Strategic Development Sep 08 2026

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SPEAKER_02: Thank you.

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SPEAKER_02: We will turn it on over to Tsaribar.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: Great to see you all here tonight.

SPEAKER_01: I'm truly honored to introduce our two presenters

SPEAKER_01: tonight.

SPEAKER_01: Not only because they are UC Davis grads, but more

Unknown: importantly, go Aggies.

SPEAKER_01: More importantly, they are industry experts in the

Unknown: And I'm really excited about the two topics they'll be presenting.

Unknown: First is on air quality in Sacramento.

SPEAKER_01: And the second is an update on Senate Bill 100 studies,

SPEAKER_01: achieving the state's decarbonization goals.

SPEAKER_01: So I'd like to share just a little bit background about our presenters

SPEAKER_01: and the topics they'll be discussing.

SPEAKER_01: So first, our first presenter will be Dr. Alberto Ayala, who's Executive Director

SPEAKER_01: of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District,

SPEAKER_01: also known as the Air Quality District.

Unknown: Dr. Ayala is an internationally recognized expert on air quality, climate science and policy.

Unknown: He brings more than 30 years of experience spanning industry, government, and academia,

SPEAKER_01: including leadership roles as Deputy Executive Officer

SPEAKER_01: at the California Air Resources Board, Professor of Engineering

Unknown: at the West Virginia University, and Design Engineer at Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical.

Unknown: He's a mechanical engineer by training.

SPEAKER_01: Dr. Ayala holds a bachelor's, a master's, and a doctorate degree at UC Davis.

SPEAKER_01: And he serves on numerous boards and academic advisory committees and is published extensively.

Unknown: So a little bit about the topics Alberto will be discussing.

SPEAKER_01: So the Air Quality District's mission is to achieve state and federal clean air and climate goals

Unknown: by tracking air quality every day, reducing pollution through programs and incentives,

Unknown: and ensuring local businesses follow clean air rules.

SPEAKER_01: So as an air quality regulator and expert, Dr. Ayala will educate us on the difference

SPEAKER_01: between criteria pollutants that affect human health versus greenhouse gas emissions

SPEAKER_01: that have global impacts.

Unknown: He'll share that SMUD's thermal power plants are a beneficial energy source in our region.

Unknown: They have a good compliance history.

Unknown: They help with regional decarbonization.

Unknown: And they only make up about 1 to 3% of our criteria pollutant inventory in Sacramento.

Unknown: He'll highlight that the air quality concerns in Sacramento are cars, trucks,

SPEAKER_01: heavy duty vehicles, off-road equipment, and wood-burning stoves.

SPEAKER_01: He'll emphasize the importance of SMUD's electrification programs to emission reduction

SPEAKER_01: and improve air quality.

SPEAKER_01: And he'll commence men on our progress we've made and encourage us to continue to partner together

Unknown: with the Air District as well as others on the energy transition.

Unknown: And then our second presenter will be Dr. Liz Gill, who's the program manager

SPEAKER_01: for the Electricity Resources Analysis Branch at the CEC.

Unknown: Dr. Gill manages CEC's reliability, electricity modeling,

SPEAKER_01: and distributed energy resource analysis teams.

Unknown: Previously, she was a special advisor and then Chief of Staff to Chief Chair Gunda.

Unknown: She joined the CEC in 2019 to serve as the technical lead on the 2021 SB100 Joint Agency Report.

Unknown: And prior to the CEC, she was the grid policy director at the Center

SPEAKER_01: for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies.

Unknown: She holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from UC Davis.

Unknown: So a little bit about the topics that Dr. Gill will cover.

Unknown: SB100 established a landmark policy requiring renewable energy and zero carbon resource supply,

Unknown: 100% of electric retail sales by 2045.

SPEAKER_01: It requires the CEC, the California Public Utilities Commission,

Unknown: and the California Air Resources Board to submit a report to the legislature every four years.

Unknown: The SB100 Joint Agency Report includes several areas, policy review in the areas of technical,

Unknown: safety, affordability, and reliability, reliability benefits and impacts, financial costs

SPEAKER_01: and benefits, barriers and benefits of achieving the policy,

Unknown: and alternative scenarios, costs and benefits of each.

Unknown: Dr. Liz Gill will present the 2025 SB100 Joint Agency Report draft results and the latest studies.

Unknown: So as we listen to our panel experts, I want to highlight, as was mentioned

SPEAKER_01: in the April zero carbon plan update, that we have an integrated resource plan,

Unknown: otherwise known as the IRP, process that is kicking off in October.

Unknown: So the information we're hearing tonight is great groundwork for that process.

Unknown: So do be thinking about that process as we listen to our presenters.

Unknown: And last but not least, I just wanted to thank all the speakers for joining us here tonight.

Unknown: Thanks so much for taking time out of your day, your busy lives to be here.

Unknown: And possibly navigating that Highway 50 closure.

SPEAKER_01: And we sincerely appreciate the collaboration and sharing your knowledge tonight.

Unknown: So with that, I'd like to invite Dr. Alberto Ayala.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you.

Unknown: Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_04: Somebody's got them.

SPEAKER_04: Thank you.

SPEAKER_04: Well, thank you for the invitation.

SPEAKER_04: It's always, always such a pleasure to come before you.

SPEAKER_04: And I really appreciate you wanting to spend a few minutes talking about air quality

SPEAKER_04: and specifically the progress, obviously, that together we are making.

SPEAKER_04: We are such a fan of SMUD and some of the things you're doing with the zero carbon plan.

SPEAKER_04: We're just happy to continue to support you to the extent that we can.

SPEAKER_04: So I'm going to provide some brief remarks and obviously we'll stick around for Q&A

SPEAKER_04: and discussion.

SPEAKER_04: So perhaps before we get into the specifics, and I have a brief presentation,

SPEAKER_04: but maybe it's a good idea to frame the conversation.

SPEAKER_04: I'm going to show you evidence that suggests

SPEAKER_04: that our air quality hasn't been better in the last 25 years.

SPEAKER_04: It's remarkable what the Sacramento region has achieved.

SPEAKER_04: And clearly, I'm going to make the point that you have played a key role.

SPEAKER_04: But obviously we're not there yet.

SPEAKER_04: The fact that we're celebrating progress doesn't mean that our job is done.

SPEAKER_04: And we understand that.

SPEAKER_04: There's still major sources of air pollution, as was discussed earlier.

SPEAKER_04: Transportation by far is going to continue to be the lion's share

SPEAKER_04: of what we call conventional air pollution as well as carbon pollution,

Unknown: greenhouse gases or climate change pollutants, whatever we want to call them.

SPEAKER_04: Obviously, every source of pollution matters.

SPEAKER_04: This is not to say that anybody's going to get a free pass.

SPEAKER_04: But at the same time, it's instructive to keep things in perspective, especially because we know

SPEAKER_04: that getting to the 90% of reductions is the easy part, is catching the last 10%.

SPEAKER_04: Whether it's transportation sector, whether it's industrial pollution,

SPEAKER_04: whether it's your power plants.

SPEAKER_04: It's getting that last 10% is going to be the key.

SPEAKER_04: And I think that's why I'm just so delighted that we have such a good partnership,

SPEAKER_04: not only between our agencies, but some of our other partners in the region.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: So when I talk about Sacramento region, I think it's important, particularly for SMUD,

SPEAKER_04: because in our world, it's the multi-county region.

Unknown: And this matters because the evidence that I'm going to show you next

SPEAKER_04: applies to this large region.

SPEAKER_04: And again, to me, it's remarkable that we got this big area in the capital region

SPEAKER_04: to actually meet and attain the National Immunocorrelation Standards,

SPEAKER_04: as we call it, attainment of the standards.

SPEAKER_04: And how do we know this?

SPEAKER_04: Well, we obviously have evidence.

SPEAKER_04: We collect monitoring data day in, day out, 24-7, 365 a day.

SPEAKER_04: But recently, we have seen a very helpful technology development in the availability

SPEAKER_04: of these portable sensors that people go online and then buy them for a couple hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_04: And what's great for us is that they are willing to share the information with us.

SPEAKER_04: What that means is Sacramento and in general, California,

SPEAKER_04: we are one of the most densely monitored areas in the country, if not the world.

SPEAKER_04: And that is great, because why?

SPEAKER_04: Information is power.

SPEAKER_04: Data is power.

SPEAKER_04: We cannot manage our air pollution problem if we don't measure the air pollution in our air.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: So here's the evidence.

