06.12.07
Posted in Uncategorized, Committee Business at 9:39 am by admin
June 13, 2007 – 12 noon Eastern, 9:00 am Pacific
- Welcome and Introductions – Monica Schwebs, Co-Chair
- Suggestions for Changes to the Agenda – Monica Schwebs, Co-Chair
- Old Business
- Update on National Teleconference Planning – Bill Westerfield, Co-Chair
- Update on Planning for the Mid-Year Program and Primer on Climate Change and Renewable Energy (Note: Please also see the separate call for volunteers and speaker ideas.)
- Update on Program Committee Meeting held June 6, 2007 – Andrea Wolfman, Program Committee Chair, or Gearold Knowles, Renewable Energy Committee Vice Chair
- Discussion of possible Mid-Year Meeting program: Possible panel on national portfolio standard
- Introduction to Climate Change
- Discussion of possible panels for Primer on climate change and renewable energy
- Carbon Regulation (cap-and-trade and carbon tax)
- Renewable Energy Resources – especially renewable technologies and current developments
- Financing Renewable Energy Projects (with focus on unique issues encountered in renewable energy projects)
- New Business
- Idea for Blog/Newsletter Updates – Jeff Dennis
- Updating the Renewable Energy Committee Charter – Monica Schwebs, Co-Chair, and Bruce Malkenhorst
- Possible Collaboration with ADR Committee and West Coast Chapter on West Coast Renewable Energy Program – Bill Westerfield, Co-Chair
- Distribution of Membership List – Monica Schwebs, Co-Chair
- Next Meeting
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05.21.07
Posted in Committee Business at 1:26 pm by member
Energy Bar Association Renewable Energy Committee
Planning Conference Call
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
3:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern time /Noon-1:00 p.m. Pacific time
1. Welcome, Introductions, and Overview of EBA Expectations for the Renewable Energy Committee Meeting for the Year - Monica Schwebs, Committee Co-Chair
2. Membership Communications - Meeting Notes, Blog Postings, and Periodic Renewable Energy Committee Conference Calls - Monica Schwebs, Committee Co- Chair, and/or Lynn Fountain
3. Report on Recent Meetings of Energy Bar Association Leaders and EBA Program Committee - Gearold Knowles, Committee Vice Chair
4. Ideas for Brownbags/Teleconferences - a discussion to be lead by Bill Westerfield, Committee Vice Chair. Possible topics include:
- Transmission and Renewable Energy - focus would be on (1) new FERC Tehachapi decision which will facilitate development of transmission to access new renewable resource areas; and (2) recent transmission-related FERC rulemakings
- National Renewable Portfolio Standard - focus would be on the advantages and disadvantages of having a national renewable portfolio standard
- Congressional update - focus would be on what is happening on Capitol Hill that will affect development of renewable energy resources
- Others? What do you think should be covered?
5. Opportunities for Committee involvement and a call for volunteers - Discussion to be led by Committee Co-Chairs and Vice-Chair - Opportunities include:
- Renewable Energy Committee assistance to EBA Program Committee on Climate Change Primer in November 2007
- Renewable Energy Committee Teleconferences
- Energy Law Journal and EBA Newsletters
- Committee Membership Outreach
- Technology Assistance
- Other? What would you like to do?
6. Plans for Next Renewable Energy Committee Membership Call - Committee business plus regional developments roundtable
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02.12.07
Posted in Committee Business at 2:12 pm by member
Attendees: Mike Stosser (Chair), Monica Schwebs (Vice Chair), Bill Westerfield (Vice Chair), Gearold Knowles, Jeff Dennis, Todd Glass, Doug Law, Paul Belval, Jason Keyes, and Jeremy Weinstein
Plans for Wellinghoff Brownbag – Discussion led by Gearold and Jeff
- Hogan & Hartson have agreed to provide lunch; Darrell Blakeway has agreed to put together a list of background information that Lynn will place on the blog
- Gearold welcomes input on questions to put to the Commissioner; Lynn Fountain will compile the questions, place them on the Blog and forward to the program moderators; please send any questions to Gearold, Jeff or Lynn; we hope to use the Blog during the program to follow along
- We talked about our lack of email capability to register for our teleconferences; Mike will email Lorna to see about changing that; Monica volunteered to get this program on the ABA ACORE list-serv to publicize it; all were asked to publicize it far and wide
Report on Efforts to get Annual Meeting Renewables Program – Mike led the discussion
- Mike tried several ideas: financing renewables or greenhouse gas issues; he got nowhere. Subsequently, we reached consensus in a smaller group discussion to create another teleconference on greenhouse gas issues. Monica will spearhead the effort; please contact her if you have time to help
- Several names were discussed as speakers: Alan Clausen of Pew Center on Climate Change; Resources for the Future; industry representatives, e.g., Jeff Stuber from PNM; Bill will call Jeff Burkes at PNM to secure Stuber; Jeremy knows Jeff Kline at PNM as well
- Mike will reach out to chairs of Environment Committee and Legislation Committee; discussion on timing; Mike suggested holding it in early April; Gearold suggested May
Report on ABA/ACORE Master RECs Contract – Jeremy Weinstein led the discussion
