Our Agency

Call to order 9:09 a.m.

Board Members Present
Dan Nickey, Board Vice Chair
Stuart Anderson
Debi Durham
Gul Kremer-Okudan
Jenae Jenison
Geri Huser
Jennifer Johnson
Valerie Newhouse (joined at 9:16 a.m.)

Board Members Absent
Troy DeJoode
Kelcey Brown
Craig Just
Terry Kouba

Iowa Economic Development Authority Staff Present
Brian Selinger
Amber Buckingham
Stephanie Weisenbach
Lisa Connell
Deanna Triplett
Shelly Peterson
Rob Christiansen
Vicky Clinkscales
Betty Hessing
Terry Roberson
Emily Hockins
Alaina Santizo
Kanan Kappelman

Others Present
Chaz Allen, Iowa Utility Association
Derek Folden, Iowa Finance Authority
Julie Vande Hoef, Alliant Energy
Brenda Biddle, Iowa Utilities Board
Kim Hagemann, Iowa CCI
Nick Hunter, Iowa CCI
Emma Colman, Sierra Club, Iowa Beyond Coal Campaign
Jake Grobe, Iowa CCI, Public Comments
Katie Rock, Sierra Club, Iowa Beyond Coal Campaign, Public Comments

Welcome & Introductions by Board Vice Chair Dan Nickey
Dan Nickey welcomed everyone to the March 2nd IEC Board meeting.
Roll Call
Betty Hessing did roll call and a quorum was established.

Consideration of February 17, 2022 IEC Board Meeting Minutes
Motion by Geri Huser
Motion I move approval of the February 17, 2022 minutes as printed and distributed.
Second Jennifer Johnson
Voice Vote All ayes in favor. Motion approved.

Fiscal Update – Attachment A
Terry Roberson explained that in the Iowa Energy Center’s main account we have just over $12.2M available for the next round of funding coming up in the next few months. On the new Energy Loan Program, we currently have $13.6M available. Through January 31st, we’ve received about $640,000 in loan repayments on the old portfolio, which will be moved into the new loan fund soon. Mr. Roberson asked if there were any questions; no questions.

Legislative Update
Deanna Triplett reported that the Senate unanimously passed the IEDA bill which has a component in it to extend the Iowa Energy Center Board for an additional five years. Additionally, there is the ability for you to consider funding Carbon Management projects. We anticipate it will be brought up to the House today. Deanne Triplett gave a special shout-out to all of your industry lobbyists out there. They have been very supportive of our initiatives. Ms. Triplett asked if there were any questions; no questions.

Competitive Grant Program Update – Amber Buckingham
Amber Buckingham reported that the fourth round of IEC grant funding did open for pre-applications on February 22nd. That was announced on the IEDA website and via a press release from IEDA. The deadline for applications is March 22nd. As a reminder, we did reduce the available funding from $4M to $2.5M for this round. Ms. Buckingham asked if there were any questions; no questions. 

Budget Modification Request for 17-IEC-015 – Attachment B
Amber Buckingham stated she had a budget modification request for 17-IEC-015—Autothermal Pyrolysis of Lignocellulose Wastes to Sugars and other Biobased Product.

Iowa State University has requested a budget modification of $16,244.17 and would like to move funds from Supplies and Materials to Salaries and Payroll Benefits. The PI has indicated additional  manpower was needed instead of supplies and materials as planned. The previous budget anticipated higher material costs to demonstrate the oxo-degradation of plastic. Components were less complicated than anticipated for this proof of concept. The PI and their research team did spend more labor in controls and testing more plastics and conditions than originally planned which added to the labor costs. This modification request will not impact the overall budget of the project. Because this modification is over $10,000, it is considered substantive and requires Board approval.

Our recommendation is to approve the budget modification for 17-IEC-015, moving $16,244.17 from Supplies and Materials to Salaries and Payroll Benefits.
Motion by Debi Durham
Motion I move to approve the budget modification request for 17-IEC-015.
Second Stuart Anderson
Roll Call Yes: 8 No: 0
Motion approved.

