DEPARTMENT: Office of Sustainability
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Douglas R. Melnick
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City-Wide
SUBJECT:
Resolutions of Support for Grant Applications for the University of Texas at San Antonio and the National League of Cities
SUMMARY:
Consideration of two resolutions of support for two grant applications for the University of Texas at San Antonio and the National League of Cities related to the advancement of a resilient electric grid system for San Antonio:
A. A Resolution of support submitted to Sandia National Laboratories requested by the University of Texas at San Antonio, in support of a grant application submitted by Sandia National Laboratories to the U.S. Department of Energy Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) for a project titled “Southern Consortium for Storage-Enabled, Cyber-secure, Urban Resilient Electrical Distribution”.
B. A Resolution of support submitted to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), in support of a joint National League of Cities (NLC) and National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) grant application to NREL’s Solar Energy Innovation Network for a project titled “Incorporating the Benefits of Solar PV into Community Resiliency Planning through State and Local Collaboration”.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
A. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) requested a letter from the City of San Antonio supporting a grant application to Sandia National Laboratories for a grant application to the U.S. Department of Energy Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) for a project titled “Southern Consortium for Storage-Enabled, Cyber-secure, Urban Resilient Electrical Distribution”.
If the grant is awarded, UTSA will collaborate with a consortium of national laboratories led by Sandia Labs, as well as other partners such as CPS Energy, the cities of New Orleans, Denton, Dallas, and Boulder, and UT-Arlington, UT-Austin, Baylor University, and New Mexico State University. The outcome of the project , if funded, will be a develop a community - focused, consequence-based resilience metric that is used for planning, design and operation of a resilient distributed grid that readily integrates utility-scale solar photovoltaic systems, large-scale battery storage and cyber security.
This application is for a pre-proposal that will be evaluated to determine if it proceeds to the next round for further evaluation.
B. The National League of Cities (NLC) in collaboration with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) requested a letter of support for their grant application to NREL’s Solar Energy Innovation Network for a project titled for a project titled “Incorporating the Benefits of Solar PV into Community Resiliency Planning through State and Local Collaboration.”
If the grant is awarded, NLC and NASEO will convene a network of state and local government agencies to share technical expertise and identify national best practices. The project team will be led by NASEO and NLC and will also consist of the following state and local government pilot pairs: the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Office of Energy (DACS-OE) and the City of West Palm Beach; the Minnesota Division of Energy and the City of St. Paul; and, the Texas State Energy Conservation Organization (SECO) and the City of San Antonio.
The expected outcomes of this collaboration include the alignment of policy and planning strategies at the state and local level, and the creation of a local resiliency action plan that collects resources, assesses local infrastructure needs and priorities, and makes strategic recommendations to direct and inform future resiliency planning efforts.
ISSUE:
The adoption of these resolutions is consistent with the goals of the SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan, adopted by City Council in August 2016. The SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan, includes numerous strategies related to resilience, emergency preparedness, the increased deployment of renewables, as well as the piloting of solar with battery storage backup at critical facilities.
ALTERNATIVES:
Alternatives to approving the resolutions in support of UTSA and NLC grant applications, would be to approve the resolutions with changes in the provisions of the resolution, or to postpone or deny approval. Postponement or failure to approve the resolution request will not directly impact City operations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This legislation poses no direct fiscal impact to operations.
RECOMMENDATION:
City staff recommends approval of the two resolutions of support for grant submittals by the University of Texas at San Antonio and the National League of Cities related to the advancement of a resilient electric grid system for San Antonio.