent so we'll probably say
goodbye to that old website sometime
soon and that the new website whenever
that takes place can be a
more a more out today representation of
the
authority great
um that is there any other discussion
from any of the members on any topic any
more questions for AJ in terms of the
vacancies um is there an announcement
anywhere that I could reference if I
have
recommendations of people to
apply if you have recommendations I
would Rec recommend you recommend to
them that they go on to the
governor's website and there's a page on
there where you can put your name in the
Hat to serve on different boards and
authorities and that's for the governor
appoint and Senate it is I believe so I
don't think there's anything separate
for the House and Senate okay go to the
House and Senate use that
list
just I have no idea yeah I know that
Governor's appointees tend to happen
much sooner than House and Senate
Appo yeah I suggest if you have someone
who you want speaker to a point you talk
to Dr Skyler and ask him to communicate
I don't you do it I mean i' be happy we
have an email um yeah we I know the
person who takes care of that
and they're usually avable
to
recommendations
okay all right I I know we still have
several members or several members of
public still joining online so I will
open it up for a public comment if
anybody
in person that's Tyson or my colleague
Jak carella with enview right would like
to share any public comments K do we
need to unmute anybody or no all
well how do you unmute
all they can back again
or
once or twice anybody on the teams link
want to share public comment with the
authority hand
to well with that um thank you everyone
for coming I think we have our work cut
out for us prior to the September 13th
meeting lining up additional quotes to
present to the authority developing a
framework for the 105 page report and
um moving moving towards that report and
making it as sing and useful to the
governor general assembly as possible um
I will entertain a motion to adjourn
until 10:00 a.m. on September 13th so
moved have a
second all those in favor please by
saying
I all those
oppos meting thank you
all