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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011/09/13 Item 08CITY COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT ~`~~ CITY OF CHULAVtSTA 9/13/11, Item ITEM TITLE: RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA APPROVING PARTICIPATION IN A REGIONAL GRANT APPLICATION IN RESPONSE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S SUNSHOT INITIATIVE - ROOFTOP SOLAR CHALLENGE AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH IMPLEMENTING THE GRANT AGREEMENT SUBMITTED BY: DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS ASSISTANT DIRECT R OF ENG REVIEWED BY: CITY MANAGER ASSISTANT CIT MANAGER Gj 1 4/STHS VOTE: YES ~ NO ^X SUMMARY The Department of Energy is requesting proposals under its SunShot 111itiative -Solar Rooftop Challenge to help reduce the "soft costs" associated with solar photovoltaic systems. City staff has been collaborating with the California Center for Sustainable Energy on a regional grant proposal focused on helping local governments identify administrative barriers and develop solutions for encouraging rooftop solar photovoltaic installations through permitting, zoning, and financing processes. If awarded, the grant would provide $32,415 to support City staff time participating in regional working groups and implementing identified solutions. The project helps support the City Council-approved Climate Mitigation Measure #5 ("Encourage energy efficiency & solar energy in the community.") ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The Development Services- Director has reviewed the proposed activity for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that the activity is not a "Project" as defined under Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines, because the activity consists of an administrative action involving the submittal of a grant application which will not result in a direct or indirect adverse physical impact to the 8-1 9/13/11, Item Page 2 of 3 environment. Therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no further environmental review is necessary. Consideration of environmental factors will be done once a specific project is defined and funded. RECOMMENDATION Council adopt the resolution. BOARDS/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION City staff will be presenting the grant proposal to the Resource Conservation Commission (RCC) for consideration at their September 12t~' meeting. Staff can verbally update the City Council on the Resource Conservation Commission's recommendation, if requested. DISCUSSION The Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national initiative to make solar energy technologies cost-competitive with other forms of energy by reducing the cost of solar energy systems by about 75% before 2020. By reducing the total installed cost for solar electricity to approximately $0.06 per kilowatt hour (without subsidies), large-scale adoption of solar electricity across the United States is expected. The DOE SunShot Initiative's new Rooftop Solar Challenge is designed to provide funds to local governments and regional partners in order to significantly reduce the administrative or "soft" costs associated with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. By reducing the administrative burden, adoption of solar PV by residents and businesses will be simpler, faster, and more cost-effective. The California Center for Sustainable Energy has been coordinating with the City of Chula Vista and 11 other jurisdictions across San Diego, Orange, Riverside, and Los Angeles Counties on developing a regional grant proposal in response to the DOE Rooftop Solar Challenge. The $1 million regional proposal focuses on four action areas that will be critical for solar market growth in Southern California: (1) standardizing permitting and interconnection processes, (2) updating planning and zoning codes, (3) improving interconnection and net metering standards, and (4) increasing access to financing. If awarded, Chula Vista would receive $32,415 (based on population) to support City staff time to participate in regional working groups centered on the 4 focus areas. This regional collaboration will allow the City to more effectively identify current administrative barriers encountered by local residents and businesses, who are interested in installing solar PV arrays. Over the 12-month grant period, City staff will work to develop solutions to identified barriers, which will ultimately facilitate more renewable energy systems in the community. The proposed regional project supports Chula Vista's greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts and specifically helps to implement the City Council-approved Climate Mitigation Measure #5 ("Encourage energy efficiency & solar energy in the community.") DECISION MAKER CONFLICT 8-2 9/13/11, Item ~ Page 3 of 3 Staff has determined that the recommendations requiring Council action are not site specific and consequently the 500 foot rule found in California Code of Regulations section 18704.2(a)(1) is not applicable to this decision. CURRENT YEAR FISCAL IMPACT The proposed grant project would not create a negative impact to the City's General Fund. If awarded, the grant would award $32,415 in Fiscal Year 2012 to the City to fund related staff time and travel. The matching funds required for the grant ($3,572 total) would be covered through existing Departmental budgets. ONGOING FISCAL IMPACT The proposed grant project would not create any ongoing net impact to the City's General Ftmd. ATTACHMENTS Attachment A - CCSE Partnership Proposal -DOE Rooftop Solar Challenge Prepared by: Brendan Reed, Environmental Resource Manager, Public Worlcs -Conservation Division H:IPUBLIC WORKSIAGENDAICAS2011109-13-IIIDOESunShot Grant Application_CAS DRAFT.doc 8-3 r C~rtt~r ©r ~us~ainab~e ~ner~' 8690 Balboa Ave. main 858.244.1177 Suite 100 fax 858.244.1178 San Diego, CA 92.123 www.energycenfer.org CCSE Partnership Proposal -DOE SunShot Rooftop Challenge BACKGROUND The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) is developing a southern California response to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Rooftop