20150715Hearing Transcript Volume I.pdf

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF IDAHO POWER
COMPANYIS PETITION TO MODITY
TERMS AND CONDIT]ONS OE PURPA
PURCHASE AGREEMENTS
CASE NO. IPC-E-15-01
IN THE MATTER OF AVISTA
CORPORATION'S PETITION TO MODIFY
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PURPA
PURCHASE AGREEMENTS
CASE NO. AVU_E-15-01
IN THE MATTER OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN
POWER COMPANY'S PETITION TO
MOD]FY TERMS AND CONDIT]ONS OF
PURPA PURCHASE AGREEMENTS
CASE NO. PAC-E-15-03
BEFORE
COMMISSIONER PAUL KJELLANDER (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER KRISTINE RAPER
PLACE:Commission Hearing Room
412 West Washi-ngton StreetBoise, Idaho
June 24, 2015
f\I
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DATE:
VOLUME I-Pages I - 86
CSB REPORTING
C ertifrc d S h o rth an d Repo rte rs
Post Offrce Box9774
Boise,Idaho 83707
csbreportin g@heritasewifi . com
Ph: 208-890-5198 Fax: l-888-623-6899
Reporter:
Constance Bucy,
CSR
ORIGINAL
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
For the Staff:
For Idaho Power Company:
For Rocky Mounta j-n Power:
For C.l-earwater Paper:
Eor Intermountain Energy
Partners:
For Snake River
A111ance:
For Idaho Conservation
League & Sj-erra Club:
For Ecoplexus:
APPEARANCES
Dona1d HoweJ.J., Esq.
and Daphne Huang', Esq.
Deputy Attorneys General
472 West Washington StreetBoise, Idaho 83720-0074
Donovan E. Walker, Esq.
Idaho Power Company
Post Office Box 10Boise, Idaho 83707-0070
STOEL RIVES, LLP
by E1ijah M. Watkins, Esq.
101 S. Capitol Bl-vd.Suite 1900Boise, Idaho 83702
RICHARDSON ADAMS PLLC
by Peter iI. Richardson, Esq.
515 North 21Lh StreetBoise, Idaho 83702
McDEV]TT & MILLER
by Dean iI. MiJ.J.er, Esq.
420 West Bannock StreetBoise, Idaho 83102
Ke1sey Jae Nunez, Esq.
Snake River Alliance
Post Office Box 1731
Boise, Idaho 83701
Benjamin J. Otto, Esq.
Idaho Conservation League1l0 North 6th StreetBoise, Idaho 83702
FISHER PUSCH LLP
by ilohn R. Harnrnond, .It., Esq.
Post Office Box 1308Boise, Idaho 83701
APPEARANCES
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INDEX
WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
Michael Heckler Statement
( Public)
Anne Hausrath Statement
( PubIic)
Leon Walsh Statement
( Public)
Reed Burkholdr Statement
( PubIic)
Tyler Ortega Statement
( PubIic)
Debbie Dooley Statement
( Public)
John Weber Statement
( PubIic)
Rebecca Bundy Statement
( Public)
Kerrin McCall- Statement 38(Public) Commlssioner Kjellander 42
Diane Jones Statement 43
( Public)
Aimee Christensen Statement
( Public)
Billy Mann Statement
( Public)
Greg Olson Statement
( Public)
Brian Eormusa Statement
( PubIic )
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52
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60
INDEX
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INDEX (Continued)
WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
Sienna White Statement
( Public)
Edwina A11en Statement
( Public)
Pam Conley Statement
( PubIic)
Caroline Morris Statement
( Public)
Julj-e Hoefnagels Statement
( Public)
Lauren Adler Statement
( PubIic)
Marcia Blessing Statement
( Public)
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84
]NDEX
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BOISE, IDAHO, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015, 7:00 P. M.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Good evening. Thj-s
is the time and place for a public hearing in
consol-idated Case Nos. IPC-E-15-01, AVU-E-15-01, and
PAC-E-15-03. My name is Paul Kjellander. f'm the
Chairman of this evening's public hearing. Next to me is
Commissioner Kristine Raper. Mack Redford, our third
Commissioner, is excused and is absent this evening. He
will- have an opportunity to review the transcript and
again following the technical hearing, which is next
week, he'l-1 have an opportunity to review that and then
the three of us will then deliberate on the final
disposition of this case and we hope to have a final
Order out even as early the end of July.
In part I say that to put the parties on notice
that if you intend at the technical hearing to ask for
any kind of posthearing briefs, it might better be served
to maybe deal- with it in terms of closing statements, so
I just wanted to give you some warning in advance so that
we can move quickly with this case.
As we l-ook at this evenj-ng and the purpose, the
purpose of tonight's hearing is to take testimony from
the public regarding this case. This is the opportunity
COLLOQUY
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CSB REPORTING(208) B9o-s198
for members of the public to get their statement entered
into the record that ultimately assists us as the
Commission in our deliberative process.
As further background, the Commission serves in
a similar capacity as a District Court and we generally
follow the District Court rul-es. We are here this
evening to help create a fuIly developed record. We're
not here today to pass judgment on comments or statements
made on the official record. The Commissioners serve as
judges and accordingly, do not answer questions related
to the case other than questions regarding procedure.
The Commission wil-l not begin to deliberate on
the merits of this case until the official record is
closed. Additionally, the Commission, like judges, only
speak through its orders as it relates to the final-
ruli-ng on this matter.
Procedurally as we go through this eveni-ng,
what we will do is we have a sign-up sheet that many of
you have had an opportunity to walk by. If you'd l-ike to
wal-k by it again and sign up, that woul-d be the perfect
way in which we could then call your name and bring you
up to testify. As the process works, we'11 call your
name. You'l-l- come forward to the witness box. At that
point Commissj-oner Raper wil-l- swear you in and then our
Deputy Attorney General wil-l- ask you a few questions to
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CSB REPORTING
(208 ) 890-s198
get you officially on the record, and then you wlII be
all-owed to provide your statement or comment.
Fol-l-owi-ng that, there's an opportunity for
questions from parties to the case as wel-l- from the
Commissioners. It's referred to as cross-examination,
but since you're not expert witnesses or technical-
witnesses, I doubt that there wil-1 be much in the way of
cross-examination, so we call- it cross-examinatj-on, but
it's not intended to be seen as a chilling effect to try
to l-imit you or upset you in terms of your ability to
provide a nice comment to us.
For those of you that did sign up, when we call
your name if you decide that someone else has already
said what it was you wanted to say, you can just from
your location say what I have to say has been heard and
if you'd l-ike, you don't have to testify, but, again, tf
you want to come up and whatever it is you want to say at
that point stil-l, don't feel- as if you don't have that
opportunity, and if at any point you decide that you
don't want to testify and we call- your name, you can just
say I 'l-1 pass and that's f ine.
You'l-I al-l- have the opportunity, too, to be
part of the telephonic hearing, which wil-l be next
Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. and also to file written comments,
and those written comments will be accepted up until we
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-5198
post a deadl-ine, which likely wonrt occur until the
technical hearing, but typically, it's ten days after the
technical hearing, at l-east in this case, that we'fl
continue to take written comments.
Since we do act very similar to a District
Court, we have a court reporter. Her name is Connie
Bucy. She's actually friendly and she may occasj-onally
ask you to slow down. She can only move her fingers so
quickly. We don't have the typical parti-es to the case
that tend to ramble very quickly. Wef II probably see
them at a technical hearing in the future, but Connie is
very good and kind, and if you do get interrupted by her,
it's generally just to sl-ow down, so at this point what
I'd like to do is take the appearances of the parties and
I know that we have you perhaps scattered. If you cou1d
just speak loudly who you represent, why don't we start
with Mr. Richardson.
MR. RICHARDSON: Mr. Chairman, I'm Peter
Richardson with the firm Richardson & Adams. I'm here
representing the J. R. Simplot Company and the Clearwater
Paper Corporation.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you very
much.
MR. HOWELL: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name
is Don Howell. I'm the Deputy Attorney General-
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
representing the Commission Staff.
MS. HUANG: And I'm Daphne Huang, the other
attorney representing Staff today.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: And Daphne, just for
purposes of this evening, wil-l- it be you or Don who wil-I
ask the preliminary questions of witnesses?
MR. HOWELL: f '11- start and then Daphne will
finish.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Okay, fair enough.
MR. HOWELL: Ir11 ask one and then she'11 ask
one.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Good.
MR. MILLER: Thank you, Madam Chairman
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Madam Chairman?
MR. MILLER: I thought you were going to be the
Chair.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: It's the 2000s, it
al-I works, it ' s good.
MR. MILLER: My name is Dean Mil-Ier. I
represent Intermountain Energy Partners, which is a
developer of renewable energy projects in fdaho and, for
example, is developing the project, the sol-ar project,
with the City of Boise.
MR. WALKER: Donovan Walker representing Idaho
Power Company.
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COMMISSIONER K.]ELLANDER: Are there other
parties to the case in the room that would like to be
recognized?
MR. HAMMOND: Chairman Kjellander, John Hammond
from Fisher Pusch and we're here representing Ecoplexus
who is a developer of renewable energy projects in Idaho
and other states.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you, Mr.
Hammond.
MR. OTTO: Commissioners, Ben Otto with the
fdaho Conservation League.
COMMISSIONER KTIELLANDER: Thank you, Ben.
MS. NUNEZ: Commj-ssioners, Kelsey Nunez with
the Snake River Al-liance.
MR. V{ATKINS: Elijah Watkins on behalf of Rocky
Mountain Power.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Is there anyone else
who needs to be recognized as a party to this case? If
not, welcome to everyone and we're now ready to proceed,
so we'11 begin by calling our first witness and we have
Michael Heckler.
CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
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(208 ) 890-s1e8
MICHAEL HECKLER,
appearing as a publ-ic witness, having been duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Mr. Heckler, before
we get the questions, I'm hearing some clicking that I'm
not real fond of and so Gene Fadness, can you get rid of
the clicking?
MR. FADNESS: That's probably people calling
in. Irrle can mute it.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: That woul-d be good,
thanks. AlI right.
MR. FADNESS: There might be some noj-se while I
do that. I apologize for that.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Could you move
your either mute your phone or please move your
keyboard away from your phone?
