Our Agency

Call to order 1:00 p.m.

Board Members Present
Stuart Anderson, Board Chair
Craig Just, Vice Chair*
Troy DeJoode*
Naomi DeWinter*
Erik Helland**
Anne Kimber
Terry Kouba*
Dan Nickey
Taaf Vermeulen*
Matt Washburn*
Lanny Zieman

Absent
Kelcey Brown
Debi Durham

Iowa Economic Development Authority Staff Present
Brian Selinger
Amber Buckingham
Stephanie Weisenbach
Ryan Young
Lisa Connell
Shelly Peterson
Michelle Cook
Vicky Clinkscales
Terry Roberson
Kanan Kappelman

Iowa Finance Authority Staff Present
Dave Powell
Tim Morlan*
Michael Thibodeau*

Others Present
Jon Kallen, Algae Biomass Organization*
Stephanie Fromm, Winneshiek County Development and Tourism
Nathan Seberg, BES Water Solutions
Mason Bleam, Iowa Utilities Board
Jessica Flannery, Iowa House of Representatives Democratic Research Staff*
Jace Mikels, Iowa Senate Democratic Caucus*
Lillie Brady, Iowa Governor’s Office*

*Participated via Teams
**Joined in person at 1:08 pm

Welcome & Introductions by Board Chair Stuart Anderson
Stuart Anderson welcomed everyone to the November 16th IEC Board meeting.

Roll Call
Michelle Cook did roll call and a quorum was established.

Consideration of October 3, 2023 IEC Board Meeting Minutes
Motion by Dan Nickey
Motion I move approval of the October 3, 2023 minutes as
presented.
Second Craig Just
Voice Vote All ayes in favor. Motion approved.

Fiscal Update – Attachment A
Terry Roberson reviewed the first report for FY24 expenses through October 31st. The report has been tweaked a bit from prior years. Loan receivables balances are not in the report. No loans have been awarded so far this year. Currently there is just over $10.3M available on the grant program and just over $12M available on the loan program.

Terry Roberson stated he would be happy to answer any questions, but no questions were asked.

Competitive Grant Program Update
Amber Buckingham noted that all of the awardees from the latest round of grant applications have been notified. They have been awarded and contracts are currently routing amongst all of those grantees. In addition, the policies and procedures handbook and potentially some rules are being revamped. The grant committee will be meeting after the holidays to revamp the application process.

Grant Modification Request for 20-IEC-016 – Iowa State University – Improve Battery Energy Efficiency via Structural Design and 3D Printing for Electric Vehicles – Attachment B
Amber Buckingham explained the original Principal Investigator (PI) of the project left the university in 2022, as did one of the student researchers. The new PI has had to spend considerable time hiring and retraining a new student researcher, which has delayed progress on the project. The team will use the time extension to continue to collect results and finish the remaining tasks. This is the second no-cost extension for this project. Ms. Buckingham noted the
official request did come in after the technical end date of the project but we feel due to the extenuating circumstances that this is a valid request. Our recommendation would be to approve the no cost extension.

Chairperson Anderson asked if there were questions. Dan Nickey asked if the deliverables were the same. Amber Buckingham replied that yes, the deliverables are the same and they haven’t asked for any additional funds. This will be an approximate nine-month extension to July of 2024.

Motion by Lanny Zieman
Motion I move to approve the no cost extension request for 20-IEC- 016.
Second Dan Nickey
Roll Call Yes: 10 Abstain: 0
Motion approved.

Grant Modification Request for 20-IEC-014 – Iowa State University – Storing Excess Solar/Wind Electricity as Biorenewable Fuels by Electrocatalytic Biomass Conversion – Attachment C
Amber Buckingham shared the original Co-PI left the university in 2022 which delayed work on this portion of the project. The PI has requested a second no cost extension for this project. Because the project started during the pandemic, post docs were hired in lieu of the originally planned graduate students, which resulted in lower tuition and higher fringe benefit costs. They request moving $19,500 from domestic travel and student tuition to payroll benefits and supplies and materials to rebalance the budget. The request came in after the official deadline but due to the circumstances, we feel it is a valid request. Staff considers this substantive and requires board approval. Our recommendation would be to approve the no cost extension and budget modification.

Chairperson Anderson asked if there were questions. No questions were asked.

Motion by Anne Kimber
Motion I move to approve the no cost extension and budget
modification request to 20-IEC-014.
Second Craig Just
Roll Call Yes: 10 Abstain: 0
Motion approved.

Grant Modification Request for 20-IEC-010 – Iowa State University – Development of Low Cost, Safe and High-Performance Sodium Batteries for Wind Energy Storage – Attachment D
Amber Buckingham reported due to increasing costs, the supplies and materials budget line item for this project has been overspent and ISU is seeking to move funds to rectify that problem. They had to hire more hourly part-time undergrad students to help complete the research. Recruitment and retainment of PhD students continues to be an issue at the university level. The stipend and tuition categories are currently underspent, ISU proposes to move $32,000 from those line items to the supplies and materials line item to rebalance their spending. No additional funds are being requested. Because this modification is over $10,000 it does require board approval and our staff recommendation would be to approve the budget modification request.

Chairperson Anderson asked if there were questions. No questions were asked.

Motion by Dan Nickey
Motion I move to approve the budget modification request to 20- IEC-010.
Second Lanny Zieman
Roll Call Yes: 11 Abstain: 0
Motion approved.

