Our Agency

Call to order 1:03 p.m.
Board Members Present
Troy DeJoode, Board Chair**
Jenae Sikkink, Board Vice Chair*
Stuart Anderson*
Debi Durham*
Geri Huser*
Jennifer Johnson*
Kelcey Brown*
Scott Stokes*
Craig Just*

Board Members Absent
Terry Kouba
Matt Washburn
Dan Nickey

Iowa Economic Development Authority Staff Present
Brian Selinger*
Amber Buckingham*
Stephanie Weisenbach*
Lisa Connell*
Abbie Christophersen*
Betty Hessing*
Vicky Clinkscales*
Terry Roberson*
Emily Hockins*
Rick Peterson*

Others Present
Tim Morlan, Iowa Finance Authority*
Brenda Biddle, Iowa Utilities Board*
Lisa Lancaster, Slipstream Group*
**Joined via Teams at 1:12 p.m.
*Participated via Teams

Welcome & Introductions by Board Vice Chair Jenae Sikkink
Vice Chair Sikkink welcomed everyone to the August 11th IEC Board meeting.
Roll Call

Betty Hessing did roll call and a quorum was established.

Consideration of May 12, 2022 IEC Board Meeting Minutes
Motion by Debi Durham
Motion I move approval of the May 12, 2022 minutes as presented.
Second Stuart Anderson
Voice Vote All ayes in favor. Motion approved.

Fiscal Update – Attachment A
Terry Roberson explained that the report before you reflects the total cost incurred during State fiscal year 2022. There will be some minor telephone/postage allocations to come through, but for the most part, this is it. It does reflect the loan award made at the May 12th meeting. The report you will receive in November will reflect the final balances forward. It will also reflect any new grant obligations that are awarded today. Terry Roberson stated he would be happy to answer any questions, but there were no questions.

Competitive Grant Program Update – Amber Buckingham
Amber Buckingham reported that she will start annual site visits next month and she will introduce the grants that were awarded during the last round into those site visits. During those site visits, staff will get updates on all of the happenings from our grantees and we will probably pick a project or two to be presented at the November Board meeting. After I have completed all those annual visits, I will create a status update for the Board which will be available at the next Board meeting. In short order, I will call the Grant Committee together to work on the Policies and Procedures and any other updates to the grant approval and application process. One thing that will likely be changing, is we will be having a webinar prior to the pre-application round to answer questions before they submit their pre-applications. Amber Buckingham asked if there were any questions; no questions were asked.

Grant Modification Request for 20-IEC-019 – Paired Electrolyzer for
Conversion of Crude Glycerin and Waste CO2 – Attachment B
Amber Buckingham stated Iowa State University (ISU) has requested a budget modification amendment for award 20-IEC-019 Paired Electrolyzer for Conversion of Crude Glycerin and Waste CO2.

Iowa State University has requested a budget modification of $31,452 and would like to move funds from Tuition, Supplies and Materials, and Travel to Payroll Benefits, Salaries and Wages, Other Direct Costs, and Other Direct Costs: Honoraria/Services. The Principal Investigator has indicated that they had to hire a post doc instead of a graduate student to complete the work necessary for the project. Due to the pandemic, they also attended conferences virtually and thus will not use the remaining travel budget.

Administrative Rule 261 IAC 404.7(7)(a) provides that any substantive change to a funded IEC project, including time extensions, budget revisions, and alterations to proposed activities, will be considered an agreement amendment. As this budget modification is over $10,000, it is considered substantive and requires Board approval. 

Staff recommendation is to approve the budget modification for 20-IEC-019, moving $31,452 from Tuition, Supplies and Materials, and Travel to Payroll Benefits, Salaries and Wages, Other Direct Costs and Other Direct Costs:
Honoraria and Services.

Vice Chair Sikkink asked if there were questions; no questions were asked.
Motion by Geri Huser
Motion I move to approve the grant modification request for
20-IEC-019.
Second Debi Durham
Roll Call Yes: 9 Recuse: 0
Motion approved.