MR. FADNESS: We'l-l see if that works.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: I hope there's
somebody on the phone.
EXAMINAT]ON
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good evening, Mr. Heckler. Could you state
HECKLER
Publ1c
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CSB REPORTING
QAg) 890-s198
your name
A.
o.
capacity?
and spell- your last for the
My name is Michael- Heckler,
And whom are you employed by
record, please?
H-e-c-k-1-e-r.
and in what
A. I'm a civilian.Irm retired.
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. Definitely I'm an Idaho Power customer.
O. And do you have a statement you'd like to give
to the Commission tonight?
A. I would be very pleased to be able to give a
statement. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you,
and for your attention while I do. I'm retired now, but
for most of this century I worked as a renewable energy
developer. I've got an MBA. I worked as an economj,c
analyst for a bank. I've spend hundreds of hours
participating 1n ldaho Power's integrated resource
planning process and several dozen hours reviewing the
application for thj-s docket, and based on that analysis,
I've come to the conclusion that harnessing competitj-on
among sol-ar PURPA developers and between those deveJ-opers
and Idaho Power is beneficial- for the state, for the
customers of Idaho Power, and for the Company itsel-f.
To explain how I got to that conclusion, I'd
like to use a graph and show it to you. I donrt know if
you'Il- be abl-e to see al-l this. If you canrt, I've got
HECKLER
Public
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the core, there are two pages for you, so at least you
can see parts of it, so what I'm displaying here is a
graph and on both of the axes are dol-lars, it turns out
dollars per megawatt-hour. What I've graphed here i-s
based on the 79 contracts that you have approved for
solar PURPAS.
In each of those contracts, there's an
indication of what the levelized cost of energy an
j-ndicator of the average cost of the energy to be
provided in that contract over the 20 years what that
wil-l be. f have plotted those values on the right side
here above the green. On the l-eft side here, I've used
Exhibit 3 from Randy's original testimony and have
plotted out the estimated levelized cost of energy for
each of the 48 projects for which the Company received
inquiries for PURPA contract.
Those 48 aggregated to the 885 megawatts that
have been referred to. What this displays is effectively
the avoided cost and how avoided cost decl-ines just as
theory suggests as more of the sol-ar resources are made
avail-able. Now, none of the sol-ar PURPAs are proposing
to use batteries or some other form of storage. They all
get their energy from the sun and for every one of them,
the sun comes up at the same time, so if you l-ook at
their annual and diurnal performance, their generation
CSB REPORTING
(208 ) 890-s198
HECKLER
Publ-1c
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HECKLER
Publ-ic
patterns, one PURPA looks like another.
They each generate electricity at roughly the
same hour of the duy, so what we do in an avoided cost
analysis, we would expect that the fj-rst PURPA that we
review wi}l be abl-e to displace the highest cost
resource, and what's shown here on the right side is that
for the six Oregon PUC's, they average about $80.00 a
megawatt-hour over their l-ife in the resources they
displace.
. Eor the next project, Grand View, some of the
highest priced resources have already been displaced by
the Oregon. Grand View displaces l-ower cost resources.
It allows the Company to avoid costs, but they're l-ower
cost for resources, so it's only at 72 bucks. For Boise
City, the third one, we're down to displacing resources
over the course of their l-ife that are at $70.00. After
those, we've got a large jump down to $52.00. We've two
of them at 62. We've got about five of them in between
57 and 67, and we've got four of those approved contracts
that are bel-ow $57.00 a megawatt-hour.
By using the lnformation that Randy provided in
his Exhibit 3, f've estimated that the remaining 48
projects for which the Company received inquiries when
evaluated woul-d have avoided costs of somewhere between a
J-ow of 39 and a high of $54.00. The significance of this
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HECKLER
PubIlc
is two-fold: One, this curve, the fact that the avoided
cost decl-ines as more resource is brought on line
indicates to me that the avoj-ded cost methodology is
working. ft's a supply curve. As more is supplied, the
val-ue goes down. That's exactly what economic theory
woul-d suggest.
It seems like the pricing model is working, but
the other point is much more important. Four of the
approved contracts have been terminated and they're the
four that are bel-ow $57.00 a megawatt-hour and they
basically got terminated because they're not economically
viable. The developer went out and made an attempt to
find someone who would finance that and they were
unsuccessful. AIl of the inquirles that are the 885, the
tsunami of projects, are at lower price than that, so if
I submitted this as an MBA, we woul-d identify any project
having an average price of less than $57.00 a
megawatt-hour as being an opportunity for value
destruction. The price that you would be paid is less
than the cost to make the facility. Nobody is going to
do them.
These that's the area frve shown in red.
For projects where the value of the energy that that
project provides exceeds $57.00, we cal-l- this a resource
substitution opportunity, so effectively what this means
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HECKLER
Publ-ic
is that new technology, sol-ar generation, can be brought
on and avoid -- al-l-ow the company to avoid costs which
exceed the cost to produce the project. As a result, I
think that realistically somethj-ng on the order of 320
megawatts are 1ike1y to be buil-t. They might not all be,
but it's on that order.
Of the 1.3 gigawatts, over a gigawatt of it is
not in the money. They're not financially viable. The
system works. For projects where there is real value,
and that is one measure of whether it's needed or not,
these will be buil-t. For ones that apply too 1ate, they
won't be buil-t.
I have one other point on this. As long as
these are avoided costs, ds long as that avoided cost
measurement is accurate and by the shape it appears that
it might be, customers are not harmed by using this new
resource. The price that Idaho Power would pay to the
solar provider is equal to the cost he avoids by using
the sol-ar provj-der' s resource and not acquiring the
resource el-sewhere. Customers are not harmed. The
system self-regul-ates. When there's too many and it's
not needed, the price goes down.
One final pointr so the highest approved was at
80 bucks. The lowest is about 57. This document was
handed out. The date on it j-s January Bth of 201,5. This
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13 HECKLER
Public
is what we call- the placemat It comes out every IRP
system, every IRP iteration, and what it does is identify
the costs associated with a variety of different
generating resources. On this one, Idaho Power says for
them to do a utility scale sol-ar project, it woul-d be 109
bucks. The customer 1s not harmed. The system fixes
itsel-f on need and the utility gets a valuab1e
opportunity to raise its game, to get a littl-e better j-n
its estimate of cost.
I'm going to take a minute here and check my
notes. There were two other the docket does raise
what seems to be the important questions. Does PURPA
provide unneeded energy? I think it self-regulates and
doesn't. Does PURPA increase customer costs? If we
rea1ly use avoided costsr rro, it does not. Do
foreseeable PURPA contracts put system reliabil-ity at
risk? During the course of the 201,5 IRP, the Company
analyzed its exposure in two different ways. One was on
flexibility of generating resources, but more
pertinently, they did a reliability test by doing a l-oss
of load analysis, and in that l-oss of load analysis, they
used the most stringent hydro and heat assumptions, a
one-in-20-year hydro, a one-in-10-year load, and even
with 800, 19L, megawatts of sofar on the system, there
was no significant loss of load exposure. There isn't a
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I4 HECKLER
Public
reliability problem with 320 megawatts. There isn't a
rel-iabi-lity problem if we doubl-e that.
The fourth j-ssue they raise is does the PURPA
process make utility planning unreasonably difficult. I
think there's fixes. If you l-ook back, you Commissioners
requested that the utility propose new contract terms
that might address the problems that we face in PURPA and
f think that there's a reasonable there's a reason to
sit down and tal-k about appropriate contract terms.
I want to use an analogy now. Do you know who
Mike Tyson is, the heavyweight boxer? All across his
face he's got he's a pretty intimidating guy. He
supposedly was asked before one of his fights where his
opponent was saying I've got a plan, I've got a plan to
deal- with Mike Tyson, Tyson was asked this by a reporter
and Tyson's response was everybody has got a plan until
they get punched in the mouth.
It feel-s to me like we all have been punched in
the mouth with a two-year duration sol-ution. AlI I ask
for you is that you think about that, shake off the punch
and think about what we really need to change. CatI the
parties together, figure out whether there are milestones
that should be met that wil-l- allow the utility to plan
better whether these PURPAs are actually going to come on
line. Have some reasonabl-e discuss j-on on reliability
curtailment, what that would entail, but if you kiII it,
and using a two-year contract wil-l- kill the PURPAsT we
l-ose the benefit of competition.
We l-ose the benefit of all the added vafue, the
taxes, the new jobs, the opportunity to spin up and be
ready for changes that coul-d come under 111(d) . The RECs
will- go to the utility. They get them for free. There
are benefits from the existi-ng system that I don't think
should be l-ost. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Ladies and gentlemen,
I didn't state up front, I probably should have, but
we're not rea1ly here to clap or respond. I certainly
appreciate your enthusiasm, but are there any questions
for Mr. Heckler from parties to the case?
MR. HOWELL: No questions.
MR. WALKER: No questions.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
Any from the Commission? Thank you
HeckIer.
No questions, okay.
very much, Mr.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: And now we wiIl call
Anne Hausrath.
COMMISSIONER RAPER: And I would just state
that Mr. Heckler's testimony is abnormal-Iy detailed and
technical for a public hearing, so please don't let the
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15 HECKLER
Public
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Publ-ic
depth and breadth of his testimony intimidate anyone else
who was going to speak tonight
MS. HAUSRATH: Irm about to put you all at
ease. It's not at all like his.
ANNE HAUSRATH,
appearing as a public witness, havi-ng been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good evening.
A. Oh, sorry about that.
a. Thatrs all right. Can you state your ful-I name
and spe1I your last for the record, please?
A. Anne Hausrath, H-a-u-s-r-a-t-h.
O. And your occupation?
A. I am a mother and a grandmother and a very
ordinary citizen.
O. And are you a customer of Idaho Power?
A. Yes, I am.
O. And do you have a statement you'd l-ike to
give?
A. Yes, si-r .
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HAUSRATH
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O. Pl-ease do so.
