MINUTES
Board of Directors of the
Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
Regular Meeting
Thursday, December 7, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
Meeting videos are available on CPA's YouTube Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/@CPApublicmeetings
Board members participated from the following locations:
Calabasas City Hall
Council Conference Room
100 Civic Center Way
Calabasas, CA 91301
Clean Power Alliance
Diana Mahmud Board Room
801 S. Grand Ave., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Whittier City Hall
Admin Conference Room
13230 Penn Street
Whittier, CA 90602
Ventura County Government Center
Channel Islands Conference Room, 4th Floor
Hall of Administration
800 South Victoria Avenue
Venture, CA 93009
South Bay Cities Council of Governments
Conference Room
2355 Crenshaw Blvd., Suite 125
Torrance, CA 90501
Embassy Suites
Business Center
401 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28202
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
Chair Julian Gold called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. and Gabriela Monzon, Clerk of the Board, conducted roll call.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Matthew Langer, Chief Operating Officer, led the pledge of allegiance.
Roll Call
1 Agoura Hills Deborah Klein Lopez Director Remote
2 Alhambra Jeff Maloney Director Present
3 Arcadia Michael Cao Director Present
4 Beverly Hills Julian Gold Chair Present
5 Calabasas Ed Albrecht Alternate Remote
6 Camarillo Susan Santangelo Director Remote
7 Carson Cedric Hicks Director Remote
8 Claremont Corey Calaycay Director Present
9 Culver City Joe Susca Alternate Remote
10 Downey Absent
11 Hawaiian Gardens Absent
12 Hawthorne Alex Monteiro Director Present
13 Hermosa Beach Justin Massey
Doug Kraus
Director
Alternate Present
14 Los Angeles
County Lindsey Horvath Vice Chair Present
15 Malibu Marianne Riggins Director Remote
16 Manhattan Beach David Lesser Alternate Remote
17 Monrovia Absent
18 Moorpark Renee Delgado Director Remote
19 Ojai Michelle Ellison Alternate Remote
20 Oxnard Absent
21 Paramount Absent
22 Redondo Beach Absent
23 Rolling Hills
Estates Debby Stegura Director Remote
24 Santa Monica Caroline Torosis Alternate Present
25 Santa Paula Leslie Cornejo Alternate Remote
26 Sierra Madre Robert Parkhurst Director Remote
27 Simi Valley Absent
28 South Pasadena Jon Primuth Director Present
29 Temple City Absent
30 Thousand Oaks David Newman Director Remote
31 City of Ventura Liz Campos Director Remote
32 Ventura County Vianey Lopez Vice Chair Present
33 West Hollywood Absent
34 Westlake Village Absent
35 Whittier Leon Vasquez Alternate Remote
All votes are unanimous unless otherwise stated.
GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
CLOSED SESSION
1. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL—ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9: 1 Nancy Whang, General Counsel, reported that the Board voted to approve a settlement agreement resolving the disagreement between CPA and HDSI with respect to certain aspects of how the operating deviations and year-to-date annual capacity availability should be determined and the monthly capacity payment amounts that CPA owes to HDSI, resulting in a payment to HDSI in the amount of $2,275,423.57. The settlement agreement is conditioned on approval of the amendment to the power purchase agreement, which is agenda Item 3 on the Board agenda.
Vote: The closed session item was approved by a roll call, with one abstention.
CONSENT AGENDA
2. Approve Minutes from the November 2, 2023 Board of Directors Meeting
3. Approve an Amendment to the Long-Term Renewable Power Purchase Agreement with HDSI, LLC for the High Desert Solar + Storage Project and Authorize the Chief Executive Officer to Execute the Amendment
4. Adopt Resolution 23-12-057 Approving Amendments to the Power Share Tariff and Approving the Community Solar Tariff
5. Adopt Resolution 23-12-058 Approving Amendments to the Net Billing Tariff
6. Receive and File FY Q1 Quarterly Financial Report
7. Receive and File CY Q3 Quarterly RMT Report
8. Receive and File CY Q3 Quarterly Communications Report
9. Receive and File 2024 Meeting Schedule
10. Receive and File Monthly Community Advisory Committee Report Motion: Director Horvath, Los Angeles County
Second: Director Calaycay, Claremont
Vote: The consent agenda was approved by a roll call vote
PUBLIC HEARING
11. Adopt Resolution No. 23-12-059-A to Approve Addendum No. 5 to the CPA Implementation Plan, Adding the Cities of La Cañada Flintridge, Lynwood, and Port Hueneme, Provided that the City of Lynwood, has Passed an Ordinance to join Clean Power Alliance by December 5, 2023; Authorize Staff to Submit the Addendum to the California Public Utilities Commission on or before December 31, 2023 Chair Gold announced that the City of Lynwood voted to join the Clean Power Alliance, and therefore the Board would vote on Item 11 and remove Item 12 from the agenda.