Competitive Grant Program Funding Recommendations for Awards –
Attachment C
Amber Buckingham stated the Iowa Energy Center (IEC) Competitive Grant Program awards grants for projects that align with one of the seven key focus areas of the Iowa Energy Plan. Projects must also provide a benefit to Iowa ratepayers. Eligible applicants include Iowa based businesses, colleges and universities, and private non-profit agencies and foundations. The maximum grant award is $1,000,000 and the minimum award is $10,000. As established by 261 IAC 404, the IEC Grant Committee reviews preapplications and full applications and makes recommendations for funding to the IEC Board. The committee is comprised of five voting members of the IEC Board. The committee reviewed eleven full application submissions as a group and submitted one score sheet per application. Points were assigned based on the scoring matrix established in the Policies and Procedures Handbook. A minimum score of 150 is required to qualify for a grant award. Five full application submissions achieved a score above 150. All of the applications that achieved the minimum necessary score have been recommended for awards.

They are as follows:

Application 459111 - Recycling of Used and End-of-Life Lithium-Ion
Batteries to Extract Lithium, Anode, and Cathode Materials
Applicant Organization: Iowa State University
Grant Award Request: $347,530
Grant Duration: 36 months
Partners: Siemens, City of Ames
Summary: Scalable recycling process for sustainable recovery of critical materials from used lithium-ion batteries.
Project: The ultimate goal is to use environmentally safe chemical and thermal procedures to extract lithium and critical material from end-of-life electric vehicle batteries. The recycled products will be suitable for reinsertion into the supply
chain and ammonia will be a by-product of that recycling process. 

Application 458939 - Mining Smart Meter Data for Modeling and Mitigating
EV Charging Impacts on Distribution Grid
Applicant Organization: Iowa State University
Grant Award Request: $203,342
Grant Duration: 18 months
Partners: Algona Municipal Utilities, Cedar Falls Utilities, CIPCO, IDOT
Summary: Model EV charging impacts on distribution systems for better infrastructure planning and operation.
Project: The project will model impacts of EV charging activities on power grids, and design optimal planning and operation strategies to help utilities accommodate the increasing penetration of EVs. The results will be packaged as an open-source tool to help utilities analyze AMI data and EV charging impacts.

Application 459178 - Continuous Thermal to Electrical Energy Harvesting
from Industrial and Residential Waste Heat
Applicant Organization: Legov Systems Group, LLC
Grant Award Request: $301,000
Grant Duration: 36 months
Partners: Boeing, Accumold, Iowa State University
Summary: Continuous Thermal to Electrical Energy Harvesting from Industrial and Residential Waste Heat.
Project: The first goal is to scale-up the thermal energy harvester to a system capable of continuous electrical generation which the team will accomplish by designing, building, and testing a device capable of continuous operation in Task 1. They will also conduct pilot scale testing at an industrial site. 

Application 464620 - Laser Surface Engineering of Natural Gas Pipelines
for Extended Service Life
Applicant Organization: Iowa State University
Grant Award Request: $200,000
Grant Duration: 24 months
Partners: Kondex, KBR
Summary: The project is to develop laser surface engineering technologies to extend pipeline's service life.
Project: The goal is to establish an easy-to-use, portable, eco-friendly, and highly controllable solution for pre-service processing of pipeline surfaces (particularly the welding zones) towards the extended service life. The end product will be a handheld laser surface engineering system that can be directly used for in-field processing of pipeline's internal and external surfaces in open air.

Amber Buckingham explained we have to do these recommendations in a few motions because of Board recusals.

Motion by Stuart Anderson
Motion I move to approve IEC Grant Committee Funding
Recommendation for Application Numbers 459111 (Iowa
State University), 459178 (Legov Systems Group) and
464620 (Iowa State University).
Second Scott Stokes
Roll Call Yes: 9 Recuse: 0
Motion approved.

Amber Buckingham stated that IDOT and IAMU are partners on project 458939.
Motion by Geri Huser
Motion I move to approve IEC Grant Committee Funding
Recommendation for Application Number 458939 (Iowa
State University).
Second Debi Durham
Roll Call Yes: 7 Recuse: 2 (Troy DeJoode & Stuart Anderson)
Motion approved.

Amber Buckingham stated we have one more application that was part of this funding recommendation that we would like to discuss and make a separate motion for. That would be Application 463416, which is the Cybersecurity Training for Municipal Utilities. We had some outside questions come in that we were not able to answer sufficiently in the amount of time that was provided, so our recommendation would be to defer the IEC Grant Committee funding decision for project #463416.
Motion by Debi Durham
Motion I move to defer Application Number 463416.
Second Kelcey Brown
Roll Call Yes: 8 Recuse: 0 (Troy DeJoode was disconnected)
Motion approved.