Budget Modification Request for 20-IEC-005 – Attachment C
Amber Buckingham stated she had a budget modification request for 20-IEC-005—A new Paradigm to Solve Unit Commitment and Optimal Power Flow Problems.

Iowa State University has requested a budget modification of $36,000 and would like to move funds from Domestic Travel, Student Tuition, Supplies/Materials to Salaries and Payroll Benefits. This modification will also slightly increase the indirect costs. The PI has indicated that the start of the project coincided with the beginning of the pandemic, which limited their ability to recruit PhD students for the project as planned and reflected in the originally submitted budget. Consequently, they decided to hire a postdoc to work on the project and make progress toward accomplishing quarterly goals. Postdocs have different budget categories than PhDs, and hence require an adjustment in the budget categories. As this budget modification is over $10,000 it is considered substantive and requires Board approval.

Our staff recommendation would be to approve the budget modification for 20-IEC-005, moving $36,000 from Domestic Travel, Student Tuition, Supplies/Materials and Indirect Costs to Salaries, Payroll Benefits and Indirect Costs. Again, this does not impact the overall budget. 
Motion by Stuart Anderson
Motion I move to approve the budget modification request for 20-IEC-005.
Second Debi Durham
Roll Call Yes: 8 No: 0
Motion approved.

Grant Modification Request for 20-IEC-018 – Attachment D
Amber Buckingham stated she had a grant modification request for 20-IEC-018—Predicting Battery Lifetime with Early-Life Data for Grid Applications.

Iowa State let us know the original Principal Investigator (PI) of this project, Dr. Chao Hu, will move to the University of Connecticut (UConn) in August 2022. As his technical expertise is necessary for the success of this project, Iowa State University (ISU) would like to include UConn as a subrecipient. Dr. Hu and his team at UConn will (1) assist the ISU team in building machine learning models
using battery cycling data, (2) code machine learning models on a software tool, and (3) work with ISU to validate and refine software tool against field data. ISU would like to transition the PI role to Dr. Anne Kimber on August 16, 2022. The end date for the project is January 15, 2023.

To accommodate this change, Iowa State University has requested a budget modification of $91,250. They would like to move funds from Salaries, Payroll Benefits, Student Tuition, and Indirect Costs to a new subrecipient line item for the subcontract to UConn. This will result in a decrease to the indirect costs included in the project budget. This budget modification will not impact the overall project budget and will ensure that the project team can continue to work together.

Staff recommendation is to approve the change of PI and budget modification for 20-IEC-018, moving the requested funds from Salaries, Payroll Benefits, Student Tuition, and Indirect Costs to the Subrecipient line item, while also reducing the Indirect Costs line item by $12,000.
Motion by Jennifer Johnson
Motion I move to approve the grant modification request for 20-IEC-018.
Second Geri Huser
Roll Call Yes: 8 No: 0
Motion approved.

Grant Modification Request for 21-IEC-007 – Attachment E
Amber Buckingham stated she had a grant modification request for 21-IEC-007--From the Landfill to the Grid: Repurposing Used Batteries for Resilient Grid Storage. An original Co-PI of this project, Dr. Chao Hu, will move to the University of Connecticut (UConn) in August 2022. As his technical expertise is necessary for the success of this project, Iowa State University (ISU) would like to include
UConn as a subrecipient on this project. Dr. Hu and his team at UConn will assist the ISU team in (1) building/adapting software models for used EV batteries and studying conditions to deconstruct EV cells, (2) deploying software to guide at least 3 separate experimental cell refurbishing strategies, and (3) optimizing coupled predictive modeling and experimental steps. 