A. Thank you. Commissioners, thank you for
allowing me to speak and I'm going to read 1t because I
reaIly am not a very comfortable public speaker. I urge
you to deny Idaho Power's request to shorten the time
period for solar contracts. C1imate change is rea1. I
believe 1t is illegal under Idaho Statute 61-515 to
continue to burn fossil fuel-s when we have alternatives
Iike sol-ar. Clearly carbon dioxide pollution j-s a major
health and safety risk for al-l- of us. I believe it is
also immoral to burn fossi-1 fuel-s when we know the
consequences and we have alternatives.
f am a Christian and I bel-ieve that we have a
moral obligation to avoid harming others. Clearly
burning fossil fuel so that I can have electricity is a
sel-fish act against all living creatures and against
future generations. Sol-ar energy is clearly a safer
al-ternative,' yet Idaho Power says that we don't need more
solar energy at this time because there's lots of coal
and gas in the ground.
Irve thought a l-ot about this notion of need
and one analogy that I came up with regards food and
nutrition. Suppose therers only one grocery store near
my home and I go to the owner of the grocery store and I
ask can you provide some more milk, some fruits and some
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HAUSRATH
Public
vegetables so that I can have a healthier diet for my
family, and he says Do, not yet. He sees no need for
that since the shel-ves of his store are currently full.
They're full of pop and twinkies, so saying therers no
need for sol-ar energy because we sti1l have fossil fuel-s
availabl-e is equally in my opinion irresponsibl-e.
Allowing Idaho Power to shorten their contract
peri-od to two years would clearly shut down ma j or sol-ar
production in Idaho. What investor woul-d rj-sk the
uncertainty of an unreal-istic contract period l-ike that?
I urge you to deny Idaho Powerrs request. I as a bill
payer and a resident of Idaho want Idaho Power to get
real about encouraging sol-ar energy, not discouraging it.
It is definitely time to stop burning fossil fuels.
There are a l-ot of people here and f would ask
that everyone who agrees wi-th me that ldaho Powerrs
request should be denied, woul-d you please raise your
hand? Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Are there any
follow-up questions?
MR. HOWELL: No questions.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Any from the
Commissi-on? Thank you very much.
(The wltness l-eft the stand.)
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Next we have Leon
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PubIic
Walsh.
LEON WALSH,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testi-fied as fol-l-ows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Mr. Wa1sh, would you state your fuIl name and
spe1l your last for the record, please?
A. Leon Martin Wa1sh, W-a-1-s-h.
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. I'm just a civil- servant.
O. Okay, and are you a customer of Idaho Power?
A. No, frm not.
O. And do you have a statement you'd like to
give?
A. Yes, I do.
O. Pl-ease do so.
A. You know, I don't have the dollars and the
jargon like that or rule or code, but I do have affection
towards Mother Nature, and I think we as a civil-ization,
we as a world, have gone way past the point of caring and
nurturing for the planet that gives us life. I have
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never seen a more beautiful state than Idaho. f've spent
a lot of time in the mountains. I spend a 1ot of time
outdoors, and for me, that's my church, you know, that's
my sanctuary, and I enjoy a1l the little flowers out
there. You know, I enjoy the fish in the stream, seeing
them jump out of a 1itt1e creek.
If we continue taking the trees and fracking
and, you know, dri1I1ng, you know, it's not going to l-ast
1ong. I feel it's a very delicate balance and there's
other countries, there's Denmark, there's Sweden, in
Afrlca they're using solar panels, you know, on a large
sca1e. Everybody is getting wise to it but us and it's
scary, you know, and for me, you know, be the change I
want to see, sure. You know, I grow my own garden. I
bike. I don't buy. I trade. You know, I try to help
slow down the whole destruction and what we're doing,
about what's going on here, but i-t's really frustrating
to see there's nobody catching on.
You know, therer s small communj-ties of us that
do that, that rea1Iy think about the future generations
and instead of big trucks need to haul my food, I'11 grow
my own in my back yard, thank you very much. I want to
cut it down, you know, cut the emissions down. I want to
sl-ow it down so that my grandchildren can climb the same
trees that I enjoy cllmbing and they can swim in the same
CSB REPORTING
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WALSH
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hot springs, and speaking of fossil fuels, f mean, it's
primitive, like we're so past that. We've got thj-s huge
bal-I of energy above us and j-t rises every day and why
aren't we usJ-ng this? Why? For the dol-l-ars, you know,
we've got j-nvestments. What about our kids, you know,
and the grandkids. That's aII I've got. Thanks.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Let's see if there
are any questj-ons from the parties. Any from the
Commission? Thank you very much for coming.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Reed Burkholder.
REED BURKHOLDER,
appearing as a pubIlc witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINAT]ON
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Would you state your name and spe1l your last
name for the record, please?
A. My name is Reed Burkholder,
B-u-r-k-h-o-1-d-e-r .
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. I'm self-employed as a private piano teacher.
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BURKHOLDER
Public
O. Good for you. Are you an Idaho Power
customer?
A. I am.
O. And do you have a statement?
A. I do.
O. Please give it.
A. But I forgot a prop. ffll be right back. f
support 2)-year PURPA contracts for solar and I oppose
reducing solar contracts to two years. The policy change
Idaho Power requests has no societal benefits. We have a
huge fossil fuel problem. This is the Keeling Curve. If
you've never heard of this, just Google it. It's two
"e's," K-e-e-l-i-n-9. This shows the increase in carbon
dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere through time,
beginning 1958 and ending roughly 2075. The
concentrations continue to go up and they cause two
monumental problems.
The first is ocean acidification which will
affect Idaho salmon runs because it's screwing up the
food chain in the ocean, and the second is global
warming, and the solution, dfly seven-year-old can tell-
you what the solution to this problem is, i-t's stop
burning fossil fuel- and turn to 100 percent renewable
energy, primarily solar and wind.
Now, I attended Idaho Power's IRP advisory
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23 BURKHOLDER
Public
council- meetings which took place over the last ten
months. Many people in this room were j-n those meetings.
I see Idaho Power employees. I see members of the
environmental community. I see PUC staff members who
were in those meetings, and I can report that Idaho Power
intends to burn coal- for the next 20 years and Idaho
Power has no plans to buil-d solar for the next 20 years.
The IRP is a 2)-year p1an.
Idaho Power intends to continue to be part of
our fossil fuel problem for the next 20 years, which
means they choose to be on the wrong side they choose
to be on the wrong side of environmental health and the
wrong side of history. You all- probably heard the Pope
had an encyclical that he issued last week. I'm going to
quote from that. We know that technology based on the
high on the use of highly polluting fossil fue1s,
especially coal, needs to be progressively replaced
without delay.
James Hansen, an internatlonally recognized
authority on cl-imate change, says that coal is the single
greatest threat to cj-vilization and all life on our
planet. I own 30 el-ectricity-producing sol-ar panels. I
can cook. I can run computers, TVrs, fans, dny appliance
with sunlight. I can plug in my all-electric car when
the sun is shini-ng. I can go out on the freeway and
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Public
accelerate my 3,400 pound Nissan Leaf to 80 miles an hour
in a matter of seconds and I can do it all- with sunlight
as my power source.
Solar paneJ-s are solid state. They have no
moving parts. They require no maintenance. They just
sit on my roof and turn photons into electricity. It's a
really neat technol-ogy and the energy is free. The
hardware required to capture the energy is subject to the
rul-es of global manufacturing, which includes economies
of scale and learning curves, and we can expect solar to
get cheaper and better, cheaper and better, cheaper and
better. Solar is now cheap, but costs are expected to
drop another 40 percent in the next five years.
Solar can become part of the sol-ution to our
immense fossil fuel problems, but not in Idaho, not if
Idaho Power and the other utilities are granted their
request for two-year PURPA contracts. Two-year contracts
wil-1 make financing solar firms financiaJ-1y unatLractj-ve
and developers wil-l- take their money elsewhere to more
friendly solar states.
We need more renewabl-e energy. We need to
discontinue burning coal- at Jim Bridger, North Va1my, and
Boardman. We need PubIlc Utilities Commission policy
that encourages utility scale so1ar. Now, as you make
policy decisions that support and encourage sol-ar, you
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ORTEGA
Publ-ic
become part of the so1ution and I urge you to deny Idaho
Power's request for two-year solar PURPA contracts.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Are there any
fol-Iow-up questions? Any from the Commission? Thank you
very much, Mr. Burkhol-der.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Anthony Spillane.
MR. SPILLANE: I support the 20 years and not
reducing it to two. I plan on doing a written comment
next week.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you very much.
Let's move to Tyler Ortega.
TYLER ORTEGA,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as fol-l,ows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good evening.
A. Good evening.
O. Could you state your ful-l- name and spe1I your
Iast for the record, please?
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ORTEGA
Public
A. My name is Tyler Ortega, O-r-t-e-g-a.
a. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. f am a I work at the Boise Aj-rport as a
sal-es assocj-ate at the Paradies shops.
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. Of course.
O. And do you have a statement you'd l-ike to give
the Commission?
A. I didn't plan one, so it's going to be a }ittle
i-mpromptu and I could never compare to Mr. Heckler's
wonderful speech. I don't have facts or figures or
anything like that, but what I do have to say is that we
as a species think very short term. Eossll fuels
burning fossil fuels is a short-term solution for a
Iong-term problem. It's very temporary and I know if
fdaho Power, sdy, were to invest in solar power or even
put more emphasis into hydroelectric or combine the two,
whj-ch would be ideal-, profits woul-d slim a little bit
compared to fossil fuels, but maybe !0,15, 20 years down
the line things woul-d begin to balance out. They would
get a Iittle bit more profit, and that's about all- I have
to sdy, just put a littl-e bit more emphasis into it and
maybe one day we'II bal-ance out, because we are kind of
due for a bit of a shift, if you wi11, so, you know, make
sure that three generations down the l-ine will you regret
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Public
your actions even if you won't know it, you know, you
won't be alive.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you, Ty1er.
Are there any foI1ow-up questions for Mr. Ortega? From
the Commission? Thank you very much.
(The witness l-eft the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Debbie Dooley.
DEBBIE DOOLEY,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testif ied as foll-ows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOV'IELL:
O. Would you state your ful-l- name and speII your
last for the record?
A. Debbie Dooley, D-o-o-l-e-y.
O. And ma'am, are you employed?
A. Self-employed.
O. Okay, and are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. No, I'm not.
O. OkaY.
A. I bring you greetings from the State of
Georgia, a very red state of Georgia. I am president of
27
Conservatives for Energy Freedom and Green Tea Coal-ition.