Competitive Grant Program Recommendations for Denial – Attachment D
Amber Buckingham stated the Iowa Energy Center (IEC) Competitive Grant
Program awards grants for projects that align with one of the seven key focus
areas of the Iowa Energy Plan. Projects must also provide a benefit to Iowa
ratepayers. Eligible applicants include Iowa based businesses, colleges and
universities, and private non-profit agencies and foundations. The maximum
grant award is $1,000,000. The minimum grant award is $10,000.
As established by 261 IAC 404, the IEC Grant Committee reviews preapplications
and full applications and makes recommendations for funding to
the IEC Board. The Grant Committee is comprised of five voting members of the
IEC Board. The Grant Committee reviewed eleven full application submissions
as a group and submitted one score sheet per application. Points were
assigned based on the scoring matrix established in the Policies and
Procedures Handbook. A minimum score of 150 is required to qualify for a grant
award. Six full application submissions failed to achieve a score above 150. All
of the applications that failed to achieve the minimum necessary score have
been recommended for denial.

Ms. Buckingham gave an overview of each application.
(1) Application 465028 - 3D Bioprinting of Microbial Biofilms for Gas Pipeline Corrosion Prevention. Project partners are Alliant Energy and Black Hills Energy.
(2) Application 463523 - Evaluating and Strengthening Iowa’s Power Grid for High Wind/Solar Penetration Levels. Project partners are EPRC, Corn Belt, Alliant and MidAmerican.
(3) Application 464710 - Decision Support Systems for Natural Gas and Integrated Services for Small, Rural Communities. Project partners were IAMU, Harlan Municipal Utilities and the City of Sioux Center.
(4) Application 459663 - Electrochemical Conversion of Storage of Wind Energy as Hydrogen Electrofuel. Project partner is Nistron. 
(5) Application 459662 - Improving Energy Resilience of Rural and Underserved Areas via Solar Panel and Second-life Battery. Project partners were NASA, Ideal Energy and the University of Northern Iowa. 
(6) Application 458995 - Chemically Recyclable Glass/Carbon Fiber Composites for Wind Turbine Blades. Project partners were TPI, 3M and ADM.

Amber Buckingham stated we will have to consider these recommendations in multiple motions due to Board member recusals.
Motion by Geri Huser
Motion Approve IEC Grant Committee Denial Recommendation for
Application Number 464710 (Iowa State University).
Second Debi Durham
Roll Call Yes: 8 Recuse: 1 (Troy DeJoode)
Motion approved.
Motion by Geri Huser
Motion Approve IEC Grant Committee Denial Recommendation for
Application Number 463523 (Iowa State University).
Second Craig Just
Roll Call Yes: 8 Recuse: 1 (Kelcey Brown)
Motion approved.
Motion by Debi Durham
Motion Approve IEC Grant Committee Denial Recommendations
for Application Numbers 459663, 459662, 458995 and
465028 (all Iowa State University).
Second Stuart Anderson
Roll Call Yes: 9 Recuse: 0
Motion approved.

Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program (EIRLP) – EIRLP Update –
Stephanie Weisenbach stated in this quarterly cycle of the Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program we did not receive any new applications, however we heard from stakeholders about two applications that we will expect to receive in the next cycle, which has a deadline of October 20th, for potential consideration at the November 17th IEC Board meeting. We will set the deadlines for 2023 as soon as future Board meetings are scheduled and we continue to promote the program and look for opportunities to get the word out. As you may recall from the last Board meeting, in that quarter we received three applications and one of them came to the Board and was approved. For the other two we needed more time to complete the review due to the Committee and staff having additional questions and modifications for negotiation. One of the two applications withdrew because they did not have the private equity available anymore as match and it is currently being invested to other projects for that business, but they will have the option to resubmit in the future if they have that match available.

For the other loan application—Accu-Steel, Inc.—the Loan Committee met and discussed that application. Before we move into that, the Loan Committee has begun its annual review of the Policies & Procedures Handbook for the Loan Program and as part of the program rules, the Handbook is slated for an annual review and any changes that are made would come to the Board for review and approval. Some of the program requirements are in statute or Administrative Rule and that would involve more than just Board approval. However, the way that we structured the program with the Board, when we created it, was to have some of the requirements that are less substantive or subject to change, be folded into a handbook to allow tweaks over time. Stay tuned to the next
meeting for that update. If you want to review the current handbook, it is on the Loan Program web page under resources. If you have any questions or comments before the next Board meeting, feel free to reach out. Stephanie Weisenbach asked if anyone had questions; no questions were asked.

