FSEC Policy Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes

October 21, 2016

Attendees:  Paul Allen, John Anderson, Luz Aviles, Addison Bain, Tommy Boroughs, Kelley Smith Burk,  Michael Burroughs, Chris Castro, Mike Faas, James Fenton, Bill Grieco, Michele Jackson (for Nick Guarriello) Liz Klonoff (via GoToMeeting), Louis Rotundo, Jennifer Szaro (via GoToMeeting), Yara Watson (for David Norvell), David Winslow

Invited Guests: Britta Gross, General Motors

FSEC Staff: Issa Batarseh, Paul Brooker, Philip Fairey, Safvat Kalaghchy, Colleen Kettles, Doug Kettles, Nan Qin, Ali Raissi, Richard Raustad, Sherri Shields, JoAnn Stirling, Muthusamy Swami, Rob Vieira, Nick Waters

1. Meeting was called to order at 10:10 by Jim Fenton.  Fenton introduced Dr. Liz Klonoff, the new Vice President of Research and Commercialization at UCF.  Klonoff spoke to the meeting attendees via GoToMeeting giving a welcome and brief bio of herself.  Klonoff replaced M.J. Soileau who retired from this post in 2016. 
   
2. Dave Winslow presided over the meeting since Buck Martinez was not able to attend.  Winslow asked for the minutes of the October 2015 meeting to be reviewed.  A motion to approve the minutes was made by Louis Rotundo and seconded by Kelley Burk.  The motion was carried and the minutes were approved unanimously.
   
3. Elections for new chairman and vice chairman were held.  Fenton stated that Dave Winslow for chairman and Mike Faas for vice chairman had agreed to serve.  There were no other nominations from the Board.  Both Winslow and Faas were approved unanimously.
   
4. Winslow moved on to next agenda item; asked Fenton to give status of FSEC programs.  Fenton asked Doug Kettles to talk about the EV Summit that was held at FSEC earlier in the week.
   
5. Kettles presented overview of the EV Summit held October 17-20, 2016.  This was the second year the summit was held.  There were 85 registrants, 14 sponsors and 17 presenters.  The presentations will be posted on the web site, http://evsummit.org/.  There was some discussion on the future of EV technology and infrastructure.
   
6. Fenton highlighted other programs/partnerships at FSEC including:
   
   • Building America
   • PVMC
   • Regional Test Centers
   • Go Solar
   • EVTC
   • SSTN, solar ready vets
   • Drive Electric
   • Clean Cities
   • FEEDER
   • Energy Whiz
     
7. Fenton then enumerated some of FSEC’s future programs:
   
   • Energy System Integration
   • UCF Sustainability
   • FSEC/UCF Energy Faculty Clusters
   • Expanding DOE PV RTC to include Energy Storage
   • Integrated smart Building Energy Storage (IS-BEST)
     
8. Yara Watson gave presentation explaining the UCF Sustainability model.
   
9. Winslow commented he would be glad to share some best practices with Watson.
   
10. Fenton listed awards received at FSEC including:
    
    • Best Paper Award
      • Researchers Ali Raissi and Nazim Muradov, and their Texas A&M University co-authors
      • International Conference on Hydrogen Production in Hangzhou, China in May 2016
      • “Solar reactor investigation for the thermochemical steps of the sulfur-ammonia water-splitting cycle”
      • Illustrates the novel approaches in solar hydrogen production.
        
    • Fenton has been elected Secretary of The Electrochemical Society
      
    • Contract awards include:
      • UCF and ICAMR Capture DOE Award for Cost-Competitive Solar Energy, Kris Davis, PI
      • Solar Ready Vets, Colleen Kettles, PI
        
11. Kelley Burk highlighted activities of the Florida Office of Energy.  Burk also commented on the Volkswagon emissions multi-billion dollar lawsuit settlement and that will open up some funding opportunities.
    
12. Louis Rotundo spoke about mobility plan legislation.  He explained that state law now allows local governments to adopt a transportation mobility scheme that does not exclusively feature roads. Further, it allows for the collected fees to be spent to promote alternative transportation mobility options such as ride-sharing, electric vehicles, trolleys transit, bikes, and sidewalks. It is a significant change in how local governments view mobility and, more importantly, how they pay for such services.
    
13. Tommy Boroughs brought up Amendment 1, which is on the November 2016 ballot.  Discussion ensued.
    
14. Britta Gross made presentation on EVs Today and Tomorrow. 
15. Chris Castro, Sustainability Director at City of Orlando, spoke about the City of Orlando’s building policy and program development, and Buddy Dyer’s sustainability program, Green Works Orlando: energy and green buildings, solid waste, mobility, transportation, water, green economy. Energy and Green Buildings: Orlando took out $17.5M municipality bond last year to renovate buildings; management and analytics software projected to save $2.5M/yr; Orlando’s PACE Financing providing a competitive marketplace, using four different providers; new policy promoting benchmarking and transparency of energy and water use, making a more informed real estate marketplace for transactions; 10 cities committing to transitioning to 100% alt fuel vehicles by 2030; 40 CNG stations recently installed; all electric Nissan Leafs available to city employees in the field; SolSmart, how solar-ready; looking into some community solar farms; applied for Smart Cities funding, made it to top 10 of 79 cities nationwide; continue to work with U.S. DOT and other agencies; Metro Lab Network, a city/university collaborative with City of Orlando, UCF/ FSEC for research development and deployment of smart cities technologies—working on connective and autonomous vehicles, solar harnessing, providing real-time travel information for all modes of transit into one application.
    
16. Just before adjourning for lunch, Lorelei Anderson-Francis, daughter of Board member John Anderson, presented an ice cream cake (a New York tradition) for John’s 90th birthday next month. John has been a long-time supporter of solar and the Florida Solar Energy Center.
    
17. Meeting adjourned for lunch at 12:10.
    
18. Lunch Discussion: VW Settlement, three categories: $2B for EV infrastructure, awareness and outreach, access to EVs. Drive Electric Florida
    
19. Meeting reconvened at 1:00.
    
20. Issa Batarseh made presentation on FSEC’s new Energy Systems Integration Division.
    
21. Paul Brooker gave a presentation on Energy Storage with Increased PV and EVs.
    
22. Dr. Fenton spoke about how Department of Energy research funding has been reduced. FSEC needs to work with industry as a partner for research funding. FSEC advisory board needs to be a “Board of Partners.”

    Homework assignment: Identify where you fit in with FSEC. What areas are you willing to contribute? Online survey should be created and results shared at next board meeting.

    Discussion ensued about a name change for FSEC, as discussed at previous meetings. FSEC is much more than solar, as topics discussed today at meeting were about not only solar, but also batteries, controls, infrastructure, grid, and electric vehicles. Part of drumming up business is marketing. Sherri Shields is promoting a name change, the Energy Research Institute @ UCF, but it needs internal approval first. FSEC’s name is in Florida statue, so it will require Legislative action to change.

23. Bill Grieco spoke about Southern Research in Central Birmingham, AL and similarities in needing research funding, and how we need to pull together in under-represented Southeast region.
    
24. Board will meet at FSEC twice a year. Meet next year at this time to satisfy the requirements in bylaws. Another possible meeting in February-March, but smaller committees and can meet online.
    
25. Meeting adjourned at approximately 2:30 p.m.
    
    

Respectfully submitted,
David Winslow, Vice Chairman