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FSEC Policy Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes

July 24, 2009

Attendees: Paul Allen, John Anderson, Addison Bain, Tommy Boroughs, Griff Carrison, Jim Drake, Mike Faas, Steve Gorman, C.T. Hsu, Jon Hurwitch, Randy LaBauve, John Masiello, Roger Messenger, Louis Rotundo, M.J. Soileau, Jeremy Susac, David Winslow, Denise Young

Guests: Bill Ashburn (Tampa Electric), Issa Batarseh (UCF), Jeff Bonynge (Images Auto Spa), Nick Guarriello (FMPA), Dan Holsenbeck (UCF), Ted McCullough (Gulf Power), Jim Lentz (Harmony Development), Joe McKenna (SKYShades), Kevin Noonan (OUC), Ed Regan (Gainesville Regional Utilities), Sharon Smeenk (FMPA), Bob Stout (Park, Bark & Fly)

  1. Chairman Tommy Boroughs called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. and welcomed the Board members and guests.  PAB members, guests and FSEC staff introduced themselves.

  2. Motion made by Roger Messenger to approve the Minutes of the February 27, 2009, meeting and seconded.  Minutes approved as submitted.

  3. Subrato Chandra gave a presentation on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program, with a discussion of goals; BAIHP saves an estimated $18.1M/year in 184,500+ homes; builders challenge homes; participating back-up builders; FSEC will be re-competing the five year program with proposals requiring 20% cost-share due the end of August.  M.J. Soileau stated that all of Florida’s Universities need help obtaining cost-share to compete at the federal level where many states using state funds automatically provide cost-share.  Subrato’s presentation, entitled “Building America Program at FSEC:  Highlights and Plans for the Future,” is available at the Web site http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/about/pab/session-archives.htm.

  4. John Harrison then gave a presentation on FSEC’s Training and Workforce Development activities (in both Solar and Home Energy Rating).  Demand for training is so high that workshops are booked several months in advance; training the trainers; Webinars; Employ Florida Banner Center for Alternative Energy 2008;  Southern Alternative Energy Training Network – a DOE Southeast 5-year, $3.5M program.  John’s presentation, entitled “FSEC Training and Workforce Activities,“ is also available at the following Web site: http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/about/pab/session-archives.htm.  Randy LaBauve stated that he hopes FSEC can quickly convert the PV installer course for distributed generation to one that would also serve large-scale PV installations.

  5. Jeremy Susac called in at 11:00 a.m.  A discussion of stimulus dollars;  Governor’s Executive Order on “Leadership By Example.”  Solar applications on state buildings.  The first LEED building in Tallahassee will be the Department of Revenue building;  $4M funding; checks will be cut August 7.  Funds will be obligated within the next few weeks.  DMS will have competitive bid, and the Energy Office will defer to them on that.  Regarding the Florida Residential Retrofit, file bids for early submittal.  Weatherization Program is a $175.9M program, and Janice Browning is the contact at DCA.

  6. At approximately 11:30 a.m., Ed Regan, of Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), began his presentation on GRU’s solar Feed-In-Tariffs net metering.  GRU studies have concluded that for FITs to work, you need three things:  a price that makes it a good investment, a contractor and an inter-connecting agreement.  Ed mentioned that while an FIT program makes good sense for municipal utilities, it probably will not be applicable for independently owned utilities.

  7. At this point, the arrival of John Anderson and Dan Holsenbeck was acknowledged.  The group then broke for buffet lunch.

  8. The meeting reconvened at 12:55 p.m. and Jon Hurwitch led a discussion of stimulus fun ding (or, as they prefer to call it, “Recovery and Reinvestment”) and stated that this funding comes with lots of strings attached and everything must be accounted for.  Hydrogen will be okay, but the government thinking was that to restore the automobile industry, hydrogen is not a near-term solution, so it’s been put off for a while.

  9. Tommy Boroughs led a discussion of energy legislation; Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader,  hopes to introduce legislation to bring energy and climate-change legislation to the Senate floor in the fall.  Dr. Fenton said we need to look at other areas, such as jobs.

  10. Board business was then conducted.  FSEC will be hosting the next meeting of the UCF Board of Trustees, and we plan to give them a short presentation and tour.  Dan Holsenbeck said this will be a good opportunity to expand our influence in the energy area in Tallahassee.  Tommy advised that the Board will be polled for a meeting at the end of October or the first part of November.  Louis said we should probably wait and see what happens;  i.e., whether a special session is scheduled or not.

  11. C.T. Hsu advised that a conference has been scheduled in Orlando and they have invited 10 university presidents from Taiwan;  FSEC could be showcased;  $50 million, 200-acre  development project in the works.

  12. Dr. Fenton reviewed the State of Florida's Sunsmart Schools Emergency Shelter program.  The SunSmart Schools Emergency Shelter program, using $20M of Recovery Act funding through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) State Energy Program (SEP), will provide 190 or more Florida schools, which are designated as emergency shelters, with electricity using photovoltaic (PV) technology.  The 10 kW or larger photovoltaic systems, with battery backup, will provide electricity to selected critical items in emergency shelter buildings.  FSEC is responsible for administration, selection and deployment of the PV systems on the schools, as well as the educational components in keeping with the SunSmart Schools program.  FSEC activities will include professional development for teachers, instruction for emergency management personnel, facilities manager training, data acquisition system installation, data collection and display, and Web maintenance for the period of this program.

  13. Meeting adjourned at 2:20 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Tommy Boroughs
Chairman