Grant Modification Request for 20-IEC-004 – Iowa State University – Toolkit for Identification, Characterization and Energy Evaluation of Low- Efficiency Rural Housing – Attachment E
Amber Buckingham explained the project team would like to re-budget $12,371.00 from domestic travel and student and student tuition to salary, fringe benefits and indirect costs. The re-budget would allow the project team to increase student efforts to assist with finishing the required project tasks and develop and test the toolkit that they are creating. The budget modification request is over $10,000, so it does require board approval and our staff recommendation would be to approve the budget modification request. Ms. Buckingham noted that the reason that the domestic travel is underspent isbecause this project was started during the pandemic and so they weren't able to travel as freely as originally planned in 2019.

Chairperson Anderson asked if there were questions. No questions were asked.

Motion by Craig Just
Motion I move to approve the budget modification request to 20- IEC-004.
Second Dan Nickey
Roll Call Yes: 10 Abstain: 1 (Kimber)
Motion approved.

Grant Modification Request for 21-IEC-010 – Iowa State University – Advanced 3D Optical Sensing and Peening Technologies for Crack Mitigation in Natural Gas Pipelines – Attachment F
Amber Buckingham shared in order to complete the project as scheduled, the PI recruited an additional graduate student to work on the project. Additional material purchases and travel funds will not be utilized, so ISU would like to move $23,101.00 from those line items to salary and payroll benefits. This budget modification is over $10,000 and therefore requires board approval and our staff recommendation would be to approve the budget modification request.

Chairperson Anderson asked if there were questions. No questions were asked.

Motion by Lanny Zieman
Motion I move to approve the budget modification request to 21- IEC-010.
Second Dan Nickey
Roll Call Yes: 11 Abstain: 0
Motion approved.

Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program (EIRLP) – EIRLP Update –
Stephanie Weisenbach provided a general update on the loan program application cycles. The loan program did receive one application. The loan committee met and reviewed the details of that application and then went back to the applicant with some further negotiations and requests for clarification that the applicant is still working on. We're working with that applicant to see if those requested changes can be met, so more to come on that and we are expecting at least one application in the next cycle. People have a tendency to check in with us months in advance, which is great, but we don't always know which quarter it's going to land in or if they're going to end up applying. But we have heard about two projects that plan to apply it in the next cycle.

Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program Policies and Procedures Update – Attachment G
Stephanie Weisenbach explained the policies and procedures document is provided on our program web page and it provides the framework and requirements of the program, which includes, some key pieces from Iowa code from the administrative rules that have been adopted and some other policies and procedures that can be updated and revised by the board annually. We also have a rule that we review this annually to provide any necessary updates to just make sure we're staying in alignment with the board's vision for the program. We have a few proposed changes to the document that make sure that the outward facing document is consistent with how the program is actually operating. The first change relates to the collateral for the project and what we found through the program is that sometimes we want more than one form of collateral in order to provide the optimum security for the loan and currently the policies and procedures lists what we accept and it doesn't make it really clear that we could be needing more than one form. We are also clarifying that any solar project, not just private sector projects, which was the previous language, any solar project should incorporate additional technologies and innovative approaches. This was discussed at a previous full board meeting and now is being solidified in this document to ensure that we're getting the kinds of applications that the board wants to see. The 3rd update is providing an additional deadline option for what we call a start-up report that we require when the project is finished. And that's when we get a chance to review all the invoices and learn about lessons learned from the project and make sure they have the appropriate permits. The current option for the deadline was 60 days of the project being placed in service. We're making it an additional document or the latest date for all project invoices. Wanting to make sure that we're getting the documentation we want and not creating a requirement that doesn't make sense for these types of situations. The recommendation from staff and the loan committee would be to approve these changes to the EIRLP policies and Procedures Handbook.

Ms. Weisenbach asked if there were questions; no questions were asked.

Motion by Craig Just
Motion I move to approve changes to the EIRLP policies and procedures
Second Anne Kimber
Roll Call Yes: 11 Abstain: 0
Motion approved.

Algae Biomass Organization – Attachment H
Jon Kallen with Algae Biomass Organization, made a presentation on Algae Biomass Organization Sunflower Child Development and Discovery Center – Attachment I Stephanie Fromm with Winneshiek County Development and Tourism, made a presentation on Sunflower Child Development and Discovery Center

Renewable Energy Mobile Batteries Powering Decentralized Wastewater Treatment and Emergency Response – Attachment J
Nathan Seberg with BES Water Solutions, made a presentation on Renewable Energy Mobile Batteries Powering Decentralized Wastewater Treatment and Emergency Response

Other Business
Stuart Anderson turned it over to Brian Selinger to give Energy Office updates.

Energy Center Office Updates
Brian Selinger shared that he has accepted an opportunity in the private sector with ITC Midwest. He is proud of how far we’ve come as a center and appreciates the collective team, IEDA, IFA, and the board. After almost nine years with IEDA and with Director Durham at the helm, it's a lot for me to digest, but I'm excited for the new opportunity and hope to cross paths with you guys and I'm extremely bullish on the future of the Iowa Energy Center.

Shelly Peterson is going to lead in the interim basis. IDEA has posted the position and it closes tomorrow.

Public Comment Period
No public comments.

Chairperson Anderson adjourned the meeting.

Adjournment
2:31 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Michelle Cook, IEC Board Administrator