SPEAKER_04: If you look at, let's see, on the left is ozone concentrations in our ambient air.

SPEAKER_04: Again, the entire multi-county region.

Unknown: And on the right, you have PM, particle pollution.

Unknown: This is a trend line over the last 25 years of monitoring in the Sacramento region.

SPEAKER_04: Okay? Never mind the details.

SPEAKER_04: There's some oscillations which are normal.

SPEAKER_04: But what I want you to focus on is the trend of those two lines trending down.

SPEAKER_04: That's exactly the kind of progress we want to see.

SPEAKER_04: And the fact that think about where Sacramento was, what Sacramento was 25 years ago.

Unknown: If you were cars, for your people, our economy was not what it is today,

Unknown: we want to continue this progress.

SPEAKER_04: And clearly working with SMUD, you have such a leading role in our region to continue to thrive

SPEAKER_04: and achieve our multiple economic and environmental goals.

SPEAKER_04: But we can do this together.

SPEAKER_04: I think that's the key.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: But obviously, there's more to the story.

Unknown: Regional air quality is very important, but it's not the whole story.

SPEAKER_04: We do know that we have communities that are disproportionately impacted.

SPEAKER_04: And this is where Assembly Bill 617, community reputation comes into being seven years ago.

Unknown: And you are working very closely with us on this.

SPEAKER_04: Because it's broad recognition that while regional air quality has improved, again,

SPEAKER_04: there are actual communities in our region that need a little more help.

SPEAKER_04: And what I'm going to say about AB 617 is there's different elements to it.

SPEAKER_04: But the most important is the state requires us to develop an emission reduction plan,

SPEAKER_04: which we have, and we thank you for the help.

Unknown: I'm going to talk about it in a minute.

Unknown: But before I move on, I do have to acknowledge one of the things

SPEAKER_04: that I worry most about is the climate crisis.

SPEAKER_04: I mean, clearly, it's not going away.

Unknown: Clearly, the current political landscape in D.C. where fossil fuel energy is okay,

SPEAKER_04: is now going to lead us in a good direction.

SPEAKER_04: I asked our IT staff to add to our website, if you're familiar with our AQI,

SPEAKER_04: right below it is the global mean concentration of CO2.

Unknown: And that matters because that's really the indicator where we are.

Unknown: And this is not today.

SPEAKER_04: This is a couple days ago when I was putting together the slides.

SPEAKER_04: But we're at 428 parts per million.

SPEAKER_04: The Paris Agreement of 2015 committed the world to 350 parts per million.

Unknown: So we're way past where we should have been.

SPEAKER_04: And the question for all of us should be, did we hit the point of no return?

SPEAKER_04: Did we hit the point where we're just not going to be able

SPEAKER_04: to bring back the balance that the planet needs?

SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, it's not us that are going to see the effects.

Unknown: It's maybe not even our children, but it's the generations that will come.

SPEAKER_04: And unfortunately, again, it's going to be a matter of the rich and the poor countries.

SPEAKER_04: The rich countries are going to pay their way out of the problem.

SPEAKER_04: And then the countries that have fewer resources are going to be the ones

SPEAKER_04: that are going to see the brunt of the impact.

Unknown: Let us continue to work together and hope that things change

SPEAKER_04: so that we can try to get back on track.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

SPEAKER_04: So our community selected by the state is down in Sacramento, Florin.

Unknown: And the green boundary is the designated community.

Unknown: Why that matters?

SPEAKER_04: Because you've got some of your power plants within the boundary.

Unknown: And when you have emission sources within the AB 617 community,

Unknown: the expectation is that we take additional action.

SPEAKER_04: And again, we thank you for helping us with community engagement.

SPEAKER_04: We've had a tour of your power plant for the community because they wanted to see.

Unknown: They don't have to listen to us.

SPEAKER_04: They don't have to listen to you.

SPEAKER_04: Why don't you come out and actually see what is taking place?

SPEAKER_04: I think that's the way that we develop trust, the way that we engage the community in the way

SPEAKER_04: that AB 617 is expecting us and the way that we make progress.

SPEAKER_04: So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: It's all about electrification.

SPEAKER_04: And our community emission reduction plan, the commitment that we made,

Unknown: has got a number of strategies, including the electrification strategies that you see here.

SPEAKER_04: And again, thank you because you are the ones that teed up us working together

SPEAKER_04: on electrification of appliances, which absolutely is key.

SPEAKER_04: Not only in terms of the general clean energy transition, but using gas appliances

SPEAKER_04: in the home leads to poor indoor air quality.

Unknown: And in some cases, we do know that the concentrations in the home,

Unknown: when you don't have good ventilation or a hood, can be even higher than outside pollution, right?

SPEAKER_04: But it's a little known fact because as air quality agencies,

SPEAKER_04: our authority stops at the front door.

Unknown: And if you're a private residence, that's your private world, right?

SPEAKER_04: So it's a difficult one.

SPEAKER_04: It's a difficult nut to crack.

SPEAKER_04: And I think electrification of appliances is going to be absolutely key

SPEAKER_04: to give us a chance to make progress.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: We're celebrating the progress, October 7.

SPEAKER_04: And again, thank you for committing to work with us and many of our partners here.

SPEAKER_04: I mean, to me, this is remarkable because look at the collection of organizations

SPEAKER_04: that come together with a common goal, right?

SPEAKER_04: And this is how we are going to continue progress in the Sacramento region.

SPEAKER_04: So thank you for being such an integral part of our partnership.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: All right.

SPEAKER_04: So now specifics, just to kind of conclude and get to some information

SPEAKER_04: about your zero carbon plan and the remaining power plans that you are going to have

SPEAKER_04: to continue to operate for good reason.

SPEAKER_04: So next slide.

Unknown: So here's the pollution that we track.

SPEAKER_04: There's many other pollutants, but these are the two most important ones.

SPEAKER_04: NOX is important because it contributes to ozone.

Unknown: And particles, again, are important because it's PM.

SPEAKER_04: Its exposure to PM leads to adverse health effects.

SPEAKER_04: And when you look at what we call the inventory, the pie chart,

SPEAKER_04: this is basically an accounting of all the sources.

SPEAKER_04: And you see that when it comes to NOX is cars, is transportation sector.

Unknown: We have too many of them.

SPEAKER_04: We drive them a lot.

Unknown: And unfortunately, even as internal combustion engines have gotten really clean,

Unknown: there is still combustion coming out of them, obviously.

SPEAKER_04: And you can see the contribution from your power plants being about 3% of the NOX.

SPEAKER_04: On the PM side is a similar story.

SPEAKER_04: We have other sources.

SPEAKER_04: But really from an emission standpoint, power plants are, and I'll tell you in a minute why,

SPEAKER_04: but power plants are not a significant contributor.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

SPEAKER_04: The story is similar for greenhouse gases.

SPEAKER_04: The share of the pie grows a little.

Unknown: But again, you can see that this is the state inventory for greenhouse gases that comes

SPEAKER_04: out of the Air Resources Board.

Unknown: And again, transportation is going to be the lion's share.

SPEAKER_04: That is where we use most of the fossil fuel that keeps us moving.

SPEAKER_04: And that's why the emphasis the state has put on electrifying the transportation sector.

SPEAKER_04: We have to do more than just get EVs to replace internal combustion

SPEAKER_04: because congestion solves a problem, right, as we have seen it.

SPEAKER_04: But we have to start with the EV revolution first.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide.

Unknown: I asked my staff to put this together.

SPEAKER_04: I'm big on putting things in perspective.

SPEAKER_04: So what we did here is we are presenting four pollutants, NOX, PM, methane,

SPEAKER_04: which last time I was in front of you, we talked a little bit about,

SPEAKER_04: and then CO2, carbon dioxide.

Unknown: And what I asked my engineers is to do a simple comparison in terms of the emissions

SPEAKER_04: that come from your power plants to a typical car, which is about a 12, 13-year-old car,

SPEAKER_04: and then a brand new car, a model year 2026.

SPEAKER_04: So the blue is the typical car.

Unknown: The red columns are the newer car.

SPEAKER_04: And then the green is your consumer's power plant.

Unknown: I think this makes sense because again, we're comparing emissions.

Unknown: The environment doesn't care where they come from, where there's a car, a power plant, a stove.

Unknown: And we're comparing that as a function of the energy, the usable energy that we get

SPEAKER_04: out of the fossil fuel because ultimately that is why we are combusting.

SPEAKER_04: And you can see the result.

SPEAKER_04: And it's remarkable and it makes a lot of sense because gas turbines are really, really efficient.