I am not here I know I'm a minority in this room, but
I'm not here to tal-k negatively about fossil fue1. f 'm
here to simply champion free market principJ-es, free
market choice. I bel-ieve that monopolies are the
government's way of picking winners and losers and I
bel-ieve it's an outdated modeI.
With monopolies, they're in a position to stop
competition. They socialize the cost and prof:-Lize the
profit. The ratepayers, the utility customers, are the
ones that bear the risk for any investment they make.
The more an energy source costs the higher profi-t leve1
they make. I am here from the State of Georgia because I
am traveling this nation because I see solar under attack
from these government-created monopol-ies. They're trying
to stop the competition.
I bel-ieve that Republicans I am a lifelong
RepubJ-ican. I've been a sj-nce 7916, Ronald Reagan was
the fj-rst campaign, his presidential- campaign, that T
volunteered on. I've been el-ected a delegate to the
Republican National- Convention in 1998, also in 201,2.
I'm one of the 22 people that actually founded the Tea
Party movement in February of 2009. I am very active
with the Tea Party on a national basis and in Georgia,
and I believe that Republicans shoul-d champion free
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29 DOOLEY
Public
market choice in solar.
In Georgia, a very red state of Georgia, the
governor, lieutenant governor, every statewide
constitutional of f ice is control-l-ed by Republicans. Both
houses of the Georgia legislature are controlled by
Republicans and they al-most have a super majority in both
houses; yet in Georgia, Republicans are leading the way.
The Georgia Publ-ic Service Commission, al-l- Republicans,
started the process of advocating for solar.
I got involved in 2013. I began to look at
solar and a way to provide free market competition and
choice for these government-created monopolies. They're
in a position to stop competition. Imagine Wal*Mart
being able to tell Target you can't move in my territory
and seII in my territory, and they're in that same
position.
I work very hard. I am partnered with some of
the members of the PSC. They're very good friends of
mine that are al-l- Republican and asked them to talk to
Georgia Power and insj-st that Georgia Power add solar in
their integrated resource pIan, and Georgia is different
from Idaho in that both the utility and the Public
Service Commission have to agree on the integrated
resource p1an. We heard push-back from groups that are
funded by fossil- fuel-. They said the lights would go
off , the rates woul-d increase if more sol-ar was added.
More sofar was added. Georgi-a Power agreed to it. They
purchased 525 megawatts of utility grade sol-ar long term,
20 to 30 years, dt 6.5 cents per kil-owatt-hour.
They're buying even more. My rates have not
increased. Recently Ied by a Republican, a right wing
conservative Republican, named Representative Michael-
Dudgeon championed a PPA biIl, which is, you know, a
power purchase agreement for solar. It passed the
Georgi-a legislature, both houses, without one dissenting
vote. Everyone voted for it and something else, Georgia
Power apparently because of a l-ot of grassroots activism
has seen the light in regard to solar. They supported
the bi]I.
Theyrre adding more sol-ar because they found
it's profltable and they supported the PPA bil-l and Tom
Fanning of Southern Company announced a few weeks ago
that Georgia Power because of this PPA b111, they started
touting the value of solar and they announced that they
were going to get into the rooftop solar business,
Georgia Power. They were going to compete. Republ-icans
are leading the way.
I have a big project in Elorida, third-party
sales and leasing bi11, baIlot referendum. We conducted
a poll in October. 14 percent of Republican primary
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voters support solar, and I urge the county commission
I mean the Public Util-ities Commission to deny Idaho
Power's request. They've simply made investments in coal
plants. They're trying to protect their investment.
They're trying to stop competi-tion, and I urge you to
stand up for free market principles and choice. Free
market true conservatives champion free market
competition. They don't protect monopol-ies from
competition.
I appreciate being here. I love Idaho. I
appreciate you guys allowing me to speak and I thank you
very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Do we have any
fol-l-ow-up questions? None from the Commission? Thank
you, Ms. Dooley.
THE WITNESS: Thank you.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: And we'11- cal-l- now
John Weber.
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Publ-ic
JOHN WEBER,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAM]NAT]ON
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good eveni-ng, Mr. Weber. Can you state your
fuII name and spell your last for the record, please?
A. My name is John Weber, W-e-b-e-r, and I am
currently unemployed and I am an Idaho Power customer.
O. Thank you, and do you have a statement you'd
Iike to give the Commission?
A. I do.
O. Please go ahead.
A. Thank you. Thank you for listening to public
comment regarding this case. I've already submitted
written testimony, but woul-d like to add just a few
things. Eirstly, this filing, I believe, is premature.
Currentl-y none of the proposed PURPA sol-ar projects have
been buil-t and at this point we don't know if any will be
buiIt.
Secondly is that of fairness. Idaho Power and
PURPA developers shou1d have the same parameters to
fol-Iow. If the parameters Idaho Power 1s asking the PUC
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Public
to approve for solar were enforced when they had the
Langley Gulch gas plant approved, it would never have
been built because it would not have been able to get
financing because of their requested maximum two-year
contract.
Thirdly is Idaho Power needs this solar
generation now to lock in low costs for customers for the
Iong term. By waiting until after the end of 2016, it
will be much more expensive because of the sun setting of
the federal tax credit. When the Idaho Power 2075 IRP is
submitted to the PUC, I will make comment on how the load
forecast has been tweaked so it appears that ldaho Power
will have surplus power for many years. Of course, this
is an estimate, but I believe the l-oad forecast is
understated. Utility companies can adjust forecast to
show a surplus or deficit depending on growth rates used.
What woul-d happen if Idaho follows California and only
receives six percent of its 30-year average snowpack this
winter? Solar is more predictable annually than hydro.
LastIy, Idaho Power states Idaho Power belj-eves
in a dj-verse generation portfol-io that also utilizes
demand-side management and energy efficiency programs to
meet the needs of its customers. I agree, a diverse and
ba.l-anced generation portfol-1o is in the best interests of
the customers. It just happens that Idaho Power's
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generation portfolio is neither diversified nor bal-anced.
I took the graphs on page 11 of the filing regarding the
five-year average generation mix and have displayed them
in a pie graph. I think you will agree displaying the
same information in different ways shows lack of
diversity and balance, putting al-1 customers at risk.
Any and all solar should be added to this mix
until- the point j-t becomes over 40 percent of the
generation mix. Solar can be expanded past 40 percent at
the point when battery storage is more availabl-e and
affordabl-e. I also took the liberty of designing a
diverse and ba1anced generation portfol-io that is more
reliable, lower carbon, lower water use, and summer
peaking that will- reduce risks for aIl customers.
And this is the first time I've ever brought
props here, but since Idaho Power had these pie graphs in
the filing, I figured it was appropriate that I make
some, toor so this is Idaho Power's fuel- mj-x five-year
average. Almost 85 percent comes from two sources, hydro
and coal, and then 15.2 from other, a little wind, a
1itt1e 9ds, a littl-e other, so i-t's risky, undiverse,
medium carbon and very high water use. You need the
water for the coal and for the hydro and it's a spring
peaking generation mix.
Then I put together an al-ternative fuel- mix.
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CSB REPORTING
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BUNDY
PubIic
If ve got 20 percent wi-nd, 30 percent hydro, 40 percent
solar, ten percent other, which is cogen/biomass five
percent, five percent in geothermal-. This is reli-abIe,
diverse, J-ow carbon, low water use, and suflrmer peaking
generatj-on mix, and I appreciate your time and attention.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Do we have any
questions? None from the Commission? Thank you very
much.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Rebecca Bung.
MS. BUNDY: Bundy.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Bundy. I wasn't even
close.
REBECCA BUNDY,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as fo1lows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you state your fuII name and spelJ- your
Iast for the record, please?
A. Rebecca Bundy, B-u-n-d-y.
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
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A. I'm employed at the City of Ketchum as a senior
planner and the manager of building and development.
O. And I assume you're an Idaho Power customer,
then?
A. I am.
O. And do you have a statement you'd like to
give?
A. I do.
O. Pl-ease do so.
A. I'm here representing the City of Ketchum and
these views are also my own. The City of Ketchum has set
goals for energy efficiency for 100 percent renewable
energy by 2030 and for energy resiliency. I am the
former owner of one of the first grid-tied photovol-taic
systems in Idaho Power's region. Vrle installed that in
2002, along with a sol-ar thermal system and Irm well
aware of the advantages of solar power.
We lived in a passj-ve solar home that was
heated and cooled by the sun, generated our domestic hot
water with soIar, and generated about 50 percent of our
e.l-ectricity with solar. I feel that as renewabl-e energy
technology j-mproves and as fossil- fuel- technol-ogies
contj-nue to contribute to greenhouse gases and as
regulations make fossil fuel-s more expensive and as hydro
power becomes less reliabl-e due to drought and silting
BUNDY
Publ-ic
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BUNDY
Publ-ic
behind the dams, it's imperative that we look to cl-ean
technologies to replace the former aging power production
facilities.
Idaho Power's request for two-year PURPA terms
essentially thwarts the federal 1aw. fnstead of relying
on the mechanism for avoi-ded cost combined with term
lengths, Idaho Power is requesting to require that
investors in renewabl-e energy bear a burden the Power
Company woul-d never agree to in its power purchasing
agreements. 20-year terms are necessary for j-nvestor
surety and the proper regulatory tool shou1d be avoided
cost combined with the term.
Our state is blessed with clean renewable
resources that we should be embracing. Locally generated
renewable energy will help preserve our exquisitely
beautiful- environment, ds well- as contributing to our
economy by generating jobs here in ldaho. I request that
the PUC deny Idaho Power's request and that the PURPA
terms are l-eft at 20 years. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Do we have any
follow-up questions? None from the Commission? Thank
you very much for your testimony.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Let's see if I can
get this one right, Kerrin McGill?
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McCALL
Public
MS. McCALL: McCal-l-.
KERR]N McCALL,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good eveni-ng. Could you state your name and
speIl your l-ast name for the record, please?
A. My name is Karen McCall and my name is spelled
M-c-C-a-l--l-.
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. I'm self-employed. f'm an artist.
