Silicon Valley Clean Energy
Executive Committee Meeting
Friday, February 28, 2025
10:00 a.m.
Silicon Valley Clean Energy Office
333 W El Camino Real, Suite 330
Sunnyvale, CA
MEETING MINUTES
Call to Order
Chair Martinez Beltran called the meeting to order at 10:01 a.m.
Roll Call
Present:
Chair Yvonne Martinez Beltran, Morgan Hill
Vice Chair Sally Meadows, City of Los Altos
Director Elliot Scozzola, City of Campbell
Director George Tyson, Town of Los Altos Hills
Director Tina Walia, City of Saratoga
Director Larry Klein, City of Sunnyvale
Absent:
None.
Public Comment on Matters Not Listed on the Agenda
Bruce Karney announced the Mountain View City Council voted to adopt its priorities for the next two years, one of which was to develop a plan to end the flow of pipe natural gas no later than 2045 in Mountain View. Mr.
Karney mentioned two ideas for raising money (particularly in Mountain View) to help the owners of multifamily buildings who otherwise would not be able to recoup the investment to break even: 1) voluntary carbon tax, and 2) an idea similar to a Roth IRA where people would be able to put money aside into a fund where it could grow tax free and be restricted to use when an electrification project occurs. Mr. Karney suggested the City of Mountain View or Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) could match the money put into the Roth IRA at a 5-10% level.
Consent Calendar
Chair Martinez Beltran opened Public Comment.
No speakers.
Chair Martinez Beltran closed Public Comment.
MOTION: Director Tyson moved and Director Klein seconded the motion to approve the Consent Calendar.
Docusign Envelope ID: E2FA6C93-93C7-48DE-AB36-75351F3C0DD3 The motion carried unanimously with all committee members present. 1) Approve Minutes of the January 27, 2025, Executive Committee Meeting Regular Calendar
2) CEO Update (Discussion)
Amrit Singh, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Director of Administrative Services, provided the update on behalf of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Monica Padilla.
CFO Singh reported on the following:
SVCE’s new office building purchase at 298 South Sunnyvale Avenue in Sunnyvale; Bena Chang, Director of Government and Legislative Affairs, provided an update on a regionalization/expanded markets bill;
Member Agency Quarterly Impact reports were distributed to board members, city managers, and city council members;
An overview of upcoming events:
o March 21st, Berkeley POWER Conference
o April 17th, Hanford Gas Peaker with Battery Ribbon Cutting Event o April 28th – 30th, CalCCA Annual Conference in Irvine Staff responded to questions regarding AB 306, which would put a pause on state building code changes, and reach code communication efforts.
There was no public comment on this item.
3) Workforce Strategy Update and Power Purchase Agreement Project Selection Policy Recommendation (Action)
Director of Government and Legislative Affairs Chang introduced the item with a request for the Executive Committee (Committee) to recommend that the Board of Directors adopt the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Project Selection Policy with any clear edits/direction for changes given to staff from the Committee. Staff’s presentation addressed the following:
Workforce activities;
Purpose of the PPA Project Selection Policy and current practice; Key elements of the proposed PPA Project Selection Policy; An overview of the communication that occurred with stakeholders; Changes reflected in the proposed policy as a result of stakeholder feedback; and Highlights of additional requests from stakeholders
Staff responded to questions from committee members regarding whether there were any legal concerns with the targeted hire language and similarities to other CCAs, and the goals identified from stakeholder requests.
Chair Martinez Beltran opened Public Comment, addressing members of the public in the room first.
Louise A., Working Partnerships USA, provided background information on her focus in construction careers and commented on her excitement on the PPA projects and proposed policy, which offer opportunities to create additional construction careers for California. Louise noted the policy is a great step forward and requested the Docusign Envelope ID: E2FA6C93-93C7-48DE-AB36-75351F3C0DD3 additions submitted with the Public Comment letter from the Workforce Environmental Justice Alliance be considered.
Lauren W., Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet, spoke for Acterra as part of the CCA Workforce Environmental Justice Alliance. Lauren commented on encouraging and strengthening the ongoing engagement practices with the public, and stressed keeping projects local, locally staffed, and locally trained in California.
Following the in-person public comment speakers, the Chair addressed members of the public joining remotely.
Alex L., San Francisco Electrical Construction Industry, addressed the local hiring, apprenticeship, and project labor agreements suggestions to the policy.
Eric V., CCA Workforce and Environmental Justice Alliance, thanked staff for the collaborative effort on the policy, and commented on the need for a lot of future projects that will need to be built. Eric noted everyone that is procuring clean energy has a responsibility to ensure we are supporting and protecting workers in the communities that are hosting clean energy projects, and also simultaneously from a position of de-risking these projects from possible development risk. Eric referred the Committee to the policy analysis submitted as part of the Public Comment letter and expressed appreciation of adoption of all of the recommendations.
Will S., IBEW local 332, representing over 3,600 electrical workers in Santa Clara County, thanked staff for their coordination and cooperation into implementing the labor standards into the policy. Will urged committee members to adopt the standards to help prevent the exploitation of workers, specifically construction workers.
