Our Agency

Call to order 1:02 p.m.  

Board Members Present             
Joel Schmidt, Board Chairperson Dan Nickey, Board Vice Chair Stuart Anderson
Jennifer Johnson Gul Kremer-Okuden Nathan Young Jenae Jenison
Debi Durham Geri Huser Troy DeJoode 

Board Members Absent
Timothy Whipple Valerie Newhouse Rick Olesen

Iowa Economic Development Authority Staff Present
Brian Selinger Amber Buckingham
Stephanie Weisenbach Terry Roberson
Lisa Connell
Kristin Hanks-Bents Alaina Santizo Maicie Pohlman Ryan Young
Shelly Peterson Betty Hessing Vicky Clinkscales Kanan Kappelman Emily Hockins Derek Folden Staci Hupp-Ballard MK Anderson

Others Present
Brenda Biddle, Iowa Utilities Board Staff
Steve Letendre, Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. Julie Vande Hoef, Alliant Energy

Welcome & Introductions by Board Chairperson Joel Schmidt
Joel Schmidt welcomed everyone to the October IEC Board meeting.

Roll Call by Betty Hessing, Administrative Assistant
A quorum was established.
 
On behalf of the entire Board, Joel Schmidt welcomed Troy DeJoode as a new IEC Board member and thanked him for accepting this position.

Troy DeJoode stated he is the Executive Director of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities and he has been employed there for seven years. His previous positions were Associate General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources for Jacobson Companies; Corporate Counsel & Vice President of Human Resources at Ruan Transportation Management Systems; and General Counsel for Cedar Falls Utilities. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Law degree.

Public Comment Period – No comments.

Fiscal Update – Attachment A
Presentation provided by Terry Roberson. Terry Roberson stated the Financial Report for this meeting reflects the actual cash balance forwards from FY 20 into State fiscal year FY 21. Also includes expenses and loan repayments through September 30th. Also, on there are the awards made at the last meeting in July for the Grant Program; the one award we had for the Loan Program; and that recission we spoke of at the last meeting. We currently have about $14M in the Loan Program and just under $9M in the Grant Program.

Terry Roberson stated he did not include the expected transfer from IUB on the assessment. According to legislation, it is supposed to be somewhere around $1,380,000 for FY 21, but we will see what the actual numbers turn out to be. The Board had no questions.

Consideration of September 17, 2020, Meeting Minutes
Motion by Motion Second Voice Vote     Dan Nickey
I move approval of the September 17, 2020 minutes. Stuart Anderson
All ayes in favor. Motion approved.

Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program (AERLP)
Loan Program Update – Attachment B - Stephanie Weisenbach stated we provided the Board with results of a survey we conducted. She explained that a couple meetings ago, you had reviewed a high-level proposal for revising the Loan Program to create the Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program. The proposal was a result of meetings with a subcommittee of Board members that you had appointed to exam the statutory framework for the program and suggest possible revisions. In late August, we provided the proposal and disseminated a survey to approximately twenty-five stakeholders that are active with energy and economic development initiatives. We wanted to be transparent about the proposal, solicit input and see what questions and details could be further explored as we move forward. The recipients span a variety of groups and individuals that have unique rolls or interest in these areas. Examples of types of recipients and interest area that they represent included Energy Consulting, Agriculture, Utility, Environmental, Academic, Renewable Energy Industry and vendors, banking and business growth and development. You are provided with results of the survey in Board Papers. The survey helped to clarify that a lot of support exists for revising the program. At the staff level, we will be working out some of the details, research some scenarios of project types and discuss with the Board and Committee some key considerations for the different project types. This will help us answer questions if the proposal advances and prepare us for the future.  The Board had no questions.

Lucky Properties LLC – 38 kW Solar Project – Attachment C – Stephanie Weisenbach stated this was a loan application we received in the recent cycle. Lucky Properties LLC is a single-member LLC that owns three rental residential properties and proposes installation of solar at each property. Their project size is 38 kW, and their loan request is for $49,000. See Attachment C for details.
The recommendation from the Committee to this Board is to deny the application.
Motion by           Stuart Anderson
Motion I move the Board deny this application.
Second Jennifer Johnson
Roll Call Yes: 9     Abstain: 1 (Joel Schmidt) Motion approved.

Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program Proposal – Attachment D
Kristin Hanks-Bents explained she is filling in for IEDA’s Legislative Liaison until Jennifer Klein’s replacement is hired. The Committee met and has come up with a proposal for the Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program. The Governor’s Office had a due date of October 9th to turn in policy proposals, so this policy proposal has been turned into the Governor’s Office for their review. We hope to hear back sometime in November, as bill requests are due November 30th. What staff is asking today is for your authorization to move forward with this proposal pending approval from the Governor’s Office. If approval is received from both the Board and the Governor’s Office, Kristin Hanks-Bents will proceed with writing a bill request which will then turn into a bill to be introduced next session. Kristin Hanks-Bents briefly reviewed the proposal. Chair Schmidt thanked all Board members who provided input and those who did the survey. He also thanked those Board members who put in extra time to be on the Committee to bring this forward. Chair Schmidt asked for a motion.
Motion by           Dan Nickey
Motion I move to authorize IEDA staff to propose legislation to repurpose the Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program to the Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program,
pending approval from the Governor’s office.
Second Stuart Anderson
Roll Call Yes: 10  Abstain: 0 Motion approved.

Grant Program
Grant Program Update – Amber Buckingham stated we did send out Notice of Intent Award Letters to all the grants that were approved at our September special meeting. We received all of those signed and back within the ten-day limit. We have sent out contract agreements to all our awardees and have received one back thus far. The other awardees have forty-five days to return their signed agreements unless they require or request negotiations. We do anticipate that some grantees will request negotiations so we will be working with
those people to get those agreements signed and executed in the next forty-five to sixty days.
 

We will most likely be having a Grant Committee meeting before the end of the year. We will be updating Policies and Procedures and getting a timeline together for the next round of grants that will launch in February and deciding on the dollar amount that we will have up for awards. Those changes will be presented at the February Energy Center meeting. No questions from Board members.

Grant Modification Request 20-IEC-001 – Utility Workforce Development & Strategy Planning – Attachment E

Troy DeJoode left the meeting at 1:25 p.m. due to direct involvement with project.

Amber Buckingham stated The University of Northern Iowa sent in a Grant Modification Request for their grant which was awarded in the first round — 20-IEC-001 Utility Workforce Development and Strategy Planning. This a budget modification, a no cost extension and a change to their originally named project consultant.

Their budget modification was not substantial and therefore meets the requirements for staff approval. IEDA staff did approve the budget modification. The no-cost extension is their first request and does not exceed one year, so therefore meets the requirements for staff approval. IEDA staff has also approved this no-cost extension. Their request to change the named project consultant requires Iowa Energy Center Board approval. UNI would like to change the named project consultant to SmartChoice Consulting—it is actually SmartSource Consulting. This firm has the experience necessary to carry out the tasks required to complete the project. This consultant will also take on the responsibility of conducting interviews while a UNI staff member is out on maternity leave. This change will allow forward motion in the UNI staff member’s absence and ensure the project is completed in the time allotted.

Staff recommends approving the amendment to 20-IEC-001, allowing UNI to change the consulting partner to SmartSource Consulting.  No questions were asked.
Motion by           Geri Huser
Motion I move to approve the Amendment to 20-IEC-001.
Second Debi Durham
Roll Call Yes: 9     Abstain: 0
Motion approved.
Gul Kremer left meeting at 1:28 p.m. due to direct involvement with project. Troy DeJoode returned to meeting at 1:29 p.m.

Grant Modification - 364821 – Predicting Battery Lifetime with Early-Life Data for Grid Applications – Attachment F
Amber Buckingham stated this was a grant we awarded at our September special meeting. Iowa State University has requested a budget modification for their project titled Predicting Battery Lifetime with Early-Life Data for Grid Applications. The budget modification would allow the Recipient, ISU, to create a subaward for their named project partner, Iowa Lakes Community College.
 
The Principal Investigator has requested the creation of this subaward in order to transfer a portion of the responsibility for battery purchase, testing and data collection from ISU to ILCC.