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. Yes.
O. And do you have a statement?
A. I do.
O. Pl-ease give it.
A. As a member of the Ketchum Energy Advisory
Committee, the Wood Rj-ver Electrical Planned Community
Advisory Committee, and the Wood River Valley Renewabl-e
Energy Working Group, I've been involved with fdaho Power
energy issues for over five years. In January 2014,
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McCALL
Public
Idaho Power formed the Energy
to design a renewable energy
River Va11ey.
Our team, including Bi1
Sagebrush Solar, worked for over
with Idaho Powerfs staff and the
Working Group specifically
pilot project in the Wood
ly Mann of Ketchum-based
a year in collaboration
fuII awareness of CEO
Darrel Anderson to p1an, locate, and negotiate terms for
a community solar project in Ohio Gulch between Hailey
and Ketchum. In January of this year , 20L5, Idaho Power
blindsided our year-1ong efforts with their PUC filing to
l-imit PURPA contracts from 20 years to two years, maki-ng
it impossible to secure financing for the very project
Idaho Power brought us to the table to design and
implement.
When asked why did Idaho Power even begin talks
with us and then bring our efforts to an abrupt halt with
the PURPA filing, the response from the Company was we
didn't see a1l- this solar coming. It's remarkabl-e that
the electric utility with the supposed expertise and
responsibility for our state's energy future does not
have the foresight to see what is obvious to anyone even
slightly following the rapid rise of the solar industry
worldwide.
Idaho Power's filing to change the rules that
enable cfean energy development right when clean energy
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McCALL
Publ-ic
is absol-utely critical to our staters economic and
environmental- future is not only shortsighted, but unfair
to independent energy developers, making it impossible
for them to compete with util-ities building and financing
their own projects with 20-year contracts. Buying
Idaho's independent cl-ean energy brings investment and
job creation to our communities. Currently $35 million a
year leaves the Wood River Va11ey to pay for energy
generated out of state. This hurts the local economy and
contributes to climate disruption and environmental
degradation.
You've heard many of the arguments and your
guidelines suggest that they are not to be repeated by
everyone offerj-ng testimony; yet it must be stressed that
when local efforts for resilient energy production are
thwarted by short-term contracts, meaning contract terms
under 20 years, then local- jobs, tax base, energy
self-relj-ance, and security are being ignored in favor of
the environmentally disruptive energy sources, record
corporate profits, record executive sal-aries, and
sharehol-der dividends.
Idaho Power's participation in disruptive
energy includes coal, natural gas, and what the Company
refers to as their renewable resource, hydro; however,
energy and water are inextricably intertwined. This
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McCALL
PubIic
consideration is critical when making rulings for the
drought-ridden West's energy future. The task of
generating electricity is responsible for nearly 52
percent of surface fresh water withdrawal. 40 percent of
that withdrawal is used to cool power plants.
Consider the following statistics concerning
water use by power plants. Coal uses 1,100 gallons of
water per megawatt-hour. Natural- gas uses 300. Sol-ar
uses zero. Energy production and distribution strain our
limited water resources.
Now, consider another energy water issue.
Idaho 1s fortunate to have hydropower. Although
essentially carbon free, dams cause significant damage to
anadromous fish, natural- river flow, and water
temperature. Continuing to burn climate disruptive coal-
is decreasing snowpack and increasing drought which
reduces hydropower. This causes more coal to be burned
emitting more carbon and usj-ng more water. This cycle
can only be mitigated with sofar.
The energy, water environment nexus is a
particularly critical- component to decisions made by the
PUC concernj,ng the future of renewable energy production
in our state. It is my perspective that the PUC and
Idaho Power have an ethical- responsibllity to open all
pathways to providing clean, water tol-erant, and
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
42 McCALL (Com)
Publ-ic
environmentally responsible electriclty to the residents
of Idaho.
The solar advanced energy systems era is here.
Idaho Power needs to reinvent its business model and
embrace the inevitable powerful- movement to clean energy.
To preserve a secure future for generations to come, the
IPUC should l-isten to residents of our state, not so1ely
the interests of a utility clinging to an antiquated
paradigm.
With that said, I'm handing over to the
Commission a petition titled, "Promote, don't smother
Idaho's Clean Energy Future." As the PUC considers the
public's input in their decision making process, I'm
certaj-n you will gratefully receive 1,000 signatures of
Idaho residents who support solar energy development.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: And l-et's see if
there are any questions.
EXAMINAT]ON
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
0. I only have one foIIow-up, Ms. McCall. What
was the proposed sj-ze of the project you were looking at
in the Ketchum area?
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-5198
43 JONES
PubIic
A. The full size of the project was 8.5
megawatts.
COMMISSIONER K,JELLANDER: Okay, thank you. Are
there any other questions from the Commission? Thank you
very much.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: I actually think Irve
got this next name, Diane Jones.
DIANE JONES,
appearing as a public witness, havi-ng been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good evening.
A. Good eveni-ng.
O. Could you state your fulI name and spell your
last for the record?
A. Diane Jones, J-o-n-e-s.
O. And are you employed?
A. I'm self-employed and I am an Idaho Power
customer.
O. And do you have a statement for the
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CSB REPORTING
(208 ) B9o-s198
44 JONES
PubIic
Commission?
A. I do.
O. Please give it.
A. I own and run a smal-l- plant nursery, which
means that I spend a great deal- of time outdoors and so
perhaps that makes me more sensitive than a l-ot of people
to gIobal cl-imate change. As I see not only do I
suffer in the heat out there, but I see the season of my
plants moving forward every year earl-ier. Everything is
earli-er and earlier every year. I truly hope that the
reality of global climate change among the leadership of
Idaho Power Company and also the Public Util-ities
Commissj-on is not a matter of controversy. I think it's
very clear that we are in an extremel-y dire situation,
and as, you know, humani-tyr we need to do whatever we can
to try to halt it or slow it down.
I'm an Idaho Power customer three times over
because I pay three biIIs, one for my home and two for
irrigation on my smal-I farm, and I do get pretty cranky
when I think about the fact that every time I pay a bill
I am paying for electricity that is generated using dirty
fossil- fuel, burning coal.
I do hope that you as members of the Public
Utilities Commj-ssion wil-l- make your decision on this
matter with due regard to the best public good, and I
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
CHRISTENSEN
Publi-c
woul-d suggest that the highest public good in this case
is to deny this shortening of contracts and to try to do
what is in your power to stabll-ize the sol-ar market and
j-ncrease our use as the customers of clean energy, not
dirty energy. Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Let's see if there
are any follow-up questions. And none from the
Commission. Thank you for your comments and testimony
this evening.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Aimee Christensen.
AIMEE CHRISTENSEN,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as fol-l-ows:
EXAM]NATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
a. Could you state your ful-l- name and spe11 your
last for the record, please?
A. Aimee Chri-stensen, C-h-r-i-s-t-e-n-s-e-n. You
might want to al-so know my first name is spelled
A-i-m-e-e because most people donrt get that one either.
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
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CHR]STENSEN
Public
A. I am. I'm the founder and CEO of Christensen
Global Strategies. Irm also the executive dj-rector of
the Sun Val1ey Institute for Resilience.
O. And you're an Idaho Power customer?
A. I am.
O. And do you have a statement for the
Commission?
A. I do.
O. Please give it.
A. So I'm speaking to you in my personal capacity.
Werve had sol-ar on our family homes since the 1970's j-n
Californj-a and since approximately 1989, 7990, almost
continuously here j-n Idaho. I've also spent my
20-pIus-year career advising governments and major
corporations on energy and environmental strategy,
incl-uding Google, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Duke
Energy.
f'm speaking to you as a business and
government strategist. I moved home five years ago to
B1aine County, and f've been distressed to see Idaho
missi-ng the greatest opportunity in the world and that is
of home grown renewable energy. There is a worldwide
race and Idaho could be at the front of the pack and
instead j-t's lagging.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance's 2030 outl-ook is
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compellj-ng. Look at solar, oo other energy sector will
grow 10 times in the next 15 to 20 years. Wind will-
double. Fossil- fuels will faII to l-ess than hal-f of
total- power capacity globally as they already have in the
Unlted States. Sol-ar is a $150 bil-l-ion industry
worldwide. China is not only No. 1 in new investment in
renewabl-e energy, No. 1 in new sol-ar PV and solar thermal
capacity, and No. I in total renewable energy capacity,
but China's new renewable power capacity surpassed new
fossil- fuel and nuclear capacity for the first time last
year.
Who is the largest buyer of sol-ar in the United
States? The Pentagon. Who is the second largest?
Wal*Mart. Wal-*Mart is about the bottom line. China is
about their economy and their stability. Sol-ar is cheap
and i-t's a smart investment creating hiqh quality jobs
around the world. Independent cl-ean energy keeps costs
low and people want it and we can have it here in Idaho.
A report rel-eased today found that utilities
across the country are vastly underestimating the value
that solar power offers the electric system, including
reduced capital investment costs, avoided energy costs,
and reduced environmental- compliance costs.
If you had an industry that is creating jobs at
10 to 20 ti-mes the pace of the rest of the U.S. economy
CSB REPORTING
(208 ) 890-s198
CHRISTENSEN
Public
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
CHRISTENSEN
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with salaries at 20 percent higher than median salary of
our national economy and our state had a competitive
advantage in it, wouldnrt we want to capitalize on it?
That is the case of sol-ar. According to the U.S.
Department of Energy, Idaho has the same solar insulation
as North Fl-orida and only 10 percent less than Texas.
It can create good quality jobs in Idaho. It
can beneflt farmers, ds the farmers in places like
Georgia have found and are huge advocates of sol-ar in
Georgla. In discussions with farmers in Blaine County,
we have found that we can pay them up to two times,
perhaps more, what they're making from agricultural crops
to l-ease their l-and for solar, and we were in the process
of negotiating those deals at the time that this filing
occurred.
It is a huge opportunity and it also addresses
the potentj-a1 risks associated with reduced water
availability to those farmers. In Blaine County we have
just had a call by the senior water rights owners against
the junior rights owners, including the municipal-ities,
so we are right now facing these water challenges and
sofar can benefit these farmers when we need it most.