Unknown: An internal combustion engine is not.

Unknown: And humans who are driving those engines are terrible because we're always,

Unknown: every time we step on the accelerator, that's why we get this kind of pollution.

SPEAKER_04: So again, I just wanted to present this just to kind of put things in perspective.

SPEAKER_04: It is important to deal with any remaining source of combustion emissions.

Unknown: But we have to be reasonable about this.

SPEAKER_04: And again, I hope this makes the point.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide.

Unknown: Can you go back to that slide?

Unknown: I just want to make sure I understand this.

SPEAKER_07: What you're saying is that a typical car is going to produce that much pollution in the blue

SPEAKER_07: and that our power plants are going to produce the green pollution.

SPEAKER_07: And is that over a year?

SPEAKER_07: Is that a month?

SPEAKER_07: What's the timeline?

SPEAKER_04: So this is the amount of pollution that comes from the three sources that you listed

SPEAKER_04: as a function of the energy output.

Unknown: So the energy output of an internal combustion engine goes to move the car.

SPEAKER_04: The energy output of your turbine gas plants is to generate the power, right?

Unknown: This is a good way to compare things because otherwise,

SPEAKER_04: how do you compare a power plant to a car?

Unknown: But if we consider how much energy we're getting out of that amount of fuel,

SPEAKER_04: which ultimately, again, that's the reason we use natural gas for your turbines

SPEAKER_04: and gasoline for our cars, this is an apples to apples way to compare them.

Unknown: And I'm glad that is catching your attention because you wouldn't think so, right?

SPEAKER_04: I mean, the power plant is huge, so you think there's a lot of pollution.

Unknown: But again, if we look at this in a way that can be an apples to apples,

SPEAKER_04: and this makes a lot of sense just from an engineering standpoint,

SPEAKER_04: turbines are really efficient, internal combustion engines are not.

SPEAKER_04: Thank you.

SPEAKER_04: And you see it here.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide.

Unknown: We talked about conventional pollution and green gas gases, and Joyce made the point.

SPEAKER_04: Conventional pollutions obviously have a health impacts,

Unknown: and green gas gases have a global impact.

SPEAKER_04: Now, it gets a little tricky because there's some interaction between the two.

SPEAKER_04: We know that ozone, which is a conventional air pollutant,

Unknown: does contribute to the warming effect.

Unknown: Particles also have a role.

SPEAKER_04: So while there's not a one-to-one correlation, it is good to think

SPEAKER_04: about the very tight nexus between the two because most of these emissions,

SPEAKER_04: one or the other, come from our use of fossil fuels.

SPEAKER_04: And the way we get the energy out of that fossil fuel, nine out of ten times,

SPEAKER_04: is we're going to burn it in an engine of some sort, right?

Unknown: So we are very interested as an equality agency to participate

SPEAKER_04: in the clean energy transition because again, if we can solve one,

Unknown: we have the co-benefit of solving the other problem.

Unknown: Next slide.

Unknown: We commend and applaud your zero carbon plan, and as amazing and remarkable, that is,

Unknown: our role is to continue to explore innovations in terms of cleaner technology that could fit

SPEAKER_04: within the framework of your zero carbon plan.

SPEAKER_04: What I mean by that is we have linear generators.

SPEAKER_04: Everybody's talking about data centers, and we should be, but it's important

Unknown: to understand linear generators relative to diesel gensets are 90% cleaner.

Unknown: And we like them because we don't let the enemy, we don't let the perfect be the enemy

SPEAKER_04: of the good, meaning, yeah, these are not zero emissions, they're not electric,

Unknown: but they're 90% cleaner.

Unknown: So if we're going to develop data centers in the region, which we are,

Unknown: this is the kind of technology we want to see.

Unknown: Thermal batteries, the peak energy development that many of you attended,

Unknown: those are great developments, and obviously, you've heard me talk about hydrogen

SPEAKER_04: in the past, we're going to continue to speak about hydrogen because we do think

Unknown: that it presents a unique opportunity for us.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: Now I'm getting to the end.

SPEAKER_04: This is simply just to hopefully provide some inspiration because what you see here,

SPEAKER_04: every dot is a project that we have a direct hand on that is related to hydrogen.

Unknown: Whether making the gas, making the fueling availability of the gas so you can put it

SPEAKER_04: in an engine or in a car, whatever, or both.

SPEAKER_04: And you can see without getting into the detail that the number of dots is increasing,

SPEAKER_04: and that's what we want to see because every one of these dots is going

SPEAKER_04: to present an opportunity for the future.

Unknown: And if you listen to what the state loan range planning has to say, hydrogen has to play a role.

Unknown: And we are trying to understand what is the proper role

SPEAKER_04: for the hydrogen in the Sacramento region.

Unknown: Next slide.

Unknown: And this is my last slide in terms of information.

SPEAKER_04: This is the latest development.

SPEAKER_04: We're going to procure this power unit.

SPEAKER_04: It's essentially a fuel cell inside it.

Unknown: It's mobile, as you can see it.

SPEAKER_04: So we're going to pull that around.

Unknown: And it's going to require hydrogen, and it's going to be zero power.

Unknown: Why are we doing this?

Unknown: To raise awareness.

Unknown: Because people still don't know.

Unknown: There's still a lot of misinformation and confusion about hydrogen and fuel cells

SPEAKER_04: and how does that work.

SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, we're going to take this to festivals and farmers markets

SPEAKER_04: and community meetings and let people kick the tires and see what the future holds.

SPEAKER_04: And we think that this is a good investment of some modest dollars.

SPEAKER_04: And if it catches somebody's attention and they understand what the role of hydrogen is,

SPEAKER_04: then more power to the technology.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide.

Unknown: Elberto.

SPEAKER_10: Yes.

SPEAKER_10: I'll be glad to put a trailer hitch on my hydrogen-powered car.

SPEAKER_10: There you go.

SPEAKER_10: And pull that thing wherever you need it to go.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you.

SPEAKER_04: Thank you.

SPEAKER_04: I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04: It actually has two roles.

SPEAKER_04: It provides power.

Unknown: And it charges EVs as well.

SPEAKER_04: So, anyways, this is my concluding slide.

SPEAKER_04: Again, I can thank you for what you do, for who you are and what you stand for.

SPEAKER_04: Your clean energy transition is also our solution to our pollution.

SPEAKER_04: So thank you.

SPEAKER_04: We're here to continue to partner and do what we can to support you.

SPEAKER_04: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Dr. Ayala.

Unknown: We really appreciate your partnership for many, many years

SPEAKER_02: from the Sacramento Metro Area District.

SPEAKER_02: So thank you.

SPEAKER_02: Any questions for Dr. Ayala?

Unknown: Yeah, I guess I have.

Unknown: Sure.

SPEAKER_05: So the, we're all dedicated to cleaning the air as best we can.

SPEAKER_05: And I know a lot of these regulations get handed out by elected officials.

SPEAKER_05: And they're usually pretty prescriptive into what you're supposed to do

SPEAKER_05: and how you're supposed to do it.

Unknown: If you didn't have those sort of mandates, what would you be spending money on?

SPEAKER_05: Where do we get the most return on investment for improving air quality?

Unknown: Well, again, if we think of the biggest source, it's transportation.

Unknown: If I had my way, all the money would go to incentivized EVs, right?

SPEAKER_04: And let me footnote that.

Unknown: The federal administration has been very efficient rolling back standards.

Unknown: So now there's a huge gap that has been created.

Unknown: We are going to need money to fill it.

SPEAKER_04: And California, again, is leading the nation in terms of EV adoption.

SPEAKER_04: Here in the Sacramento region, unfortunately, we're lagging behind.

SPEAKER_04: We're Sacramento A, so we're not quite as good.

SPEAKER_04: But again, it would be transportation.

SPEAKER_04: Because again, that's the biggest source of air pollution.

SPEAKER_05: Okay. Thanks.

SPEAKER_05: And thanks for everything you're doing for us.

SPEAKER_05: Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02: And Dr. Ayala, didn't the governor just approve a new $3,500 rebate for EVs in California?

SPEAKER_02: So that's just come back online because I know the feds got rid of it.

SPEAKER_02: And that really, we saw a big drop in our EV sales.

SPEAKER_02: And I felt bad for the car dealers who had invested in the EVs.

SPEAKER_02: And then hopefully now that will help pick it up.

SPEAKER_04: My first EV incentive, which is what the governor's calling the program, it's excellent.

SPEAKER_04: Because it fills the gap that the federal government has left on purpose.