This will allow ILCC students to gain more hands-on experience in testing and data-collection, which will strengthen the project’s ties to workforce development. This modification will require moving
project funds from salaries and wages, fringe benefits, supplies and materials and tuition to the subrecipient category. This modification does not change the overall scope of work, or the overall project budget. This request is considered substantive (over $10,000) and therefore requires Board approval.

Staff recommends approving the amendment to Predicting Battery Lifetime with Early-Life Data for Grid Applications; moving the requested funds from salaries and wages, fringe benefits, supplies/materials, and tuition to the subrecipient category.

No questions were asked.
Motion by           Dan Nickey
Motion Motion to approve the amendment to Predicting Battery Lifetime with Early-Life Data for Grid Applications.
Second Troy DeJoode
Roll Call Yes: 9     Abstain: 0 Motion approved.
Gul Kremer returned to meeting at 1:43 p.m.

Appointment to Loan Committee – Attachment G
Lisa Connell stated we have an action update from our meeting in September when we appointed Committee members. In September Troy DeJoode was not a member of the IEC Board, but now officially is a member. Lisa Connell stated she is recommending we increase the size of the Loan Committee from three to four and appoint Troy DeJoode to the Committee through June 30, 2021.
Motion by           Stuart Anderson
Motion I move we increase the size of the Loan Committee from
three to four and appoint Troy DeJoode to the Committee through June 30, 2021.
Second Debi Durham

Roll Call Geri Huser asked what the option would be if there were a tie since there would be four members. Lisa Connell replied in most of those circumstances, we would bring the item to the full Board. We are having a lot of abstentions so that is one reason for wanting an additional member.
Yes: 10  Abstain: 0 Motion approved.

Iowa Energy Storage Study – Attachment H
Brian Selinger introduced Steve Letendre with Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. Brian Selinger explained Steve’s presentation and work effort ties back to the
Iowa Energy Storage Committee, which had about seventeen members, including Dan Nickey and Brenda Biddle from IUB. We got together to try to
 
develop an Action Plan for how Iowa can start to embrace energy storage and benefit from that technology in many ways. One of the big things from the Storage Committee to IEDA is that there is very much a belief that Energy Storage holds a multitude of positive potential for Iowa, but we needed a more in-depth analysis on the economic and resiliency benefits and otherwise. We issued an RFP and ultimately ended up selecting Steve and Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. and they have a subcontractor as well that Steve will explain. They have produced their assessment and we thought this would be a good time for Steve to give you high level takeaways from his great work.

Steve Letendre gave his Iowa Energy Storage Study presentation.

Brian Selinger thanked Steve for the work product and effort and also for providing this update. Brian Selinger stated we are currently working with IEDA Communications in taking the larger report and condensing it down into an Executive Summary. Our goal is to get the Board the full report and the IEDA Executive Summary. We also would like the Iowa Energy Storage Committee to reconvene virtually in a couple weeks and see what other things we can do.

Geri Huser stated she would like to have some additional conversations with Brian Selinger and Debi Durham as it relates to action steps or administrative decisions on how we can proceed forward with possible action steps once we receive the final report. Brian Selinger replied we will get together and have a more in-depth discussion. Debi Durham stated she liked the idea of getting together with Storage Committee first and get their thoughts on the report and then we can follow-up with an in-depth conversation with Geri Huser and her team.

Energy Office Updates
Brian Selinger reported you would have received the four 2021 Quarterly Iowa Energy Center meeting requests. We will be in touch as those dates draw near. Like we did in 2020, if there is ever a reason to call a special Board meeting, we will do so.

Brian Selinger stated that the 2020 IEC Annual Reports are due to the General Assembly on January 15, 2021. We will get the IEC Board a copy. Thank you for a productive 2020. We had to navigate a lot of things and you guys were right there with us. We produced a lot of solid work from our grant and loan sides.

Next Quarterly Board Meeting   February 11, 2021, at 1:00 p.m.
Chairperson Schmidt asked for a motion to adjourn.
Motion by           Geri Huser
Motion I move to adjourn.
Second Joel Schmidt
Adjournment    2:08 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Betty Hessing, Administrative Assistant