Accu-Steel, Inc. Application – Attachment E
Stephanie Weisenbach explained the application is from Accu-Steel, Inc., a business based in Audubon, Iowa. Their original request was for approximately $447,000 for a 5-year term. The resulting recommendation is for $193,000 for a 5-year term at the interest rate set in Policies & Procedures, which is currently 2%.

As some overview, they manufacture fabric covered buildings in Iowa. They intend to construct an R&D prototype building that would integrate thin solar panels into the fabric roof and store excess energy in a battery. The building would be used for research and demonstration for potential customers, including beef cattle producers. The total cost of the project is $596,981.20, some of which is related to construction of the building. The electric utility for this applicant is Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative.
The Loan Committee recommendation is to loan the amount for the thin solar panels integrated into fabric for the building, not including costs associated with the battery and costs solely related to the building construction.

In the Board Report, we laid out that they did have a bank loan for the match of the project. Due to the revision of the amount, they are confident about the other financing being either private equity or increasing the bank loan, but given the time frame with the negotiation, they were not able to solidify that, but we do have that as a condition to disbursement of funds if the loan is approved by the Board. They also have identified some other incentives not yet fully secured. 

In terms of the program eligibility, the applicant had identified the economic impact to the community and State as a potential way to meet the criteria and especially, as we were looking at it, the project saw an alignment with the creative or innovative approach to a need or a problem. This focused on integrating the solar panels into this fabric roof in this application and even though the thin film has been around for a while, this type of application is unique and responds to what the applicant has stated. That is the eligibility
component.

An Irrevocable Letter of Credit (ILOC) is pledged by the applicant and is one of the preferred and eligible forms of collateral. IEC Loan funds will not be disbursed by IEDA until collateral has been secured. 

Stephanie Weisenbach stated the Loan Committee’s recommendation is for this loan to be approved at $193,000 for a 5-year term. Ms. Weisenbach asked if anyone had any questions or comments; no questions or comments were made from Board.
Motion by Debi Durham
Motion Approve the Accu-Steel, Inc. application.
Second Craig Just
Roll Call Yes: 9 Abstained: 0
Motion approved.

Appointment to Loan Committee - Attachment F
Lisa Connell explained Scott Stokes was appointed to the Board in July 2022 and he is willing to fill a vacancy as a member of the five-person Loan Committee through June 30, 2023.
Motion by Geri Huser
Motion Motion to approve appointment of Scott Stokes to the Loan Committee through June 30, 2023.
Second Stuart Anderson
Voice Vote All ayes in favor. Motion approved.

Administrative Rules – Adopt amendments to Iowa Energy Center Rules,
261 IAC, Chapter 403 – Attachment G
Lisa Connell explained this is seeking your approval to adopt amendments to 261 IAC, Chapter 403. The purposes of the Iowa Energy Center are listed in Iowa Code Section 15.120. The section was amended by 2022 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2325, to add the following purpose: “To support research and development of strategies for carbon management.” 

The rule amendments incorporate the additional purpose, change the number of board members required for a quorum from nine to seven, and clarify that meetings may be held electronically. 

A Notice of Intended Action was published June 29, 2022. No public comments were received and no changes from the notice are proposed. \

Motion by Craig Just
Motion I move to approve adopting amendments to 261 Iowa
Administrative Code, Chapter 403.
Second Troy DeJoode
Voice Vote All ayes in favor. Motion approved.

NEVI – Iowa Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan
Stuart Anderson, from the Iowa Department of Transportation, stated the Infrastructure Bill created a new program for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program or NEVI. The NEVI program provides formula funding to all States over the five-year life of the infrastructure bill—federal fiscal years 2022 to 2026. The State of Iowa has been authorized about $50M over that five-year period to install Direct Current (DC) fast-charging infrastructure that is open to the public and initially targeted to roadways that are on designated alternative fuel corridors. In Iowa, the alternative fuel corridor system is basically the Interstate system—Interstate 29, 35, 80 and 380—so it does not include some of those smaller metro Interstates, like 235, 280 and 74 in the Quad Cities.
In order to access this funding, the first step was each State had to develop a Deployment Plan that was due August 1st. All fifty States did submit their Plan by that date.

