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FSEC Policy Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes

 

November 7, 2012

Attendees: Paul Allen, John Anderson, Tommy Boroughs, Griff Carrison, Mike Faas, James Fenton, Nick Guarriello, Larry Hufford, John Leeds, Jim Lentz, Buck Martinez, Roger Messenger, Kevin Noonan, Ed Regan, Louis Rotundo, Joseph Simmons, M.J. Soileau, Denise Young

Invited Guests:  Jim Golden, HSA Golden Engineering; John Lambie, Florida House Foundation; Jon Ippel, City of Orlando; John Scott, Collier Int’l.

FSEC Staff:  David Block, Philip Fairey, Ali Raissi, Bob Reedy, Winston Schoenfeld, Sherri Shields, JoAnn Stirling, Karen Sutherland, Rob Vieira, Joe Walters

  1. Chairman Tommy Boroughs called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.  Introductions were made by PAB members, guests and FSEC staff.
  2. Minutes from the February 10, 2012 meeting were passed out.  Item #14, changing the chairman term length back to two years, was discussed.  Minutes were approved.
  3. Proposed changes to the Bylaws were discussed. 
    • Article II, Section 5, changing the number of attendees to constitute a quorum was discussed and a suggestion was made to change it to 25%.
    • Article IV – total number of Board members should not exceed 40 members.
    • Article IV, Section 5 – changing the length of the term that the Chairman and Vice Chair will serve from four years to two years.
  4. Motion was made to amend Section 5 to 25%, seconded to adopt change to Section 5 and all changes were approved unanimously.
  5. Tommy Boroughs encouraged everyone to read Article I of the Bylaws.
  6. James Fenton gave presentation on the status of FSEC programs.
    • Overview of FSEC Regional Test Center – partnership with NREL and Sandia, monitoring and testing will be done at UCF’s main campus.
    • SunSmart Schools – 10 kW PV systems on 90 schools with ARRA funding.  There will be 109 schools with systems by 2013.
    • Continuing Education Workshops – ongoing training classes in PV, solar thermal, Energy Gauge and building science.
    • BEST Hub proposal – proposal submitted and oral presentation given in July 2012.  Award announcement originally expected Sept. 1, 2012; still no announcement, however, since election is over an announcement is expected soon.  Suggestion made to contact Florida legislative delegation to support proposal in Washington, DC.  Discussion followed.  M.J. Soileau questioned if Board would support drive to contact Florida delegation, motion made, was seconded and passed unanimously.  A one-page summary of the BEST Hub proposal and a sample letter addressed to Secretary of Energy Chu was distributed for reference.  James Fenton elaborated on support of BEST Hub partners 5yr/$120M program.
  7. Danny Parker’s pre-recorded presentation, “Zero Energy Homes: Doing It Yourself.”
  8. Florida’s Fuel video.
  9. Buck Martinez’s presentation – “Economics of Solar in Sunshine State: A Portfolio Approach.”
  10. Adjourned for lunch at 12:20.
  11. Reconvened meeting at 1:15.
  12. Louis Rotundo spoke of tax breaks and cautious approach of previous legislation.
  13. The minutes of the November 10, 2011 PAB meeting was referred to in that James Fenton sent a white paper, “Macro-Economics and Florida-Manufactured Energy Production” to  Commissioner Adam Putnam on November 18, 2011.  Tommy Boroughs gave John Leeds a copy of these minutes and white paper.  James Fenton sent the link, white paper - http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/about/pab/2011-11-10/Macro-Econ_FloridaEnergyProduction_11-10-11.pdf and November 10, 2011 minutes - http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/about/pab/2011-11-10/minutes-20111110.htm to Board members.  John Leeds was asked to check with staff and Commissioner Putnam’s priorities.
  14. The next Board meeting will be in mid-February 2013.  Tommy Boroughs asked members to send him specific agenda items for that meeting.
  15. Tommy Boroughs contacted and invited the Director of Sustainability of WalMart in Washington, DC to attend a PAB meeting concerning PV on roofs of big box stores.
  16. Discussion on developing a plan on distributive generation. 
  17. John Leeds to set up a meeting with chairman of the Florida Energy Office.
  18. Meeting adjourned at 2:00.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tommy Boroughs,
Chairman