Unknown: But most importantly, it really makes it easy for people

SPEAKER_04: because you're putting the incentive on the hood, right?

SPEAKER_04: So you don't have to worry about filling out applications or anything.

SPEAKER_04: You just walk in, get your car, and they'll give you the rebate.

SPEAKER_04: That is really important.

SPEAKER_04: Make it easy for consumers to adopt the technology.

Unknown: Thank you for explaining that.

SPEAKER_02: That's great.

Unknown: Yeah.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Great.

SPEAKER_04: I mean, you're out of time.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I want to thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_07: I want to thank you for your knowledge and your leadership and the community.

SPEAKER_07: I'm curious, and this may not be something that you'll have the answer to,

SPEAKER_07: but I know that we have put, I've read about it over and over, measurements,

SPEAKER_07: equipment that can measure air quality, you know, around our plants or other places.

SPEAKER_07: What would you tell us about the pollution that our plants are producing?

Unknown: That's a great question.

SPEAKER_04: Director, thank you for raising it.

SPEAKER_04: I've told your staff before, and I'm going to tell you directly again,

SPEAKER_04: you don't need to go through the trouble of doing fence line monitoring.

SPEAKER_04: Why? Because we have a very dense network of sensors as well as our regulatory stations,

SPEAKER_04: and most importantly, because of the years of work that the agency has undertaken,

SPEAKER_04: we have a good understanding how air pollution in a region gets distributed.

Unknown: So if you want to know what your impact on your power plant is, we can tell you right away.

SPEAKER_04: You don't need to put a fence line monitor.

Unknown: Now, this is probably not what you're expecting from an air quality regulator, right?

Unknown: But see, that's why it's important to really have the science down,

Unknown: to really have the facts, to really have the information.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Alberto, thank you.

SPEAKER_10: I just want to be really clear about, you know, the whole kind of concept behind your presentation.

SPEAKER_10: Our power plants are generally pretty efficient, especially when compared to an individual

SPEAKER_10: internal combustion engine vehicle, especially an older one.

SPEAKER_10: And we can have more bang for the buck in terms of reducing air pollution, carbon, particulate matter,

SPEAKER_10: the whole gamut by electrifying more transportation in particular,

SPEAKER_10: but even other building functions, water heating, indoor cooking, and heating and ventilation,

SPEAKER_10: by electrifying, as long as people are still willing to do that if the price is reasonable.

SPEAKER_10: So, again, I'm kind of making a little bit of a leap here,

SPEAKER_10: but our power plants, because they're efficient, can actually help us reduce our gas fired power plants.

SPEAKER_10: Can actually help us reduce air pollution and carbon output if we apply those incentives

SPEAKER_10: and make it easy for people to electrify their transportation and other uses.

Unknown: Completely agree.

SPEAKER_04: And to be balanced and fair, so let me just say this as well,

SPEAKER_04: because I show you how much cleaner your turbine power plants are to a relative car.

Unknown: Relative to a typical car.

Unknown: But that's not to say that we shouldn't be thinking about what to do with your turbines.

SPEAKER_04: There is something very important that you can do,

SPEAKER_04: because at the end of the day, combustion is combustion, right?

SPEAKER_04: So let's just be clear.

Unknown: SP 1350, I'd be remiss if I didn't throw that at you, right?

SPEAKER_04: I mean, the state is already envisioning that in the future,

Unknown: if you want to continue to reduce your carbon footprint as well as conventional pollution,

Unknown: start thinking about coal firing with hydrogen, right?

SPEAKER_04: And if you can get to a future where eventually you replace all the natural gas with hydrogen,

Unknown: right, you got zero carbon pollution and very little conventional pollution,

SPEAKER_04: because the same technology that cleans up your natural gas exhaust can be put to use

SPEAKER_04: to clean up the exhaust from a hydrogen burning turbine.

SPEAKER_04: So there's already a light at the end of the tunnel that can guide, you know,

SPEAKER_04: 2030 is like four years now, right?

SPEAKER_04: So you're going to need to update the 2030's carbon plan in two.

SPEAKER_04: I don't know what you want to call the next one, but maybe those are the kinds of things

SPEAKER_04: that we need to start thinking about.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: To basically keep our rates low and help everybody electrify transportation

SPEAKER_02: as quickly as possible.

SPEAKER_02: Okay. Very good.

SPEAKER_02: And I want...

SPEAKER_02: Glenn, I have a question.

SPEAKER_09: So you meant you referred to the high density of monitors that we have in our community.

SPEAKER_09: What are some of the key stories that that's told us as to who's most impacted

SPEAKER_09: and where that pollution is coming from?

SPEAKER_09: Or does it tell us where the pollution is coming from?

SPEAKER_04: It does. And maybe just to note, the reason we saw the kind of popularity

SPEAKER_04: with the sensors was wildfires, right?

SPEAKER_04: You may remember the times when we were impacted very heavily,

SPEAKER_04: and that's when people started buying their own because they wanted...

Unknown: They didn't want to know what the regulatory station was telling them.

SPEAKER_04: They wanted to know what was happening in their home.

Unknown: And the story that is telling us is, again, that now you've got citizen science,

SPEAKER_04: if you want to call it, or the power of the masses, because now people don't rely

SPEAKER_04: on just our network.

SPEAKER_04: They have a monitor that is telling them what is the equality around their home,

SPEAKER_04: and that's really what matters.

SPEAKER_04: So that's the story.

SPEAKER_04: The second story is we can be much more surgical in our recommendations

SPEAKER_04: when we are impacted by anything, wildfires or any other type of event,

SPEAKER_04: because now we have the information, right?

SPEAKER_04: So we can be very surgical, and we've done this.

Unknown: We can tell people, hey, Folsom, you've got some pollution coming your way.

SPEAKER_04: You've got two hours, you know, issue an alert, whatever.

SPEAKER_04: I mean, we've done that in the past.

SPEAKER_04: So again, is technology being put to use in a way that allows us to do much more

SPEAKER_04: than what we could with our regulatory network?

Unknown: Okay, I don't see any more questions.

SPEAKER_02: I would say one of the things I know that smud's done is electrified our

SPEAKER_02: landscaping equipment, which I know is a big polluter, right?

SPEAKER_02: And people still come around my house with the blowers, the HOA, and, oh, my gosh,

SPEAKER_02: those things really, you can smell the emissions.

SPEAKER_02: And again, it could us to our state government, because the solution

SPEAKER_04: to our climate crisis is electrify everything that you can.

Unknown: And the things that you cannot electrify for good reason,

Unknown: let's use the cleanest combustion possible.

Unknown: And lawn and garden equipment are absolutely totally doable.

Unknown: Yep. Very good.

SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02: Really appreciate your presentation coming all the way out here.

SPEAKER_02: And again, your partnership.

SPEAKER_02: This is teamwork.

Unknown: Thanks again.

SPEAKER_02: Okay. So now we're going to invite up Dr. Liz Gill, the branch manager

Unknown: of reliability analysis branch at the energy commission.

SPEAKER_02: So thank you for coming east and visiting us today.

SPEAKER_02: All right.

SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_11: So again, or good evening.

SPEAKER_11: My name is Liz Gill, and I'm the branch manager for the electricity resources analysis branch

SPEAKER_11: at the California Energy Commission.

SPEAKER_11: We just renamed our branch because we do a little bit more than reliability.

SPEAKER_11: My team focuses on reliability, electricity system modeling.

SPEAKER_11: We did the electricity system modeling for the long time forthcoming next SB100 report.

SPEAKER_11: And we also focus on distributed energy resources.

SPEAKER_11: I'm also a proud SMUD customer.

SPEAKER_11: My husband and I are looking at moving, and SMUD being the utility is actually a factor.

SPEAKER_11: So yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_11: So today I'm going to walk through some of our modeling results assessing the state's clean

SPEAKER_11: electricity goals.

SPEAKER_11: These were presented at a workshop in February.

SPEAKER_11: And I'll be nicely, I think, building on Dr. Alberto's presentation.

SPEAKER_11: And I'll also put a particular focus on the role of the gas fleet,

SPEAKER_11: particularly as we move towards those GHG targets.

SPEAKER_11: So California has, as you know, has pretty aggressive economy-wide decarbonization goals

SPEAKER_11: and achieving these goals will lead to substantial improvements in air quality.

SPEAKER_11: So the chart on the left here shows the 2022 GHG emissions by sector compared

SPEAKER_11: to the CARB scoping plan scenario in 2045.

SPEAKER_11: So the electricity sector is the green bar.