Background on the schedule—the Infrastructure Bill was passed in November. This is a new program so it took awhile for some of the guidance to come out. It was in February when that initial guidance came out. The next step was development of proposed rulemaking to get into the details of how these funds are going to be used and what specifications will be required. Those came out a month later than what they were supposed to by the requirements of the Infrastructure Bill—they came out in June—and we are actually still in that comment period, which closes August 22nd. The reason I mention that is there are still some unknowns with this program, so by having the Deployment Plan done, that does not mean we can move right into implementation; we are still
waiting for some of those details to be worked out.

That compressed schedule left just a few months to put this Deployment Plan together. Fortunately, we have a tremendous partnership with the Iowa Economic Development Authority—we work very closely with them on a lot of energy related activities—whether it is the development of the State Energy Plan several years ago, or the administration of the Volkswagen Settlement Funds, which had an electric vehicle component to it as well. Thanks to Brian Selinger, Stephanie Weisenbach and Abbie Christophersen for being extremely helpful partners in this effort and we also had some consultant support in order for us to get this Deployment Plan done. 

The compressed schedule meant we were probably not able to do as much stakeholder outreach as we would have liked in developing this Plan. We did hold some virtual meetings. We did have a broad stakeholder meeting toward the end of June that was well attended by a wide variety of stakeholders. Of course, our utility partners are especially critical of the deployment of these  funds, so we did have some one-on-one meetings earlier in June. We also needed to coordinate with our border States on what this network looks like, so we also had some outreach with them in early June. 

In July we focused on developing the Plan; we did get that Plan done and submitted and it is available on IDOT’s Electric Vehicle website. It is https://www.IDOT.gov/IowaEVPlan. You can also google IDOT and NEVI to get to the Plan. The Plan is very high-level. There are some very specific requirements for this funding—for example, the full build-out requires that on  those Interstates that I mentioned, that there would be DC fast charging infrastructure at least every fifty miles and that each site would have at least four
ports at 150 kilowatts. We figure it will take probably 2-3 years to get that full buildout on the Interstate system that meets those requirements. Then we can 10 start looking at utilizing those funds on other corridors across the State. \

In the Plan, we looked at where we have existing DC fast charging infrastructure and what services are provided. We also looked at where there are plans for some of that charging infrastructure and then identified gaps. Are there gaps where we do not have any sites and also gaps where we have sites, but they do not meet those minimum federal requirements? The intention is that when we move into implementation, we will make these funds available through some type of Grant Program. We will let the private sector— working together—whether it is convenience stores, truck stops, other property owners partnering with utilities to identify ideal sites within those gaps and then they will apply and seek funding for installation.

Mr. Anderson stated we are still waiting for some of these rules to become finalized from the federal government. In addition, with these federal funds, there are some additional requirements for project development and how you procure the funds. There are Buy-America requirements that are going to be challenging based on existing rules, so we are hoping the federal government provides some flexibility, at least initially. We still have a lot of things to work out. We are hoping that it will be this winter—probably later in the winter—when we actually are formally ready to have a program that we are ready to release—the funding opportunity and solicit applications.

Our Plan was due August 1st, which kicks-off a review period at the federal level. This Infrastructure Bill created a joint Office of Energy and Transportation and so that joint office is reviewing all fifty State Deployment Plans right now and they have until the end of September to certify those Plans. Once those Plans are certified, that is when you can actually have access to those funds and begin implementation.

Again, the Deployment Plan is available on the website and is high-level. We still have a lot of work to do and that work is going to entail some more stakeholder outreach, again as we get more rules from the federal government and start putting some details together and what our Grant Program process looks like—I am sure we will want and need some additional input in that process. The development of the Deployment Plan was the first step in a multi-step process. We are looking forward to additional discussions. Mr. Anderson asked if anyone had questions; no questions were asked.

Other Business
Jenae Sikkink turned it over to Brian Selinger to give Energy Office updates.

Energy Center Office Updates
Brian Selinger stated we currently have a Board vacancy with Gul Kremer’s  departure from Iowa State University. ISU is figuring out who will be their preferred representative; that person will then need to apply to the Governor’s Office. Brian Selinger stated he expected that to happen relatively soon and then have that person approved and seated by the November Board meeting. Brian Selinger stated we will be in touch with you as November draws near. 

Remaining 2022 IEC Board Meetings
November 17, 2022

Public Comment Period
No public comments.

Vice Chair Sikkink asked for a motion to adjourn.
Motion by Stuart Anderson
Motion I move to adjourn.
Second Craig Just
Voice Vote All ayes.

Adjournment
1:53 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Betty Hessing, Administrative Assistant