Solar Challenge to Induce Market Transformation ("The Challenge"), DE-FOA-0000549. The Challenge is a two-phase, up to $42.5 million effort focused on reducing the non-hardware balance of system costs for customer-sited, rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems.' DOE is seeking to reduce these costs by achieving cross-jurisdictional streamlining and standardization of requirements associated with: • Permitting and Interconnection Processes • Net Metering and Interconnection Standards • Financing Options • Planning and Zoning Participants must be regional or statewide teams of local governments. Teams are required to benchmark current processes across the four action areas, and track improvements to these processes through the end of Phase 1. PROPOSAL ACTIVITIES Participating jurisdictions will receive: • Custom assessments of their current solar permitting and inspection processes; • Educational opportunities related to solar implementation best practices; • Technical and logistical support; • Financial support for staff working on activities related to this effort; and • Recognition from DOE. To take part in this proposal, jurisdictions must commit to: • Work with CCSE staff to describe and benchmark current processes; • Engage with the regional team to identify success examples and opportunities for process improvements; • Work with CCSE and local utility to assess interconnection and net metering; • Champion the implementation of improvements within their organizations; and • Track the impact of operational changes resulting from proposal activities. Phase 1 has been allocated up to $12.5 million for between 20-25 awards. Upon completion of Phase 1 in year-end 2012, DOE may invite high performing teams to submit proposals for Phase 2: a two-year $25-30 million effort focused on state/regional standardization of permitting processes. . r , 8-4 ~~ ~~'Clt€'r ~Ot" 8690 Balboa Ave. marn 858.244.1177 ~,,.-°~~ ~~ ~^~, y^~ ~y y^~ p~ Suite 100 ~ fax 858.244.1178 ~~~Gl~f l~~L ~1 #~1~~ San Diego, CA92123 www.energycenter.org C~tLC~=~1'l~~fr~ NEXT STEPS CCSE plans to seek the full $1 million Phase 1 limit for this proposal and to allocate funds and levels of program support among participants based on population. To maximize the learning benefits to DOE, we aim to have a diverse mix of jurisdictions representing variation in size, load serving entity (IOUs, POUs, and Irrigation Districts) and county location. We are seeking tentative commitments from jurisdictions across the 10 southern California counties (Figure 1). We will use these commitments in crafting our Letter of Intent to DOE, due July 29, 2011. Figure 1 -Southern California Region with example cities and 2010 population estimates _.~_ _ ~ .3lL.iT~f~^.~~ Smr t:a a4 ~~ i __ h.~:~l~H~ ~... __.. __ V dvy-l. -.mlt tlvWru• ~ ~ -~ f a, xnl~ ! __-.. ~. 4en:5tic® ®ilnc ih ~ ,' .... ......... IMt{~ ~f~ ` i ~ ~ Ai.x~r~~. S. t Legend see h.~= ~~_ .. - P~rpuFatian L. ' Up is y0.0~t ``~' t7 ~rxAmid ~ I F,..,,.rd~,Y ._s • 5fk;C99•t0~k 000 ~ ~ ~ '"a 5W.000 - 1.009.000 - .__--_.`--'- 1~ 1.000,900 and tlp .,„... If your jurisdiction is interested in participating in this proposal, please contact Andrew McAllister, Director of Policy and Programs at andrew.mcallister@energycenter.org or (858)244-7282. Interested parties should inform CCSE no later than COB Wednesday July 27, 2011. Once a jurisdiction has expressed interest in participating they must provide a letter of support by Friday August 5, 2011 followed by a letter of commitment from their respective chief elected official, due no later than Friday August 26, 2011. The letter of commitment must spell out a cost share commitment consisting of cash or in-kind contributions (e.g. existing staff time)2. z Letters of commitment are not required until all project participants are identified and the project budget and allocations have been determined. The team as a whole must contribute a 10% cost share; budget allocation and cost share will be based on each jurisdiction's population. Letters of commitment must be included in the application, due August 31, 2011. 8-5 RESOLUTION NO. RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA APPROVING PARTICIPATION IN A REGIONAL GRANT APPLICATION 1N RESPONSE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S SUNSHOT INITIATIVE - ROOFTOP SOLAR CHALLENGE AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS 1N CONJUNCTION WITH APPLYING FOR, OBTAINING AND IMPLEMENTING THE GRANT WHEREAS, the Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative is a national initiative to make solar energy technologies cost-competitive with other forms of energy; and WHEREAS, the Initiative's new Rooftop Solar Challenge is designed to provide funds to local governments and regional partners in order to significantly reduce the administrative or "soft" costs associated with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems; and WHEREAS, City staff has been collaborating with the California Center for Sustainable Energy and 11 other jurisdictions on a regional grant proposal to help participating local governments identify administrative barriers and develop solutions for encouraging rooftop solar photovoltaic installations; and WHEREAS, Chula Vista, if awarded the grant, would receive funding to support City staff time to participate in regional working groups centered on solar PV permitting, zoning, interconnection, and financing; and WHEREAS, the proposed regional project supports Chula Vista's greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts and specifically helps to implement the City Council-approved Climate Mitigation Measure #5. NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Chula Vista does hereby resolve as follows: 1 2 Presented by That it approves participation in a regional grant application in response to the Department of Energy's Sunshot Initiative -Rooftop Solar Challenge. That it authorizes the City Manager, or his designee, to execute all documents in conjunction with applying for, obtaining and implementing the grant. Richard A. Hopkins Director of Public Works ppro ed o m,by ~ l ' ~' ~~~ 1 R. Googins :'1 ~ rty Attorney 8-6