Bradley C., IBEW local 595, representing electricians and electrical apprentices in Alameda, San Joaquin and Calaveras Counties, commented that high road labor standards will ensure that projects meet the strict safety standards that are needed, the work is done right, and projects are completed on time. Bradley noted that Ava Community Energy’s policy was adopted, advances were observed, and Bradley urged committee members to adopt the policy which would strengthen the high road labor standards, reduce development risk, and benefit vulnerable communities.
Chair Martinez Beltran closed Public Comment.
Committee members discussed the additional suggestions received from stakeholders in the red-lined copy of the policy submitted as written Public Comment, which were summarized by staff in the following general categories: Local Hire, Targeted Hire, Apprentices, Location, and Environmental.
Staff reviewed each of the requests in the summary list. Committee members clarified that the details outlined in the policy were considered preferences and goals and not requirements.
Committee members provided feedback on the policy which included: evaluating the workforce development targets proposed and identifying a meaningful percentage that can be measured; for an MC3 program, identifying if it is a reasonable definition if outside of California and identifying a meaningful percentage; meeting with stakeholders on the next iteration of the policy; identifying a meaningful ratio of apprentices; and consensus of support for the original language related to location, environmental stewardship, and the other redline suggestions from stakeholders.
MOTION: Director Tyson moved and Director Walia seconded the motion to proceed with providing advice to staff regarding the workforce strategy update and Power Purchase Agreement Project Selection policy with comments given, and to bring it forward to the SVCE Board of Directors.
Director of Government and Legislative Affairs Chang requested clarification on the pieces of the stakeholder comments the Committee would like staff to work on and incorporate.
Docusign Envelope ID: E2FA6C93-93C7-48DE-AB36-75351F3C0DD3 Director Tyson provided the following direction to staff on each of the following summary categories:
Local Hire
Evaluate the proposed 30% goal and provide feedback to the Board of Directors on whether the number is correct or if there are other parameters that would make it better, more operational, and enforceable. Director Tyson reiterated his overall statement was to make sure it is clear and manageable in terms of enforcement.
Targeted Hire
Evaluate the proposed 10% goal and provide feedback to the Board of Directors on whether the number is correct or if there are other parameters that would make it better, more operational, and enforceable.
Apprentices
Same as above; to make sure that it is clear and manageable in terms of enforcement.
Location
Direction was to leave as originally written.
Environmental
Direction was to leave as originally written, given the sense it was already covered.
FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Director Walia proposed a friendly amendment to emphasize that the policy was intended to be aspirational. Director Tyson restated the overall broad statement is aspirational in nature, and the Committee is giving staff the opportunity to define the charter of the Policy as seems operationally most fitting.
Director Walia agreed with the friendly amendment as the seconder of the motion.
The motion carried unanimously with all committee members present. 4) Recommend the SVCE Board of Directors Approve the Amended Energy Risk Management Policy (Action)
CFO Singh introduced Scott Wrigglesworth, Director of Risk Management, who presented a request for the Committee to recommend that the SVCE Board of Directors approve the amended Energy Risk Management policy with the key proposed change of inclusion of the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) and PG&E generation rate (gen rate) hedge when assessing overall position. The presentation included the following:
Highlights of the proposed changes, including the language change in section 3.3 of the policy on Net Revenue Risk, a change in section 6.4 on thresholds, and other minor revisions; A technical walk-through on PCIA, financial planning and risk management, and an introduction to a prospective methodology for incorporating PCIA and Gen rate hedge impact; and Staff’s plan for implementation and the implications considered.
Staff responded to a question regarding if there are other CCAs currently utilizing the potential hedge or looking at PCIA and how it derisks the organization.
Chair Martinez Beltran opened Public Comment.
No speakers.
Chair Martinez Beltran closed Public Comment.
MOTION: Director Klein moved and Director Walia seconded the motion to recommend the SVCE Board of Directors approve the revisions to the SVCE Energy Risk Management Policy, to put the item on the Docusign Envelope ID: E2FA6C93-93C7-48DE-AB36-75351F3C0DD3 Consent Calendar for the next Board of Directors meeting, and to include the committee presentation in the packet materials for the future Consent item.
The motion carried unanimously with all committee members present. 5) Program Snapshot: New and Improved eHub (Informational) Pamela Leonard, Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications, introduced the item. Leslie Madarang, Senior Marketing Specialist, presented an informational presentation on SVCE’s improved eHub, which allows customers to learn about electrification as well as take action in SVCE’s programs.
Staff responded to committee member questions and comments on multi-language options, when member agency staff would receive information on eHub, and different methods of distributing the information.
Chair Martinez Beltran opened Public Comment.
No speakers.
Chair Martinez Beltran closed Public Comment.
Committee/Staff Remarks
Director Klein confirmed SVCE staff was assisting with the Sunnyvale EV Ride and Drive event, and announced the Peery Park Rides Program kickoff on March 4, 2025.
Adjournment
Chair Martinez Beltran adjourned the meeting at 12:17 p.m.
ATTEST:
_____________________________
Andrea Pizano, Board Secretary
Docusign Envelope ID: E2FA6C93-93C7-48DE-AB36-75351F3C0DD3