SPEAKER_11: We see that that reduces down to about 8 MMT per year.

SPEAKER_11: And then the top three kind of blue-purple colors are transportation, industrial,

SPEAKER_11: and buildings, which make the largest contributions to GHG emissions and must reduce the most

SPEAKER_11: in order for us to reach our economy-wide goals.

Unknown: Then on the right, we have some familiar charts that we just saw, but these are statewide.

Unknown: So we have 2023 annual NOx and PM2.5 emissions by sector.

SPEAKER_11: You can see the transportation in dark blue, which contributes

SPEAKER_11: to over half the NOx emissions in the state, and then industrial in purple,

SPEAKER_11: which contributes over half the PM2.5 emissions.

SPEAKER_11: And then electricity is the sliver there in dark green, which you can see accounts

SPEAKER_11: for about 1 and then 1.5% of PM2.5 and NOx respectively.

SPEAKER_11: All right, next slide, please.

Unknown: All right, so reduction in those heaviest emitting sectors, transportation,

SPEAKER_11: industry, buildings relies on a few strategies.

SPEAKER_11: As we know, the biggest one of those is electrification.

SPEAKER_11: So while we make significant reductions in GHG emissions in the power sector,

SPEAKER_11: the electric grid really plays an even bigger role for those economy-wide goals.

SPEAKER_11: It means that having an affordable, reliable, and safe power sector in parallel

SPEAKER_11: with doing those GHG emissions we'll be making is essential for promoting that electrification

SPEAKER_11: that we really need for those economy-wide goals.

SPEAKER_11: And naturally, we'll be increasing our demand for electricity,

SPEAKER_11: which puts additional emphasis on some of these aggressive clean energy resource builds

SPEAKER_11: that we'll be looking at.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

Unknown: All right, so currently 67% of our state's retail sales of electricity come

SPEAKER_11: from renewable and zero carbon resources to reach our SB 1020 and SB 100 goals.

SPEAKER_11: This will increase to 90% by 2035 and 100% by 2045 respectively.

SPEAKER_11: And then really to reach our economy-wide GHG targets,

SPEAKER_11: we're looking at going even more aggressive than SB 100.

Unknown: Next slide, please.

Unknown: All right, so focusing in on how our gas plant has been operating

SPEAKER_11: in this phase of the transition, this slide shows a heat map of gas generation

SPEAKER_11: in 2022, so the X-axis is days of the year,

SPEAKER_11: and then the Y-axis is the hours of the day.

SPEAKER_11: So the green color shows low generation,

SPEAKER_11: and then the orange-red color shows the highest generation that we see on the grid.

SPEAKER_11: You can see that we've really reduced gas gen in the spring months, so those kind of big patches

SPEAKER_11: of green that we see in the middle left side of the chart.

Unknown: Although if you look carefully at the legend, you'll see that the lowest

SPEAKER_11: that we see is two gigawatts.

SPEAKER_11: Please remember, this will be important later.

SPEAKER_11: There might be a quiz at the end.

Unknown: And so most of those reductions are really during the day.

SPEAKER_11: That's when we have a lot of solar online.

SPEAKER_11: We have, you know, so much that we have curtailment.

Unknown: However, in the evening, particularly in the summer months,

SPEAKER_11: we've needed significant capacity to meet those peak hours.

SPEAKER_11: And so this chart is from 2022.

SPEAKER_11: I think some of us might remember living through a particular heat event that happened in 2022.

SPEAKER_11: Some of us still have bad dreams about it.

SPEAKER_11: And there is good news with this.

SPEAKER_11: Since 2022, we've had pretty massive deployment of battery storage,

SPEAKER_11: and we've already seen a reduction in gas generation by 20%.

SPEAKER_11: So a lot of that peaking that we're needing for the grid, while we still need those gas plants,

SPEAKER_11: the batteries are doing a lot more of the heavy lifting than they were able to previously

SPEAKER_11: because they're on the grid.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So moving on to our SB100 results.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide.

Unknown: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So this is great that you guys will be starting your IRP process pretty soon because the modeling

SPEAKER_11: that we do, the analysis that we do for SB100 is very similar to the type

SPEAKER_11: of analysis that you do for an IRP.

SPEAKER_11: So we take our inputs about our system, our policy targets, future demand,

SPEAKER_11: resource availability, resource cost projections, and then we feed it all

SPEAKER_11: into a capacity expansion model, which helps develop a cost-optimal future resource build.

SPEAKER_11: I put that in quotes because there's a lot of factors that can go into what's the most optimal.

SPEAKER_11: Because of the simplifications that are needed for this model, we also test those portfolios

SPEAKER_11: to make sure that it meets our reliability and our GHG targets in a production cost model.

SPEAKER_11: And then I have a few notes on the process before we jump in.

SPEAKER_11: The first is that it has been a very long multi-agency process.

SPEAKER_11: We kicked this off in 2022.

SPEAKER_11: We've had multiple workshops on different aspects of the report.

SPEAKER_11: We do cover more than the analysis and the scenarios.

SPEAKER_11: We also cover kind of like our progress to date on reaching our SB100 goals.

SPEAKER_11: And the results that I'm presenting are pre-OBA.

SPEAKER_11: So they still have the IRA tax credits included in the results.

SPEAKER_11: Directionally, the results are the same.

SPEAKER_11: There are more recent modeling does show a little bit higher levels of firm, clean firm resources,

SPEAKER_11: so resources that didn't have tax credits pulled away from them.

SPEAKER_11: Our most recent results also don't show as much hydrogen.

SPEAKER_11: 45B really drove the selection of those hydrogen resources.

SPEAKER_11: And overall, the biggest impact is really that costs are higher.

SPEAKER_11: But directionally, in order to reach our goals, portfolios should look very similar.

Unknown: And then finally, a draft report will be released soon.

SPEAKER_11: I don't know how soon, hopefully very soon, but I can't give you a date.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So next slide, please.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So we can jump into some charts.

SPEAKER_11: So this slide shows the system capacity over the model time horizon.

SPEAKER_11: So this scenario includes CPUC jurisdictional, LSE, IRP plans,

SPEAKER_11: as well as supply plan resources from POUs, existing resources on the grid,

SPEAKER_11: and then what the model selected through that cost optimization.

SPEAKER_11: So what we see is nearly 100 gigawatts of solar being added, 45 gigawatts of storage,

SPEAKER_11: around 50 gigawatts of total wind, 1.6 gigawatts of CCS.

SPEAKER_11: And I will add that Sutter was one of the available resources in the model, and it'd get picked up.

SPEAKER_11: So overall, this represents a tripling of the grid capacity.

SPEAKER_11: It says basically a doubling from 2030, but it's a tripling of grid capacity from today.

SPEAKER_11: And this is really driven by two things.

SPEAKER_11: First is the electrification that we talked about earlier.

SPEAKER_11: That's really going to help us meet those economy-wide carbonization goals.

Unknown: And then the second is the sector GHG target based on the scoping plan.

SPEAKER_11: It's about 8 million metric tons.

SPEAKER_11: In the first SB100 report, we are looking at about 24 million metric tons for the electric grid.

SPEAKER_11: So it's quite a bit more aggressive than SB100 by itself.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So this chart shows the annual generation from that same scenario.

SPEAKER_11: So it's showing the gigawatt hours per year from each resource type.

SPEAKER_11: Overall, generation increases significantly to meet, again, that new electrification load.

Unknown: This increase is met by renewables and zero carbon resources.

Unknown: At the same time, if you look at those top two bars, so that yellow bar and that, like,

SPEAKER_11: gray-brown bar right below it, those are gas generation and unspecified imports.

SPEAKER_11: Those are the two pieces that are the biggest contributors to our GHG emissions

SPEAKER_11: in the power sector, and they've reduced significantly over that time horizon in order

SPEAKER_11: to meet that 8-MMT GHG target.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So digging into this in a little bit more detail,

SPEAKER_11: we can see how that gas utilization changes by 2045.

SPEAKER_11: So we looked at that kind of heat map of 2022.

SPEAKER_11: Here we see some pretty significant changes.

SPEAKER_11: This chart represents a typical summer day.

SPEAKER_11: So this is one of those days on that chart where it would have been, like, bright.

SPEAKER_11: Orange-red in the middle of the day, a lot of gas burn.

SPEAKER_11: In 2045, our model is showing very little gas and imports across the summer.