Mr. Bardacke reviewed the expansion process; noted that in the case of these three cities, the Councils had a short time to go through two readings of the ordinance. One major difference from the three cities that were added last year is that these three new cities will have a start date of October of 2025, due to the financial and Resource Adequacy (RA) impacts of the summer; CPA will not have RA obligations for the new cities in the summer of 2025. Mr. Bardacke also thanked Karen Schmidt, Director of Rates and Strategy, Chair Gold, Vice Chair Lopez, Director Torosis, the Sierra Club, and the Community Environment Coalition of Ventura County for their work bringing on new members.
Motion: Director Calaycay, Claremont
Second: Vice Chair Lopez, Ventura County
Vote: Item 11 was approved by a roll call vote
12. Adopt Resolution No. 23-12-059-B to Approve Addendum No. 5 to the CPA Implementation Plan, Adding the Cities of La Cañada Flintridge and Port Hueneme; 2023 Authorize Staff to Submit the Addendum to the California Public Utilities Commission on or before December 31, 2023
Item 12 was removed from the agenda.
REGULAR AGENDA
13. Approve the 2024 Legislative & Regulatory Policy Platform as Recommended by the Legislative & Regulatory Committee
Gina Goodhill, Senior Director of Government Affairs, presented the 2024 Legislative and Regulatory Policy Platform. Ms. Goodhill explained the proposed changes to the platform and described the regulatory landscape. The new platform includes expanded language around local control and autonomy in governance, in particular the need to continue allowing non-elected alternate Board members to participate in closed meetings when the primary Board member is not available. Regarding regionalization, California regulators are currently exploring ways in which the state's grid operator, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), could expand its operations to include other states in the West, with the goals of reducing costs, increasing reliability, and meeting decarbonization goals for California. The proposed platform calls for a support position for this regional market if key conditions are met.
Energy leaders from various states have created the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative, which is developing a regionalization plan that includes governance options and possibly an independent nonprofit entity and/or new legislation. The states involved are Arizona, California, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, as well as utilities, load serving entities, power producers, and stakeholders representing labor, environmental groups, and ratepayers. The Legislative and Regulatory Committee and staff recommend that the Board approve a regionalization principle as part of the 2024 policy platform so that CPA staff can have direction when participating in these discussions.
Legislative and Regulatory Committee Chair Klein Lopez noted that the committee fine-tuned the verbiage of the regionalization principles and encouraged the Board’s approval, allowing CPA the flexibility it needs to operate in a fast-changing legislative landscape, which will ultimately benefit CPA’s customers.
In response to Director Maloney’s question about the Governor’s input, Ms. Goodhill noted the Governor has not directly weighed in, but the head of the CPUC is appointed by the Governor, so indirectly, there is support for this effort. Director Massey asked about the failed regionalization bill; stakeholders involved in SPP; and if regionalization would advance clean power generation across the West. Ms. Goodhill noted that in the past, regionalization was a legislative effort and a highly political issue, which made it difficult to move forward. Mr. Bardacke added that efforts failed over labor issues; now that labor is involved in the stakeholder process, there may be less pushback.
Regarding SPP, states would not be able to participate in California’s energy market if they joined SPP. Mr. Bardacke noted that the platform principles reflect an effort to advance clean power generation throughout the region, to not only import energy from around the West, but influence policy in the region.
Vice Chair Horvath expressed support for regionalization efforts in order to positively influence the region’s clean energy goals, while also focusing on maintaining affordability, reliability, and creating local jobs. In response to Director Massey’s question about CPA’s position on income graduated fixed charges, Mr. Bardacke explained that implementation is still in its early stages; CPA may take a legislative position in the future and would come back to the Board for that discussion if warranted. Director Parkhurst asked how deregulation may impact regionalization efforts. Matt Langer, Chief Operating Officer, explained that regionalization in California will come with guardrails, regulation, and assurances that California will set its own clean energy and reliability targets, while integrating into a regional market and trade with power providers outside of the CAISO. Transactional barriers will be reduced by expanding into the region and the platform principles will provide a guide for CPA to engage in those efforts.
Motion: Director Monteiro, Hawthorne
Second: Director Maloney, Alhambra
Vote: Item 13 was approved by a roll call vote
COMMITTEE CHAIR UPDATES
Director Susan Santangelo, Chair, Finance Committee Director reported that the committee discussed CPA’s banking agreement with JP Morgan; the Committee will review other banking opportunities and report back.
MANAGEMENT REPORT
Mr. Bardacke reported that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the Department of Energy ranked CPA number one in both green power sales and customers in its national rankings, which for the first time included CCAs. CPA will be highlighting its NREL ranking in its marketing. Mr. Bardacke also reported that CPA provided almost $300,000 this year to community local nonprofits in partnership with billing manager Calpine Energy Solutions.
Responding to Director Massey’s question, Mr. Bardacke clarified that marketing about the NREL standing will be targeted to CPA customers in the form of education about CPA’s efforts.
It can also prove advantageous in conversations at the state and federal levels.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
Director Monteiro congratulated Vice Chair Horvath for being appointed as Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
Chair Gold wished everyone happy holidays and thanked the Board and staff for their dedication and contributions to the organization’s success.
ADJOURN
Chair Gold adjourned the meeting at 3:42 p.m.