It can also benefit Idaho ratepayers as the
report showed earlier today that I mentioned. Itrs a
price risk reductj-on versus the volatility from gas and
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CSB REPORTING
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49 CHRISTENSEN
Public
other fuel prices, including coal. ft's also a strategic
opportunity right now because of EPA's clean power rul-es
under the Clean Air Act, 111 (d) section. Under that,
Idaho could provide renewabl-e energy, export it to states
like Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and el-sewhere to help
them meet their cfean power plant rule requirements. We
could export our renewable energy and make money for
Idaho.
Itrs a strategic opportunity for Idaho and
we're missi-ng it because of this proposed rule change. I
believe the utility is forestal-1ing the future rather
that preparing for it and finding a way to profit from
it. Idaho Power can as other util-ities are showingr we
heard about Southern Company and the subsidiary Georgia
Power, and it's about offering consumers what they want
and these investor-owned utilities around the country are
showing Idaho Power how they can do that, meet our
consumers and what people want and also keep prices low
and find a business opportunity for the utility.
Itrs also about offeri-ng large power users what
they want. Who are the large power users? They aren't
the large power users of the past. They're the Googles,
the Microsofts, the Apples, and these companies are al-I
committed to getting 100 percent renewable energy. Where
are they going? Not to Idaho. Apple is already at 91
percent renewable energy. They are pursuing Iarge scale
solar purchases in California, among other places.
Microsoft is doing biogas and wind power in Wyoming and
Il-Iinois. We need to attract these companies to Idaho
and they want 100 percent renewable energy, not a grid
mix of 40 percent coal-.
I spent the past 15 months in the Wood River
Valley Renewable Energy Working Group with Idaho Power to
work together to find a way to bring 100 percent
renewable energy to our
strengthen their green
it more credible, more
power users would want
We also were honing in
community. I helped Idaho Power
power purchase offering by making
robust so that more corporate
to buy from that virtual solution.
on a jolnt project, the community
solar project that Kerrin McCal1 mentj-oned. Although
that effort has been undermined by this filing, that's
the kind of approach we should be taking going forward.
I agree with Mr. Heckler who first spoke that
we need to get together and find an approach that al-Iows
Idaho to capitalize on its solar opportunity, allows
competition, to find the least cost, highest val-ue
resource for our ratepayers, for farmers, for the state
economy growing the tax base and strategically we need to
find a way forward that enables solar, enables
competitlon, and Idaho Power has the opportunity to be
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Public
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part of this new business opportunity, and I thj-nk that
they are brj-nging risk upon themselves and their
investors and they're hurting ratepayers in the near term
and the long term, and the PUC, though, you need to help
them get there.
As we have seen the PUCs have done in other
states l-ike Georgia and New Jersey and New York and
Cal-ifornia is they have with the utillty helped guide
them towards this new busi-ness opportunity, not allowed
them to reduce the power purchase agreement lengths, not
al-Iowed them to maintain the status euo, but helped push
them out of the nest into the future to create the new
business opportunities that they can take advantage of
and that can benefit ldaho. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Are there any
foIlow-up questions? None from the Commission? Thank
you.
THE WITNESS: Thank you very much.
(The witness l-eft the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: We'11 call Bi11y
Mann.
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
MANN
Publ-1c
BILLY MANN,
appearing as a public witness, havj-ng been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you state your ful-I name for the record
and speII your last?
A. Bi1ly Mann, William Mann, M-a-n-n.
O. And Mr. Mann, are you employed and 1n what
capacity?
A. Irm the president and founder of Sagebrush
Solar in Ketchum.
0. And you're an Idaho Power customer?
A. I am.
O. And do you have a statement you'd like to
give?
A. Yes, s j-r.
O. Please do so.
A. Thank you, so my company, Sagebrush So1ar,
we've installed about 70 percent of the solar systems in
Blaine County combined. A11 of our systems generate
about 2.3 megawatt-hours a year. Throughout 2014 and
into early 2015, I was a member of the Wood River Valley
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MANN
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Renewabl-e Energy Working Group, a group formed by Idaho
Power to explore renewable energy opportunities in the
val-Iey and to put economically viabl-e renewabl-e energy
projects in the ground.
Through this group, I came to spearhead the
development of a community solar farm. Phase one was
two-and-a-half megawatts and ultimately growing it out to
50 acres, 8.5 megawatts, out on basj-caIIy usel-ess Idaho
Department of Land land out by our county dump. fn
addition to meeting our short-term goals of the fdaho
Power group, the project was meant to make strides
towards our longer term community goals of creating a
more resilient local- energy system and a strong local
economy for future generations.
With a two-year power purchase agreement term,
it will- effectively disable local- communities to strive
toward these goals and work towards, you know, their own
interests. As an investment opportunity availabl-e only
to Blaine County residents, the project aimed to bolster
the local economy by keeping our energy dollars in the
valley. With Idaho Powerrs current PPA rate, the project
breaks even 1n about 10 years. Obviously with a two-year
PPA term, the project wil-l- never fIy.
There's been a bunch of articl-es on the project
in local, state, and national- publications. We've
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received nothing but overwhel-mingly positive response.
The comments have covered the full- spectrum from
environmental- to resil-ient to economic. Regardless of
philosophical- view or political bent, the project has
created a sense of optimism that things are finally
heading in the right direction. Thls project would be a
real contribution to our community and to our local-
economy and our state and it would be a devastating loss
if the PUC approves the two-year term.
Despite the positive spin from varlous sources
regarding our i-ocal- economy, it's pretty rough. The
number of jobs are down. Unemployment is up. Retail
sales are flat, and business numbers are decreasing. As
companies like Scott USA, Smith Optics pack up and leave
the Wood River Valley, it will be up to emerging markets
like solar to pick up the sIack, and at this critical-
point in development of the l-ocal- and state sol-ar market,
this project would give the market and our l-ocal- economy
a much needed boost.
Green Tech Media Research has identified
community as the next largest sol-ar growth market in the
United States. Over the past two years or over the next
two years, community solar in the U.S. is posed to see
its market size increase seven-fold. Does the PUC want
to be responsj-b1e for excluding Idahoans from this
MANN
Public
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enormous growth sector and the l-ocaI and state benefits
that extend far beyond simply protecting the status quo?
Instead of killing the development of sol-ar in our state,
I urge you to keep the PURPA PPA term at 20 years. Thank
you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Are there any
foll-ow-up questions? And none from the Commission.
Thank you for your testimony.
(The witness l-eft the stand.)
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Greg Ol-son.
GREG OLSON,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as folfows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Would you state your fu11 name and speII your
l-ast name for the record, please?
A. My name is Greg Olson, O-l-s-o-n.
O. And Mr. Olson, are you employed and in what
capacity?
A. I am the owner with my wife of Blue Lightning,
LLC.
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o.
A.
o.
And are you an Idaho Power customer?
I am.
And do you have a statement you'd like to
give?
A. I do.
O. Please do so.
A. Thank you. My informatJ-on, I think, will touch
on what a l-ot of these other people have worked on. My
mom was a Democrat and my dad was a Republican, but I'm
going to speak more to my work as a business owner here
in Idaho. I was in the military in aviation electronics
in the Navy; worked for Hewlett-Packard for on and off
nearly 20 years and eventually came into sol-ar because I
was tired of products that are obsol-ete in three years
and broken in five.
Our business since we became an LLC i-n 2070 has
nearly doubl-ed each year. Werre at the point where my
wife and I are about as busy as we can be without
bringing more people on staff. One of our specialties is
we make large sol-ar arrays where the roof itsel-f is the
solar panels. We did a greenhouse in Council that the
front glass of the greenhouse is also all of the
production, el-ectrical- production, for that home.
Our own house five years aqo had 225 watt
panels installed and they were just under $1,000 a paneI.
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I can now get 400 watt panels for $400. I think it goes
without saying that this industry is going to grow. I
personally am wel-I employed because of it and look to
bring on other people.
Every time Idaho Power has done an action
similar to this, our customer growth flatl-ined for in
many cases months afterwards until, for exampler- the next
sprj-ng when things pick up again. We potential-Iy would
have brought on employees last year, except that the net
metering issue with Idaho Power was brought up and that
sl-owed us down for quite awhil-e.
My wife has an al-l--el-ectri-c Rav 4. We have an
a1l-electric truck for our business that's a daily
drj-ver. It's saving us $200 a month in gas alone. It's
been the best purchase we've ever done. Our business is
going to keep growing; however, if Idaho Power is abl-e to
Iimit sol-ar in this state as this contract limitation
would do, we expect that our customers will eventually
dwindle to off-grid only and other applications where it
only makes sense.
For example, right now I can get clear back
solar panels and install- them cheaper than skylights, so
you could build the roof of your house, add skylights and
col-lect electricity in the process, and I can get a 400
watt panel for around $400. A skylight is between 450
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and $650 for a similar*sj-zed unit. That's a growth
opportunity there. I would like to be abl-e to keep
growing and I think that along with what everybody else
has presented here, there's a lot of opportunity to do
that, but, again, if f am not able to activate large
contracts with businesses, then basicall-y my customer
base dwi-ndles to homeowners and off grid, and just as a
side example, we've talked with customers in remote
Iocations, for example, near Stanley, some of the areas
around Grand Jean, things l-ike that, where some of these
businesses are expending a third of their diesel in
transporting their diesel- up to their location.
There's a legitimate argument for promoting
solar and getting the rural state that we are both more
reliable and potentially generating income off of your
home, your smal-l- business, your property rather than it
being purely an income drain, because you're now actually
producing work off of the sun that is hitting your own
surface area.
Riqht now our primary bottleneck in growing i-s
customers' ability to access funding. That is the main
thing. Homeowners cannot just come up with 30 or $40,000
at the drop of a hat, but we are looking at installations
now that coul-d be under $20,000, where even three years
ago I would not quote things under $301000. Wefre
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looking at potential five-year or l-ess payback for
customers. Again, funding is whatrs shutting them down.
Larger projects which only make sense,
especi-ally when you have buildings with hundreds of
square feet of surface area to provide electrical
productj-on, won't get funded if you can only do a
two-year future, and I guess Irm going to stumble a
litt1e bit here, so I'l-l- just say two years is not enough
for a bank to back things. 20 years is reasonable
because we're looking at 25- and 3O-year warranties on
solar modul-es, potential SO-year production for these
units.