- The goal of the 2 year effort was to promote markets, while being agnostic on all other topics; an important issue was how to provide flexibility of verification and validation, while being robust enough to allow people to tailor the contract to meet their particular needs; technology neutral
- Chris Berendt deserves lots of credit for structure; contract settles a long standing dispute between ERT and CRS re: whole RECs; the contract allows users to choose which path to use; both ERT and CRS have signed off on the approach
- The contract allows RECs to hook into carbon markets, but allows a way of doing straight deals without carbon aspects; it addresses choice of law problem
- Discussed ways to publicize it; Monica has asked Lynn to put it on the Blog; Monica mentioned the ABA Finance Committee brownbag in 6 weeks; Mike suggested that it be made a part of a scheduled Committee call; that was agreed to; Todd, Jeremy and Bill will organize it; plans made for Heller Ehrman to host it
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12.20.06
Posted in Committee Business at 5:49 pm by member
Attendees: Mike Stosser (Chair), Monica Schwebs (Vice Chair), Lynn Fountain, Carolyn Pengidore, John Gear, Gearold Knowles, Jeff Dennis, Don McCauley, Todd Glass, Gunnar Birgisson, Presley Reed, Paul Belval and Jason Keyes
Plans for National Teleconferences – Discussion led by Jeff Dennis
- First teleconference scheduled for February 28, 2007
- Titled “The Role of FERC as Renewable Energy Grows: A Conversation with Commissioner Wellinghoff”
- T. Glass proposed that the discussion revolve around individual renewable energy technologies and the FERC intersection with each; the Commissioner should be asked questions regarding how FERC will address these issues as they arise, for example ocean & tidal technologies
- With respect to handling questions for the Commissioner, M. Stosser suggested submitting prepared questions before the teleconference, as well as via e-mail during the teleconference
- With respect to written materials for the teleconference, a bibliography of sources, including relevant FERC orders and timely law review articles was proposed. M. Schwebs will circulate the bibliography to the group, via the blog, for input. She suggested posting the proposed questions for the teleconference on the blog as well.
- Other possible teleconference topics: transmission issues, PURPA
- M. Schwebs mentioned they are interested in other topics. Please e-mail her or J. Dennis with ideas or post ideas on the blog
Publications – Discussion led by Don McCauley and Jeff Dennis
- They are gathering materials for the Year-in-Review
- Will circulate the outline to the committee this week; they would like people’s comments on the completeness of the outline first and will then seek volunteers to draft the various sections
- Would like the committee’s review this year to be more federally focused
- M. Schwebs mentioned that the Finance and Transactions committee has a topic in their review that relates to renewable energy as well and would like to coordinate efforts; D. McCauley and J. Dennis will follow-up
- Deadline? Last year was around January 10th, but D. McCauley will check.
EBA Annual Meeting (April 25th) – Discussion led by M. Stosser and G. Knowles
- M. Stosser spoke with EBA planning committee regarding a renewable energy panel at the annual meeting
- Throwing around ideas for two separate topics – financing renewable projects and another to cover regulatory aspects of renewable energy
- T. Glass expressed support for a panel focused on commercial/financial aspects
- G. Knowles mentioned that the planning committee intends to have some congressional folks on a panel, so the legislative angle may already be covered
- M. Schwebs mentioned Mary Anne Sullivan’s idea on climate change and cost recovery for utilities as another option; people expressed interest in this topic
- A suggestion to combine the ideas was also put forward; creating a panel on which we would have a developer, finance/VC person, state regulator and utility rep
- M. Stosser and G. Knowles are looking for volunteers to work on putting together the panels
- M. Stosser suggested we come up with one or two solid ideas, with specific ideas for speakers, and present it to the planning committee
- T. Glass will look into utility idea and contact Mary Anne Sullivan; G. Knowles will look into finance idea; M. Stosser volunteered to assist with finance panel; Derek Dyson has also expressed interest in finance panel
Blog - Discussion led by Lynn Fountain
- Discussion regarding people’s discomfort with posting on blog; L. Fountain agreed to send out reminder e-mail to committee with directions on accessing and posting to the blog
- Reminded people that items mentioned in meeting today – bibliography and questions for teleconferences, outline for publications, ideas for panels – can all be posted on the blog for comment
- Also mentioned that anyone uncomfortable with posting can send information to L. Fountain and she would post on the blog
Will plan to schedule meeting for January; date not yet set
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12.06.06
Posted in Committee Business at 1:45 pm by member
Attendees: Bob Riley, Wendell Cauley, Jason Keyes, Edna Sussman, Seth Hilton, Gearold Knowles, Jeff Dennis, Susan Riggs, Mike Zimmer, Monica Schwebs (Co-Chair), Mike Stosser (Chair), and Bill Westerfield (Co-Chair)
Mike Stosser: We have a new collaboration with ABA/ACORE. We’ve globbed onto Edna’s group.