SPEAKER_11: So those long summer days allow us to charge up our storage fleet,

SPEAKER_11: which then can meet those summer peaks, and the evening time is not quite as significant

SPEAKER_11: as what we'll see in the winter chart that we'll look at next.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

Unknown: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So in contrast, this is a typical 2045 winter day.

SPEAKER_11: So in winter, we have much shorter days, which means that we have less time to charge

SPEAKER_11: that storage fleet with the solar.

SPEAKER_11: So instead of having that, like, 12, 13 hours throughout the number of hours

SPEAKER_11: in the summer days, we really only have, you know,

SPEAKER_11: seven to eight hours to charge the storage.

SPEAKER_11: So the model uses the gas overnight to meet that overnight and early morning loads,

SPEAKER_11: which has also increased significantly over the time horizon.

SPEAKER_11: Because of all the electrification, we have to meet our economy-wide goals.

SPEAKER_11: So kind of pulling back on the dynamics that we see in the modeling,

Unknown: the total annual gas utilization is really heavily driven down by that GHG target,

SPEAKER_11: which basically gives us a budget of how much gas we can use in a year.

SPEAKER_11: The model then uses that budget where it's most valuable, which is when it's most expensive

SPEAKER_11: and hardest to deploy clean energy.

SPEAKER_11: So as we get closer to, like, a zero GHG emission scenario,

SPEAKER_11: you start to see this exponential increase in cost and resource build

SPEAKER_11: with today's projections for resource costs.

SPEAKER_11: So you either need more expensive, clean, firm resources

Unknown: or even greater increases in solar and storage.

SPEAKER_11: And so I think as Alberto said, it's that last 10%, that becomes much more challenging.

SPEAKER_11: And then each percent that you go down, it gets even more so.

SPEAKER_11: All right, next slide, please.

Unknown: All right, so we see this dynamic play out in the combustion retirement scenario.

SPEAKER_11: So this slide shows a number of scenarios that we ran for the SB100 report.

SPEAKER_11: I just want to focus on one scenario in this black box.

SPEAKER_11: The rest of the scenario results are available on our webpage for the workshop results,

SPEAKER_11: if anyone's interested in the rest of them.

SPEAKER_11: So this combustion resource retirement scenario forces the retirement

SPEAKER_11: of all combustion resources on California's electric grid.

SPEAKER_11: So it's 35 gigawatts of gas and 1.5 gigawatts of biofuels.

SPEAKER_11: In order to meet those overnight loads, the model selects another 135 gigawatts of resources.

SPEAKER_11: So that's on top of the 310 gigawatts that we already have on the grid,

SPEAKER_11: including 5 gigawatts of hydrogen fuel cells, because again,

SPEAKER_11: it needs those firm resources for those overnight loads.

SPEAKER_11: Solar and storage, really kind of the key driver here is that that solar

SPEAKER_11: and storage become less effective as we get into those marginal GHG emissions

SPEAKER_11: that we're reducing, and so you have to build greater amounts of them in order

SPEAKER_11: to achieve the same reduction as you might have earlier in the transition.

Unknown: And then in total, the costs are about $10 billion per year higher in this scenario

SPEAKER_11: in 2045 compared to that reference scenario that we looked at earlier.

Unknown: Next slide, please.

Unknown: All right, so now a couple of caveats on the modeling.

SPEAKER_11: This might get a little bit into the weeds, but we run a zonal or a regional statewide model,

SPEAKER_11: so it doesn't account for local transmission constraints.

SPEAKER_11: Although we are working to improve the granularity of this model for reasons

SPEAKER_11: that I'm about to explain, it becomes exponentially more important

SPEAKER_11: to include these factors as we decarbonize.

SPEAKER_11: So this is where the quiz is on the gas heat map slide.

SPEAKER_11: So going back to that, it showed that the lowest gas burn that we have on the system today,

SPEAKER_11: even when we're exporting and curtailing renewables, was 2 gigawatts.

SPEAKER_11: So those 2 gigawatts weren't running purely for economic reasons.

SPEAKER_11: They're running to provide other grid services like voltage support or to be in position

SPEAKER_11: for local reliability support.

SPEAKER_11: I'm really not the expert on these elements,

SPEAKER_11: but an engineer can probably explain them better.

SPEAKER_11: And so these are the types of things that weren't essential to capture previously

SPEAKER_11: because we are so dependent on gas for energy and capacity anyway.

SPEAKER_11: But now as we get into this late phase of the transition, they're essential to understand

SPEAKER_11: and to start to incorporate into these modeling exercises where we're kind of looking

SPEAKER_11: at our future portfolios.

Unknown: So here you can see that our model, the reason why I bring this up is you can see

SPEAKER_11: that our model is showing no gas burn for multiple months in the year.

SPEAKER_11: So it's saving all of those GHG emissions in that budget for winter,

SPEAKER_11: some of the shoulder months, and mostly saving it for overnight.

SPEAKER_11: So it's not to say that this portfolio and the way

SPEAKER_11: that this portfolio operates isn't achievable.

SPEAKER_11: You could certainly cite resources to provide those grid resources

SPEAKER_11: or those grid services in the places that they're needed,

SPEAKER_11: but they're not included in this study.

SPEAKER_11: And we really need further analysis to really understand how

SPEAKER_11: to displace those marginal emissions from gas generation as we move into the 2030s,

SPEAKER_11: particularly into the late 2030s and into the 2040s.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

Unknown: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So we're getting to the end.

SPEAKER_11: So these are the trends that we presented at the workshop.

SPEAKER_11: I'll highlight just a few.

SPEAKER_11: The biggest thing we want to highlight is the need for clean firm resources

SPEAKER_11: that are available for summer and winter peaks.

SPEAKER_11: We, of course, need lots of solar wind storage for across the year,

SPEAKER_11: but in winter we really need those firm resources to reduce gas generation

SPEAKER_11: and meet electrification-driven loads.

SPEAKER_11: I've heard that you've been briefed on geothermal and CCS, which our model is picking

SPEAKER_11: up as we move further towards 2045.

SPEAKER_11: So that's great to hear.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

Unknown: And then gas gen drops significantly across all of the scenarios,

SPEAKER_11: but the plants are retained for reliability.

SPEAKER_11: So that's not to say that we can't retire gas, but we'll need to be thoughtful with the plan

SPEAKER_11: for reducing that marginal gas generation and for the capacity in general.

SPEAKER_11: Next slide, please.

SPEAKER_11: All right.

SPEAKER_11: So this is my last slide.

SPEAKER_11: So we did a statewide study, and this includes some considerations for individual utilities.

SPEAKER_11: So my last point is that this is a statewide model.

SPEAKER_11: It doesn't include individual utilities explicitly, and it really assumes less friction

SPEAKER_11: and that the goals are met as a state, which will ultimately be more optimal

SPEAKER_11: than if we just add each individual utility's portfolios that they're planning together.

SPEAKER_11: And so this is a couple of things.

SPEAKER_11: This points to larger footprints lead to more optimal portfolios and dispatch.

SPEAKER_11: I think that's a kind of common understanding, and we're seeing this play out with EIM and EDAM,

SPEAKER_11: and now moving forward with the pathways proposal.

Unknown: On the other end, how individual utilities approach these goals will be impacted

SPEAKER_11: by local priorities, so whether they're more ambitious targets,

SPEAKER_11: maybe different risk tolerances or preferences for specific resources.

SPEAKER_11: Additionally, the local constraints are, while they're important for the statewide portfolio,

SPEAKER_11: which is why we're moving to include those better in our analysis moving forward,

SPEAKER_11: they're even more important for the individual utility that needs to make sure

SPEAKER_11: that that energy is deliverable to their customers.

SPEAKER_11: So these constraints could lead to preferences for locally cited resources,

SPEAKER_11: repowering gas plants, we talked about hydrogen earlier, CCS, transmission upgrades,

SPEAKER_11: and those solutions are really dependent on the utility-specific needs,

SPEAKER_11: and I'm certainly not qualified to speak to those.

SPEAKER_11: All right, next slide.

SPEAKER_11: All right, and with that, I will, I'm happy to take any questions.

Unknown: Thank you, Dr. Gail, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02: Does any of my colleagues have some questions?

Unknown: Thank you for the presentation and the information.

SPEAKER_10: It sort of parallels and dovetails with what we heard from Alberto.

SPEAKER_10: I guess my question is on storage because the scenario relies heavily on that.

SPEAKER_10: We're already seeing the benefits of that.

SPEAKER_10: Are there, and again, maybe this is, I'm not sure if this is something you can answer,

SPEAKER_10: are there new storage technologies, I mean, aside from lithium ion and maybe even other,

SPEAKER_10: you know, aside from other battery technologies that we're looking at

SPEAKER_10: or that are sort of out there?