To accommodate this change, ISU requests a budget modification of $59,250 and would like to move funds from Salaries, Payroll Benefits and Student Tuition to a new subrecipient line item. This  modification will also decrease the total indirect costs of the project. This budget modification will not impact the overall project budget and will ensure that the project team can continue to work
together. As this budget modification is over $10,000 it is considered substantive and requires Board approval and our staff recommendation would be to approve the budget modification.
Motion by Debi Durham
Motion I move to approve the grant modification request for 21-IEC-007.
Second Stuart Anderson
Roll Call Yes: 8 No: 0
Motion approved.

Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program (EIRLP) – EIRLP Update
Stephanie Weisenbach stated we opened the program last fall for applications to be accepted and reviewed on a quarterly basis. We did not receive any application submittals this most recent quarter. We have had some interest and an application was started in IowaGrants, but not completed yet due to not being ready. Our next application deadline is April 14th. Due to this, we have taken a close look at our marketing efforts. Since we have opened the program, we have gotten the word out through contacts, conferences, a press release, various one-on-one meetings with stakeholders and potential applicants. IEC board members have helped us reach certain audiences, which is greatly appreciated. We welcome more collaboration with the Board, when possible. 

We will be continuing these types of activities but will be dedicating more staff time and making refinements to our approach. On February 15th, we convened the Loan Committee and discussed some ideas for expending our marketing efforts. We discussed how some more specific messaging and information could be helpful to certain audiences, so they know how this program could assist them with a specific type of project. The program name and purposes are quite broad and those eligible applicants may not immediately have a reason to be interested. We have four main strategies that we are working on for marketing and we have continually evolving ideas on how we implement them. Those four strategies are to: (1) increase the visibility and awareness of the program with stakeholder groups; (2) utilize eligible project showcases and technical resources to educate eligible applicants about projects and the program; (3) explore potential synergies with other programs for eligible projects and applicants for the program; and (4) to conduct some targeted outreach and provide technical assistance to assist with project planning. This strategy would be more time and resource intensive.

Your ideas and getting the word out is very much appreciated and if you have further discussion or questions, please do so. Dan Nickey commented that if Stephanie Weisenbach could send a statement, they could send it out through UNI’s social media and communications channel. Ms. Weisenbach replied she had a short blurb ready for newsletters. Dan Nickey added that if anyone put out
newsletters and were willing to put that in their newsletter, please reach out to Stephanie. No questions were asked. 

Appointment to the Loan Committee – Attachment F
Lisa Connell explained they do have an appointment to the Loan Committee—  our newest Board member, Kelsey Brown, who was appointed in December. We have a vacancy that Kelsey is willing to fill so our recommendation is to appoint her to fill that vacancy through June 30, 2022, to line that up with the other committee appointments.
Motion by Valerie Newhouse
Motion I move to approve the appointment of Kelcey Brown to the Loan Committee.
Second Stuart Anderson
Roll Call Yes: 8 No: 0
Motion approved.

Other Business
Dan Nickey turned it over to Brian Selinger to give Energy Office updates.

Energy Office Updates
Brian Selinger stated he’s still waiting for confirmation for the vacant Rural Electric Cooperative seat. As soon as that happens by the Governor, I will message that out to folks, so we can welcome our newest board member. Brian Selinger stated we have completed the 2021 Annual Iowa Energy Center Report and he will send out a copy to the Board. As with all of our reports, it is posted on IEDA’s website.

Mr. Selinger thanked the Board for juggling their schedules today and we will connect with you for the May meeting. 

Remaining 2022 IEC Board
Meetings
May 12, 2022; August 11, 2022; and November 17, 2022

Public Comment Period
Jake Grobe, representing Iowa CCI, and Katie Rock, Campaign representative with Sierra Club, Iowa Beyond Coal, expressed their concerns of MidAmerican Energy burning coal in the State of Iowa.

Dan Nickey thanked them for their comments and he closed the public comment period.

Vice Chairperson Nickey asked for a motion to adjourn.
Motion by Jennifer Johnson
Motion I move to adjourn.
Second Geri Huser
Voice Vote All ayes.

Adjournment 9:44 a.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Betty Hessing, Administrative Assistant