Edna Sussman: ABA/ACORE have done monthly teleconferences for 2 years now. ACORE is now the lead sponsor. It does the production. See www.acore.org for details. They did a teleconference on September 20the with the DOE Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy with 600 people attending from 25 host firms, using video and teleconference.
The next program is on RECs, on October 16, 2006.
November will have a program on a Carbon
December program will feature greenhouse gases, RGGI and California issues
Preliminary list now scheduled through July of next year
To help plan, call Edna; she can always use assistance.
The programs are now listed as “ACORE in collaboration w/ ABA and EBA”. It’s cheap to attend; only $20 for some participants. Mike Stosser wants to distribute to FERC; not many FERC staffers are members of EBA and participate.
Mike Stosser: Don McCauley is not on the call. He is in charge of Committee Report to EBA Journal. Mike will reach him off-line. Mike wants to designate panel for renewable energy for the next EBA Annual Meeting in 2007.
Gearold Knowles volunteers to put together a panel for the Annual Meeting. Bill Westerfield volunteered to help Gearold. Gearold is in China in November, during the mid-year EBA meeting.
Mike Stosser: asked that anyone who does a presentation on renewables post it to the Committee blog. The blog will be the reference point for presentations. It will give exposure to what individuals are doing. Mike wants our Committee members to gain exposure.
Jeff Dennis: Said he made a small presentation that he will post.
Mike Stosser: Co-Hosted a panel with Senator Voinovich on energy policy. It discussed creating an Ohio RPS.
Edna Sussman: Discussed her new project entitled, “Best Practices for Local Jurisdictions to Promote Renewable Energy.” It will focus mostly local programs. More than 250 MUNIs are committed to Renewable Energy, but there is no place where experience collected. They need examples of what works. She has students committed to help from Yale Law Clinic, among others.
Edna is looking for content and needs volunteers to fill out surveys and lead subject areas. In particular, she needs models that MUNIs can use that work and that have been vetted by lawyers. If you will complete the survey the Yale students will sort information. Mike suggested that AWEA has information and that other associations would be interested. Jeff said that he would call Rob Gramlich at AWEA. Edna also mentioned that she needs examples for MUNIs showing how to put permitting in place. The project will not cover financial incentives. Mike suggested CESA as a resource. Mike also volunteered that EBA may have an intern who can help, and asked if members from large law firms could donate paralegal time.
Mike Stosser: There are three new FERC Commissioners. Mike would like to know whether anyone has contacts with a Commissioner to help get an interview on renewable energy. He wants to know their background; interests and understanding or renewable energy issues. He asked which new Commissioners might be interested?
Gearold Knowles: He used to be able to commissioners at brown bags when he worked there.
Jeff Dennis: He could arrange something if done far enough in advance.
Monica Schwebs: Commissioner Wellinghoff is interested. He talked to the WECC Chapter of EBA and chose to speak on renewable energy. Monica said that Suedeen Kelly was eager in past to talk about wind energy.
Jeff: I’ve got a good shot on Commissioner Kelly, and a good chance to talk about transmission.
Mike: It should be a showcase for a commissioner. Don’t add other panelists. It needs special moderator. He would like us to put together a delegation to Commissioner that makes sense. He suggested polling the staff to learn which commissioner is interested.
Jeff Dennis: We haven’t heard from Commissioner Moeller. People will want to know what he thinks.
Further discussion of logistics of EBA calls.
Monica Schwebs: Reported on transmission brown bag. Need to have an organized conference call this week.
Bill Westerfield: Reported on RFPs issued by Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific on demand-side management services and renewables. He also reported on a recnet RFO issued by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for renewables to meet their 20% RPS.
Edna Sussman: Really needs people to lead on these subjects and pick up pieces of her project.
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09.12.06
Posted in Uncategorized, Committee Business at 6:04 pm by admin
Michael Stosser, led this month’s short call.
Mike stated the intention to make renewable transmission the subject of a fall brown bag luncheon program. Monica Schwebs and Jeff Dennis have been tasked with putting it together. Gearold Knowles said he would contact them to help get it going.