SPEAKER_11: Yeah, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_11: So our model doesn't really care what the technology is behind it,

SPEAKER_11: and it's assuming the lithium, I think it's assuming the lithium ion costs projections,

SPEAKER_11: but there are certainly other technologies out there.

SPEAKER_11: I've heard about the sodium, I think sodium ion technology,

SPEAKER_11: and they've got the facility that's going to be in, or is in Sacramento.

SPEAKER_11: And then for the long-duration energy storage in our model,

SPEAKER_11: we actually have this weird, like almost hybrid of different technologies

SPEAKER_11: because we, there's, I think, so much uncertainty across different technologies

SPEAKER_11: that we kind of make an assumption for like a generic long-duration energy storage.

SPEAKER_11: So you're actually, I'm not a great person to answer this question,

SPEAKER_11: but we know that we need storage, and whatever technology it ends up being, that's great.

SPEAKER_11: Thank you.

Unknown: Sure, go ahead.

Unknown: Thank you so much, Dr. Gill, for being here tonight.

SPEAKER_07: I had just a question about one of your slides that talked about the future,

SPEAKER_07: and gas plants would still be kept for reliability.

SPEAKER_07: Who makes those decisions about, you know, which gas plants would be,

Unknown: you know, would close and which would be open to run?

SPEAKER_07: Yeah.

SPEAKER_11: How does that work?

Unknown: That is a great question, and it's a complicated question, too.

Unknown: So for a gas plant to remain open, it needs to have a utility or a load-serving entity

SPEAKER_11: that will sign a contract with it.

SPEAKER_11: And so that's ultimately the driver for whether a gas plant is staying open for economic reasons.

SPEAKER_11: There's, you know, specific cases where, for example, in the California ISO system,

SPEAKER_11: they will study a gas plant to determine if it's needed, if it can close for system,

SPEAKER_11: or under system reliability purposes, or specifically local reliability.

SPEAKER_11: So, for example, if there is an area that was very constrained with local reliability,

SPEAKER_11: if there's not resources or a plan there to be able to replace that gas plant,

SPEAKER_11: then they may force that plant to stay open and have a reliability must-run contract with it.

SPEAKER_11: So ultimately, it's the contracts in the market that's deciding what plants stay open

SPEAKER_11: and which ones might close.

SPEAKER_11: But if it's needed for specific reliability reasons,

SPEAKER_11: it might be the market operator that keeps it there.

SPEAKER_11: Not to say that utilities couldn't formulate their plans in order to reduce that need.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Anybody else?

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Well, on a slightly different tangent, I hope that we're focusing on also recycling of all these batteries

SPEAKER_02: and wind blades and everything else.

SPEAKER_02: I don't know if the Energy Commission focuses on that at all,

SPEAKER_02: but that is like my day job, and it seems like batteries are...

SPEAKER_02: We're putting battery walls at SMUD right now at record pace in people's homes,

SPEAKER_02: and when they have to take them off, they call us and say,

SPEAKER_02: what do we do with it?

SPEAKER_02: And just like they did with solar panels, and we say, we don't know.

Unknown: That is a good question.

SPEAKER_11: That's certainly not something that my division works with,

SPEAKER_11: but our research and development division, I think, has done some grants in the past

SPEAKER_11: and have focused on the reuse of batteries,

SPEAKER_11: and I believe that there's some work going on at CalRecycle.

SPEAKER_11: Maybe that's solar.

SPEAKER_11: Really not.

SPEAKER_11: No, I would encourage the state to do something.

SPEAKER_02: I would just...

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: ...something to take back because we need those materials to make the next generation as well.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_02: And we need to have a place to bring them

SPEAKER_02: because right now they're hazardous waste, and people don't have the money to manage them.

SPEAKER_02: And we do have a speaker from the audience,

SPEAKER_02: so we'll go ahead and have one speaker slip.

SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and call John Weber.

Unknown: Welcome, John.

Unknown: Good evening, Chair, Board, and committee members.

SPEAKER_06: First off, I'd like to say excellent presentations to both of our presenters.

SPEAKER_06: And then regarding the Air District presentation,

SPEAKER_06: the sale of new gas leaf blowers was banned over two and a half years ago.

SPEAKER_06: These old leaf blowers are still being used.

SPEAKER_06: What is the Air District doing to ban the operation of these leaf blowers?

Unknown: And regarding the CEC presentation, on slide number four states,

SPEAKER_06: nuclear is a zero-carbon resource, which is incorrect.

SPEAKER_06: The whole nuclear fuel cycle emits greenhouse gases at every step,

SPEAKER_06: including mining, milling, converting, enriching, and fuel fabrication.

SPEAKER_06: One study shows lifetime CO2 emissions of the complete nuclear process chain

SPEAKER_06: from cradle to grave of an advanced reactor is 151 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour.

SPEAKER_06: Burning natural gas, as our first presentation stated, is 200 grams per kilowatt hour.

SPEAKER_06: So it's almost comparable to natural gas.

SPEAKER_06: Our own Rancho Seiko plant closed 37 years ago

SPEAKER_06: and still has a carbon footprint maintaining and guarding the waste.

SPEAKER_06: Please correct the slide, and thank you for both presentations.

Unknown: Thank you. I appreciate your comments.

Unknown: Do we have any comments online?

Unknown: I don't see any hands now.

SPEAKER_02: Okay. Well, with that, I think we are finished with this presentation,

SPEAKER_02: but I do want to thank our speakers very much for coming,

SPEAKER_02: and we learned a lot and appreciate you.

Unknown: And thank you for all you do every day for all of us in this field.

SPEAKER_02: So with that, we'll move to agenda item number two,

SPEAKER_02: which is to discuss authorizing submission of a SMUD round six grant application

SPEAKER_02: for a California Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities Program grant

Unknown: and authorize the CEO to negotiate and execute the name

SPEAKER_02: of Sacramento Municipal Utility District, a grant recipient contract

SPEAKER_02: with the state of California, as well as other grant documents,

SPEAKER_02: including but not limited to agreements, amendments, and requests for payment

SPEAKER_02: necessary to facilitate the grant participation.

SPEAKER_02: That was a lot, James. So we'll turn it over to you now.

SPEAKER_02: And thank you so much for reading the intro.

SPEAKER_00: From time to time, we do come across these grants that require that we get authorization prior to submission.

SPEAKER_00: And so we appreciate going through that.

SPEAKER_00: I must say that as I was listening to our previous presenters,

SPEAKER_00: I kind of crossed out the opening comment that I wanted to make to start my presentation several times

SPEAKER_00: because it was, oh, that one's better. That one's better. That one's better.

SPEAKER_00: I settled on the focus on what do we need to do to keep our rates low

SPEAKER_00: and electrify everything as quickly as possible.

SPEAKER_00: And we heard a lot of really exciting conversations about the technologies

SPEAKER_00: and the generation portfolio. But I'm here to ask for authorization

SPEAKER_00: around the Transformative Climate Communities grant.

SPEAKER_00: And this is a specific funding grant that is focused on funding to support

SPEAKER_00: the most impacted communities from pollution and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

SPEAKER_00: and local air pollution for those communities specifically.

SPEAKER_00: This is the sixth round of this funding.

SPEAKER_00: The award for an individual award is up to $27.5 million.

SPEAKER_00: There's going to be three awards across the state.

SPEAKER_00: And the application is due on September 30th.

SPEAKER_00: So we're actually in the throes of it right now, working with project partners,

SPEAKER_00: reaching out, engaging with communities and community benefit organizations,

SPEAKER_00: regional partners and peers to put together the best portfolio of projects

SPEAKER_00: to bring these dollars to our community to help fund a number of the initiatives

SPEAKER_00: that we were just hearing about.

SPEAKER_00: A couple of key notes about this particular funding opportunity

SPEAKER_00: is that it is a very geographically focused grant opportunity.

SPEAKER_00: It's limited to a five-square-mile area.

SPEAKER_00: So the idea here is not to peanut butter the funding across a very large area.

SPEAKER_00: It's really to look in at the needs of a specific community,

SPEAKER_00: understand the pollution opportunities and GHG reduction opportunities

SPEAKER_00: within that community and deliver on that value.

SPEAKER_00: The other element here is that this is not a single project

SPEAKER_00: that's going to win the grant opportunity.

SPEAKER_00: Historically, we can look back and see the grants that have won this.