If they're getting payback in five years,
thatrs 45 potential years of pure profitr so I urge you
guys to l-ook at that sort of situation, understand that
businesses l-ike mine wil-l- grow if we can get customers
that can get funding, and the present consideration on
the tabl-e would at the very least stlfl-e that, if not
shut it down, and that's what f have.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you. Are there
any fol-l-ow-up questions? None from the Commission?
Thank you.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Brian Eormusa.
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FORMUSA
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BRIAN FORMUSA,
appearing as a public witness, havj-ng been first duly
sworn, testif ied as f ol-l-ows:
EXAMINATTON
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you state your name and spe1l your last
for the record, please?
A. My name is Brian Formusa, F-o-r-m-u-s-a.
O. And Mr. Eormusa, are you employed and in what
capacity?
A. I'm a consul-tj-ng engineer.
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. I am.
O. And do you have a statement you'd like to give
to the Commission?
A. I do, thank you. This is only about a
page-and-a-ha1f, So I'11 read s1ow1y, but I'I1 try to
engage appropriately. As an Idaho consulting engineer, a
solar system engineer, for the last 34 years and having
been involved in most of the larger sofar projects in
Blaine County and elsewhere formerly, I'm well- versed in
the technical and economic issues regarding solar
development. In addition, over the l-ast year, from l-ast
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February of 2074 up until about March of this year, I was
meeting with Idaho Powerrs representatj-ves, technical and
advisory representatives, about a hal-f a dozen of them,
on a monthl-y basis and we were lnterested in working
together with the community group and exploring
generation, l-ocal- renewab1e planning as part of a
steering committee.
As a result of that, I've been privy to many of
the technj-cal arguments that you will hear as part of
this hearing. You'11 hear about base loading and peak
power generation, the planning associated with that, the
duck curve which is about, you know, over-generation
risk, the challenges of integrating solar energy onto the
grid and into their load profiles, and other salient
topics that they'11 present.
In short, I understand Idaho Power's point of
view as an engineer, dS a technical analyst regarding
energy projects. That's mostfy what I do for a living is
energy projects, energy conservatj-on projects, and I
understand their desire to limit the uptake of sol-ar
generation, of future sol-ar generation; however, the
existing Idaho Power structure of vetting and pricing for
potential solar projects is rea1ly more than adequate as
is. It does not require an overarching ruling that woul-d
basicall-y eliminate the consideration of any future bid
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FORMUSA
Public
or large scale solar or PURPA project.
To be fair, any developer of any energy
resource requires long-term pricing arrangements. The
need for limiting the rate term or renegotiating every
two years is certainly not part of Idaho Powerrs or any
utility's pricing negotiation structure. Eor any power
generation project, whether it be coaI, 9ds turbine,
wi-nd, sol-ar, you know, long-term pricing structures are
part and parcel for the financial planning, and I urge
the Commission to explore whether PURPA 2)-year contracts
are indeed risky business for customers or it's simply
business as usual.
The avoided cost procedures that Idaho Power is
using incl-ude, you know, long-term planning methods,
detail-ed cost for grid integratJ-on, and various other
costs for integrating this additional- PURPA capacity. As
a result of that, they develop, you know, pricing
structures that determine whether or not it meets thei-r
avoided cost, you know, strategy, much like the first
testimonial explaj-ned, the curve; in other words, the
avoj-ded cost model- works. It is basically a good vetting
procedure. It's reaI1y not in the best interests of the
public for the PUC to ecli-pse potential low-cost rel-iabl-e
power generation strategies whatever they might be.
PV solar is a fast-evolving industry with
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increasingly competltive costs. Utility compensation
strategies to eliminate any adverse solar generation
effects on the grid are well understood and stiIl
progressing quite rapidly. If sol-ar generat.ion
opportunities develop such as the avoided cost is far
below fossil fuel alternatives, then Idaho Power should
have an open door to these sol-utions. Otherwise, other
utilities will reap these benefits and Idaho Power
customers woul-d miss out on potential l-ower energy costs.
In the PUC's rol-e as economic regulators,
there's a duty to keep these PURPA options open and
integrate l-ow-cost power strategies when Idaho Power's
exj-stj-ng avoided cost analysj-s proves that that
generation is available. I believe that reducing the
PURPA term to two years is an unnecessary rel-ief from the
technical challenge or burden of integrating additional
low-cost sol-ar or PURPA capacity and it may be that Idaho
Power simply needs to work a l-ittle harder. Idaho
Powerrs current planning, vetting, and pricing practices
are more than adequate at this time. They do not need
additional PUC protection from sol-ar or other future
power generation opportunities.
One l-ast point. As public economic stewards,
the PUC may want to consider the potential- cost of
defending an unpopular decision. Undermining such a high
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profile federa1 statute such as PURPA is possibly an
unwarranted legaI liability. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Are there any
fol-Iow-up questions? None? Thank you for your testimony
tonight.
THE WITNESS: Thank you.
(The witness l-eft the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Sierra White.
SIENNA WH]TE,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you st.ate your ful-l- name and spell your
last for the record, please?
A. Yes. It is Sienna White, sorry my handwriting
was kind of messy, S-i-e-n-n-a W-h-i-t-e.
O. And are you employed?
A. No yes, I am, sorry, I just got a job.
O. And what is the job?
A. I am an intern at a solar energy company.
O. Cool, and are you an Idaho Power customer?
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A. I am.
O. And do you
the Commission?
have a statement you'd l-ike to give
A. Yes, I do.
o.
A.so much for allowing
is Sienna and thisthe public to speak today. My name
year along with one other student from ldaho, I was
selected to represent the state as a 20L5 presj-dential-
schol-ar. The Department of Education hosted me and two
students from across the nati-on in every other state this
weekend in Washington, D.C. After talking to other
students from across America and my representatives in
D.C. who are working diligently to represent the state, I
was definitely assured of the fact that this is a very
special place indeed. Let's keep it that way.
As time goes on and 20 years becomes tomorrow,
I find it increasj-ngfy and absolutely crucial to endorse
clean energy and at the bare minimum to be courageous and
thoughtful in investing in our future. The presented
Iogic of current fuII capacity reducing the need for
renewable energy l-oses coherence in the long run.
Shortening PURPA contracts by a factor of 10 easily
creates i-ncentj-ves for utilities to fill- capacitj-es with
fossil fuel-s and effectively preempt renewabl-e
Please go ahead.
Thank you, and thank you
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developers.
This chain reaction sets us on a very dangerous
and, at least to me, terrifying path. When it comes to
risk management, do not forget the irrevocabl-e
consequences of favoring fossil- fuel-s over cl-ean energy.
This fal-l-, in a couple of months, I am about to leave for
school- in California, a state whose tax incentives and
state tariffs for renewable energy far outweighs Idaho.
I'm really going to miss Idaho and I do believe we are
better than California by massive margi-ns. f 'm going to
miss the foothills and the Sawtooths, everything that
makes this state so special- and I will miss the people
and its potatoes.
I urge the Commission to ensure this is a state
we can continue to be proud of. Moving forward we are
presented here today with an opportunity to be leaders
and I real1y hope we take it. This is not an issue of
compromise. 10-year contracts will- not work, nor wil-l-
five, and certainl-y not two.Please allow Idaho to grow
and prove its commitment to its mountains and its
forests, its air and its rivers, but, most importantly,
its future and its chil-dren. Reject this motj-on to
reduce PURPA contracts. Thank you so much
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank
Are there any fo1Iow-up questions? Thank
you, Sienna.
you again for
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ALLEN
Public
your testimony. Is this your second appearance at the
Commission?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Good to see you
agafn.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Mickey Reynolds.
MR. REYNOLDS: I'm going to pass.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you, Mickey.
Edwina A1len.
EDWINA ALLEN,
appearing as a public wj-tness, having been first duJ-y
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good evening. Could you state your fuII name
and spell- your last for the record, please?
A. Edwina Al-l-en, A-1-1-e-n.
0. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. I am retired.
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. I am.
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O. And do you have a statement you'd like to
give?
A. I do.
O. Pl-ease do so.
A. Thank you. I l-ive in Idaho and I'm concerned
about cl-imate change. I'm grateful for the opportunity
to be here this evening to urge you to embrace Idaho as
being part of the sol-ution for climate change by
supporting investments in sofar energy under PURPA. The
PUC is charged with promoting the heal-th and safety of
Idaho citizens and moving our sources of electricity
generation from dlrty carbon dioxide-producing fossil
fuels l-ike coal- to clean sol-ar energy is a critical part
of fulfilling this mission.
Locally produced solar energy is good for our
economy, providing jobs here rather than sending our
ratepayer dol-l-ars to support coal plants in Nevada and
Wyoming. I urge you to keep the contract length offered
under PURPA for independent power producers at 20 years.
Just as Idaho Power Company finances its infrastructure
investments over the long term, solar power investors
need to have a reasonabl-e time period to recoup their
investments. A two-year contract is just not realistic
as a business model-.
Investing in sol-ar power gives us certainty in
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future costs. Sunshine is free now and will remain so.
Sol-ar is a good fit for Idaho's energy needs which peak
on the hottest summer days. With expensive new
regulations on pollution from coal plants expected soon,
now is the time to begin moving toward cl-ean, economical-
sol-ar energy. f 'm excited that right here in Idaho we
can be part of the solution to reduce carbon dioxide
emiss j-ons and it's a winning st.rategy economically and
environmentally. Thank you for this opportunity to
testify.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Do we have any
fol-Iow-up questions? Thank you for your testimony this
evening.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Pam Conley.
PAM CONLEY,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testif ied as fol-lows:
EXAMTNATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you state your ful-l name and spell your
last for the record?
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Public
A.
O.
A.
My name is
And are you
f 'm a civil
Pam Conley, C-o-n-l--e-y.
employed and in what capacity?
servant. I'm a cartographic
technician.