Mike reported that the Committee blog is up and running, but has not been as active as hoped. We are still looking for content. He repeated his interest in information on Texas biofuels. Lynn Fountain gave another plug for the blog and said she would send out an email on how to post messages. Marlo Brown sent to the Committee Lynn’s follow-up email on August 16, 2006, describing procedures to subscribe to the blog and reporting on several new postings. Edna Sussman, Chair of the ABA Renewables Committee, added that it was her experience that people will visit the blog once we start getting postings. Carolyn Pengidor asked a question about the location of the blog.
Mike asked who worked for or represented utilities. He suggested that those who do report to the Committee on what utilities are doing in renewables, such as what they are buying and what incentives, if any, they are providing to ratepayers.
John Gear reported on some options offered by Michigan utilities to its customers. He mentioned programs allowing them to pay a premium to buy energy generated from landfill gas and to zero-out the utility’s carbon footprint. He said that the utilities are in the process of changing those premiums.
Carolyn said that in Pennsylvania utilities are not doing a lot of renewable projects and that project developers are trying to get projects started.
Mike asked what FERC is doing to encourage renewable development. Don McCauley committed to track this and periodically post reports on the blog.
Mike reported that he has submitted a panel on renewable energy to the Energy Bar Association Mid-Year Meeting in Washington on November 2, 2006, and that it has been accepted.
Carolyn said that in addition to reporting on FERC activities, she would like to see postings on state activities. She volunteered to report on what’s happening in Pennsylvania. John added that Michigan is preparing a state energy plan and renewables portfolio standard.
Mike announced, to general acclamation, that there would be no meeting of the Committee in August.
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07.17.06
Posted in Committee Business at 9:36 am by member
Michael Stosser, new Chair of the Committee, led the call. Introductions by Mike, Vice-Chairs Monica Schwebs and Bill Westerfield, and Lynn Fountain.
Edna Sussman, Chair of the ABA Renewables Committee, spoke on the ABA Renewables Committee’s brown bag luncheons. Edna encouraged our committee to follow their practice of using host locations and call-in service. Edna estimated that her committee has 250 – 600 attendees per call, half of which are probably government officials. For more information go to Renewableenergyinfo.com. Gearold Knowles complimented Edna on the ABA practice of making materials available in advance of teleconferences. Edna recommended that our Committee teleconference speakers prepare power point presentations and a reading list for each program.
Mike Zimmer suggested that our Committee programs avoid overlapping with the ABA Renewables Committee. He recommended obtaining speakers from FERC, Congress and other public agencies. Monica then recommended inviting new FERC Commissioner Wellinghoff, on the topics of transmission and distributed generation. Jeff Dennis of FERC offered to help get Commissioner Wellinghoff. Jeff, Monica and Gearold will spearhead the effort to organize that program.
Lynn informed the Committee about our new weblog or blog. She followed-up our conference call by emailing members a link to the new website, as well as the necessary ID and password to post messages. No log-in is needed to read postings. Members will have access to the web-site. The Committee is seeking postings, such as papers, news and links to valuable websites. Mike pointed out that we want to hear what people are working on. It would also be a way to suggest speakers and Energy Law Journal articles. Lynn will manage the blog.
Mike said that it’s important for our Committee to increase its visibility. He suggested a report in the Energy Bar Journal and a panel at the next EBA meeting. He asked for a concept or topic for that panel. Todd Glass observed that venture capitalists are “throwing money” at renewable energy, and that this is a good time to talk about financing. Mike agreed. He suggested that a discussion of financing should focus on what to do to get money; how to package new projects; not just how to get public incentives but how to obtain private financing. He added that there continues to be serious concerns about technical and environmental issues concerning renewables.
Bob Webb spoke about biofuels and biodiesel. He promised to give us the latest information from Texas via the blog. Mike Schnell talked about financing of biofuels. Don McCauley said he puts together an annual report to the ABA and offered to do one for our Committee. The ABA did its last brown bag teleconference on biofuels in September 2005. Roger Feldman is heading the ABA Committee on Renewable Finance. Todd will spearhead an effort to organize a biofuels brownbag program for the Committee.
Gunnar Birgisson is chair of the EBA committee on environment. Mike asked that we try to work with him on issues such as climate change and biofuels.
Mike raised the matter of frequency of Committee calls. Carolyn said she would like to have us meet monthly. Bill agreed that we should start with monthly calls in order to create some momentum. Mike said he would try to do monthly calls. He will also update the Committee email list. Mike also said that we should try to hold brownbag teleconferences quarterly.
Minutes by Bill Westerfield
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