SPEAKER_00: It's coalitions of community members

SPEAKER_00: and coalitions across those communities

SPEAKER_00: and compelling projects across multiple sectors that are successful here.

SPEAKER_00: For SMUD, our part is focused on electrification

SPEAKER_00: with a number of community partners supporting those surrounding areas.

SPEAKER_00: Importantly, often with these community benefit organizations

SPEAKER_00: and community partners applying for the grant

SPEAKER_00: and delivering on the grant is one of the most complex components

SPEAKER_00: to actually bring these dollars here.

SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we've been fortunate with at SMUD

SPEAKER_00: is that we've developed quite a depth of grant delivery expertise

SPEAKER_00: over recent years.

SPEAKER_00: It puts us in a position where we can be the lead applicant

SPEAKER_00: to help make sure that Sacramento is putting our best foot forward

SPEAKER_00: and that we're doing everything possible to make sure

SPEAKER_00: that we're bringing these dollars into our community.

Unknown: For our side, when we think about what this would mean for SMUD,

SPEAKER_00: we have a very meaningful element of scope in this project.

SPEAKER_00: We look back and we had the Meadowview Electrification Project

SPEAKER_00: that we were able to complete in recent years.

SPEAKER_00: That was actually funded with support of Congresswoman Matsui

SPEAKER_00: and funding from the federal government to bring that forward.

SPEAKER_00: These external funding dollars are a great tool

SPEAKER_00: to enhance that affordability

SPEAKER_00: and make sure that we're accelerating electrification

SPEAKER_00: while keeping those rates low.

SPEAKER_00: This is a much bigger bucket, but we're just a piece of that pie.

SPEAKER_00: With this funding, SMUD would be looking to electrify

SPEAKER_00: roughly 200 additional residences in this community.

SPEAKER_00: Some of our learnings from the Meadowview Project

SPEAKER_00: were that we do come across a number of homes

SPEAKER_00: that need panel upgrades, panel replacements,

SPEAKER_00: whether that's Zinsco, whether that's panel expansions.

SPEAKER_00: We're looking at the work being done

SPEAKER_00: by our research and development department

SPEAKER_00: to pull in funding for smart panels

SPEAKER_00: to allow for additional electrification and panel upgrades.

SPEAKER_00: We're also looking at our work with the Sacramento Tree Foundation

SPEAKER_00: to have tree planting that will be spread out

SPEAKER_00: from 2028 through 2031.

SPEAKER_00: Then, importantly, box number four here, as I mentioned,

SPEAKER_00: we're helping our communities bring these dollars forward

SPEAKER_00: through our grant expertise and administration processes.

SPEAKER_00: Then, as with all of these initiatives,

SPEAKER_00: at the core of it is our customers and our communities,

SPEAKER_00: and so that outreach, communication, and education

SPEAKER_00: is a critical component that we'll be delivering

SPEAKER_00: as part of this work.

SPEAKER_00: Jumping on, the overall scope,

SPEAKER_00: and you'll notice the asterisk here,

SPEAKER_00: as I mentioned, we are in the throw of developing the application.

SPEAKER_00: So the paint is still wet, so there's more up here

SPEAKER_00: than what will be in the final application.

SPEAKER_00: We're working with these partners to understand

SPEAKER_00: which projects are eligible, how much funding is secured,

SPEAKER_00: whether they're able to sign on for this grant.

SPEAKER_00: But we have a number of the opportunities defined here.

SPEAKER_00: You can see that transportation and mobility

SPEAKER_00: is a key sector.

SPEAKER_00: Electrification and clean energy is the primary

SPEAKER_00: smud work, recycling and compost, urban greening,

SPEAKER_00: tree planting, housing and community facilities,

SPEAKER_00: health and food access.

SPEAKER_00: So it really is a broad spectrum of opportunities.

SPEAKER_00: It's not just the utility or the energy

SPEAKER_00: or the emissions or the electrification.

SPEAKER_00: This is the community coming together around important work

SPEAKER_00: that will have a transformational impact on this area.

SPEAKER_00: Again, $27.5 million for the particular opportunity,

SPEAKER_00: should we win?

SPEAKER_00: And so hopefully this is not the first time that I'll be talking

SPEAKER_00: to you about this grant.

SPEAKER_00: Hopefully I get to talk to you again about it

SPEAKER_00: with the additional detail, the specific partners,

SPEAKER_00: lots of fun images.

SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about the approval to submit.

SPEAKER_00: That'll be submitted by the end of the month.

SPEAKER_00: We expect interviews for finalists in the very early part of next year

SPEAKER_00: with awards around spring of next year

SPEAKER_00: and asking for authorization to accept the award

SPEAKER_00: in the middle of next year.

SPEAKER_00: And then the period of delivery will be between 28 and 32.

SPEAKER_00: So this is something that we're really excited about

SPEAKER_00: to really help move forward electrification,

SPEAKER_00: accelerate it while keeping rates low

SPEAKER_00: and having a very meaningful impact on our community.

Unknown: Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02: Dr. Herron?

Unknown: You may have said this, James,

SPEAKER_07: and I might have been reading something else,

SPEAKER_07: but what made us choose this area?

SPEAKER_00: So this area, we had deep engagement

SPEAKER_00: with our community benefit organizations.

SPEAKER_00: Also, there was a number of plans that were put together

SPEAKER_00: by Sac City as an example that identified measures

SPEAKER_00: that would help reduce GHG emissions in these areas.

SPEAKER_00: And when we're looking at these opportunities,

SPEAKER_00: it's not that this is all the work that we're doing.

SPEAKER_00: What we're trying to do from a grant's perspective

SPEAKER_00: is we're making sure that we're putting together

SPEAKER_00: the most compelling package of products to secure those funds.

SPEAKER_00: Because when we're helping accelerate dollars here,

SPEAKER_00: we're freeing up bandwidth to use our dollars

SPEAKER_00: in a broader sense to support the community.

SPEAKER_00: So this particular area had the most robust set of projects

SPEAKER_00: that we thought would be most competitive to win these dollars.

SPEAKER_00: Got it. Thank you.

Unknown: Dr. Kurtz district, yes?

Unknown: He was very politely saying this because I got to him first.

Unknown: James, don't leave tonight without me talking to you.

SPEAKER_00: I'm happy.

Unknown: I need to ask a question of our general counsel.

SPEAKER_10: James mentioned partnering with Sac RT, which is my employer.

SPEAKER_10: Do I need to recuse myself from this discussion and vote?

Unknown: I do not believe so.

SPEAKER_03: We can talk online afterwards.

SPEAKER_03: We're not voting tonight, so this is just going to be on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_03: I can look at that. I don't believe so.

SPEAKER_03: The money isn't going directly to RT, so probably okay.

Unknown: I think it's fine.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you.

Unknown: Okay. Any other questions?

SPEAKER_02: I'll just add to this.

SPEAKER_08: Sorry, I just walked here from downtown because Freew is close.

SPEAKER_08: But we've seen these grants.

SPEAKER_08: They're very, very competitive.

SPEAKER_08: You often don't get it in the first time,

SPEAKER_08: but there's been at least one that I have watched over there

SPEAKER_08: in support of my nonprofit role that we eventually did get.

SPEAKER_08: So just to set expectations, if they come back and say,

SPEAKER_08: we didn't get it, don't be surprised.

SPEAKER_08: But it's certainly something that you can eventually get

SPEAKER_08: if you're persistent with it.

SPEAKER_08: So good luck. It's a wonderful project.

SPEAKER_08: Hopefully we'll get it right off the bat with that said.

SPEAKER_08: Thanks.

Unknown: Yeah, it really kind of ties in nicely with the presentations

SPEAKER_02: we just had and the need for this kind of grant.

SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if anybody has any other thoughts on this or any,

Unknown: but it seems to me that this is a no-brainer that we go give just after

Unknown: give staff direction to go after this money.

Unknown: Yeah? You okay?

SPEAKER_02: All right. James, go get it.

SPEAKER_02: Get or done.

SPEAKER_07: Get or done. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02: Let's see.

SPEAKER_02: So the next item on the agenda is public comment for items,

SPEAKER_02: not on the agenda.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we did not have any public comment for item,

SPEAKER_03: agenda two.

SPEAKER_03: At all, for two or anything.

SPEAKER_02: And I don't see any hands raised for items on the agenda either.

SPEAKER_03: Okay. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02: Since we haven't received any cards or any other comments,

SPEAKER_02: then we will go ahead and close out our meeting.

SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much for wonderful evening presentations.

SPEAKER_02: Appreciate it.