O. And are
A. I am.
O. And do
the Commission?
you an Idaho Power customer?
you have a statement you'd like to give
A. I do.
O. Pl-ease go ahead.
A. Commissioners, thanks for this opportunity to
comment on this proposal. I request that you deny the
Idaho el-ectric uti.l-ities' request to shorten the length
of the PURPA contracts. These producers should get the
same deal- as other producers, like coal plants and the
gas plant. We need to get off fossil- fuels now. As we
have al-I heard, we're kind of in a dire situation and
iL's time to do something about it, and j-t's really
within your power to be the fol-ks that can make that
happen. The shortened contracts would stymie renewable
power at a time when we need j-t more than ever and so
please don't let this happen, because we don't want to
squash solar in Idaho.
We have so much sun. I mean, I'm on my bike
every day and itrs getting hotter and hotter. It would
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77 MORRIS
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be great to put that sun to good use. Idaho Power says
that they donrt need the power and I wou1d say let's use
the sofar. Let's take out the dams, help the fish, get
rid of the coal plants, turn on the gas plant maybe when
they need it, but sol-ar should be our first resource and
maybe this will push the electric util-lties in that
direction. That's it. Any questions?
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you. Do we
have any foIIow-up questions? None? Thank for your
testimony tonight.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Caroline Morris.
CAROLINE MORRTS,
appearing as a public witness, having been fj-rst duly
sworn, testif ied as fol1ows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Good evening.
A. Good evening.
O. Could you state your fuIl name and spe1l your
last for the record, please?
A. My name is Caroline Morrj,s and my last name is
l_
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spelled M-o-r-r-i-s.
O. And are you employed?
A. I am retired.
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. I am, but I use solar panels and so I pay them
as l-ittle as possible.
O. Good for you. Please glve the Commissj-on your
statement.
A. Thank you. I previously submitted a written
statement, so I'm going to abbreviate my comments. I do
urge the PUC to deny Idaho Power's request to reduce the
contract length to two years. I belleve the PUC should
not change its rules and should continue the 2)-year term
for PURPA projects. Idaho Power benefits when it does
long-term construction projects by having long-term
financing, usually for the duration of the project, and I
bel j-eve that energy sal-es people deserve the same deal-.
This would encourage solar power projects that would
contribute to local economies, and the solar power
neither pollutes the air nor warms the climate.
A point that no one el-se has raised which I
woul-d like to raise is the PUC Commissioners are
appointed by the Governor. Every year ldaho Power gives
the Governor a $5r000 donation and last year for the 201,4
re-election campaign, Idaho Power executives contributed
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HOEENAGELS
Public
$10,000 to his campaign, so I urge the Commissj-oners to
show their independence and l-ack of bias in making this
decision free of political infl-uence. Thank you for the
opportunity to comment.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Do we have any
follow-up questions? None from the Commission? Thank
you for your testimony.
(The witness l-eft the stand.)
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: We will now call
JuI j-e Hoefnagels.
JUL]E HOEFNAGELS,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you state your ful-l- name and spell your
l-ast for the record, please?
A. My name is Julie Hoefnagels and it's spelled
H-o-e-f-n-a-g-e-1-s .
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. Yes, I work as a self-employed transl-ator i-n
the hospitals and the justice system and the school
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HOEFNAGELS
Public
O. And are you an Idaho Power customer?
A. I am.
O. Do you have a statement you'd l-ike to glve the
Commissi-on?
A. Yes, f do.
system.
o.
A.
Please go ahead.
I'1I be reading this just to keep it as cl-ear
as possible and I'l-1 be as quick as I can. First of all,
thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. I
reaIly appreciate it. There have been increasingfy hiqh
profile voices that have come out recently pointing to
global warming and climate change as the greatest dangers
facing our world; among them, the Pentagon, Pope Francis,
and the head of the EPA.
In addition, there have been a growing number
of wel-1-researched and wel-l--written books on cl-imate
change and energy outlooks for the future. I'11 name
just two because they're so outstanding and worth
reading: This Chanqes Everything, by Naomi Kl-ein, and
that details the reasons there's so much foot-dragging
towards making changes for the future; and Six Degrees,
by Mark Lynas, which detail-s what l-ife w1l-I be l-ike in a
hotter, more polluted worId, and I'd recommend those to
anyone interested.
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HOEFNAGELS
Public
A11 my reading points me to the need to stop
pumping more carbon into the air and water and to find
clean renewable sources of energy. For years naysayers
have claimed that renewables aren't enough for the
world's energy needs, but there's a growing number of
impressive and sometj-mes surprising places where sol-ar in
particular is a solution and providing a large share of
needed energy.
The most prominent examples that f have are not
in places with sunny climates. They're in Germany, which
j-s making huge investments in renewabl-es in solar;
Denmark, which is planning to use only renewabl-es by the
year 2030; and one more surprising example, Seattle
Pacific Tower, which is a completely self-sustaining
smart building in one of the rainiest cities in our
country.
I think some people have been touting fracking
and natural gas as a better sol-ution. They think itrs
more realistic, but some whol-e states, New York, have
banned fracking. Whol-e countries have banned fracking,
the Netherlands and Erance, and I think that the
disadvantages to the public health and the environment
are becoming increasingly obvious with that form of
energy.
In closing, I just want to say I hope that
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
HOEFNAGELS
Public
Idaho Power will have the foresight and courage needed to
take Idaho and its resi-dents into a sustainable and
healthy future, and specifically in rel-ation to this
heari-ng, I think this means realizing that two years in
any economy is not enough for making an investment for
the future. 20 years is what we reaIIy need, so thank
you very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you. Do we
have any fol-l-ow-up questions? None from the Commission?
Thank you for your testimony.
(The witness l-eft the stand.)
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: We wil]- cal]- Krecd
Kleinkopf.
MR. KLEINKOPF: I'm actually going to
decl-ine.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you, and for
those who have decl-ined, you can sti1l submit written
commentsr so thank you, and the last name we have on our
list is Laurie Ad1er.
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71 ADLER
Public
LAUREN ADLER,
appearing as a public wj-tness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINAT]ON
BY MR. HOWELL:
O. Could you state your ful-l- name and spell your
last for the record, please?
A. Yes, my Iega1 name is Lauren Adl-er, A-d-I-e-r.
O. And are you employed and in what capacity?
A. I am. I work for a sustainability consulting
company named Green Ideas based in San Francisco. I work
remotely.
O. And are you an Idaho Power resident or customer
or do you live in San Francj-sco?
A. I am. No, I l-ive here. I moved here a year
ago.
O. AII right.
A. Thank you for letting me share. As someone who
moved from California, I have been profoundly aware of
the effect of climate change in my state. It's been
absolutely staggering to grow up as a chil-d wearing a
sweater to school- and now winters are an average 80
degrees. Summers are over 100. Watching the drought has
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been absolutely amazing for everybody who is paying
attention. Eor everybody who is being an ostrich with
their head ducked in the sand, they seem to be missing
it, but for most of us, aside from what the scientists
sdy, and there's pretty much agreement among most
scientists about what's occurring, but for anybody who is
just watching what's occurring, it's pretty clear.
There are fires that have come cl-ose to my
parents' house again and again. We never used to get
f ires, even 20 years ago . It ' s very, very real . Irrle ' re
digging into aquifers that are thousands of years old,
and what's fascj-nating about the drought in California
from everybody who really understands the background of
what's happened, it really wasn't necessary for this to
go to these lengths. If you rea11y learn about what's
happening to our water supply, itrs actually been a
choice to watch it happen and not do anything about it
for 10 years.
The drought wasn't new, like it was very clear
that it was happening and if those who were paying
attention had made appropriate choj-ces to make other
decisions, we wouldn't have had to head to the l-evel- of
disaster that we're now in or I should say my former
state is now in. fdaho is my home now, but it rea11y
wasn't necessary if we had made wise choices, practical
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choices, if we had stopped making poor choices around how
we irrigated, you know, lawns and instead paid attention
to our food supply, and itrs reaIly staggering now to say
okay, well, we only have litera11y a year l-eft of water
for a state which provides an enormous percentage of our
nation's food supply.
It's reaI1y fascinating and it's kind of always
the same idea. It gets too big of a project to take on.
Itrs too overwhelming. I think that's a lot of Idaho
Power's argument. It's the same argument we see every
time there's a new idea or a new problem or a new
challenge in this country, and reaIIy as a planet, and we
don't exactly know how to sofve the problem. It seems
realIy overwhelming and we don't exactly know what to do
about it, so we kind of bury our heads in the sand until-
it becomes so monstrous that now we have to pay
attention, and therers all- these consequences which
rea1Iy were never necessary if we just worked together
and used our minds to create a solution.
There were conversations happening in the '60s
if you remember, the cases that were being decided at the
Supreme Court, around whether or not to convert
automobil-es to unleaded gasoline, and the conversations
at the time were so interesting when you read them
Iookj-ng back, because they had actually calculated
CSB REPORTING
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exactly how many IQ points were lost in children who were
exposed to the l-ead that came out of the exhaust pipes of
our cars that we drover so we were basically saying yeah,
it's going to be so expensj-ve, so the car manufacturers
basicall-y argued before the Supreme Court that 1t would
be such an expensive proposition to have to change the
engines and changes the motors to all-ow unleaded gasoline
to run through it that we would just have to sacrifice a
few I mean, essentially the argument goes that it was
too costly, too complicated, which basical-l-y translates
to we wil-1 sacrif ice our chj-l-dren's intelligence because
it's just too hard, it's just too much, and Idaho Power's
argument kind of boil-s down to the same thing.
It's just too much. It's going to be
unreliabl-e. We don't know how it's al-l- going to work,
and I understand, big projects are often daunting in the
beginning, but I'm right now working on a project, I'm
working with the City of San Francisco as a consul-tant on
creating San Erancj-sco, for example, has said that
and I know San Francisco has a reputation of being this
wild liberal city, but they rea1Iy are working on some
amazing projects that have really exciting energy and one
of them they have, San Francj-sco has set the goal to
become a completely sustainabl-e city by the year 2020,
and they created a green business project as part of that
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
81 ADLER
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program and it's rea1Iy working.
Irm watching as businesses make responsible
choices and they make those choices because they're
noticing that customers care and wil-l- actually make
different choices just because they see that a company,
busj-ness, is part of the green business program. Itrs
been inspiring for me to watch how much more and more
people really do care about what's happening with our
planet, they really do, and aside from the politics,
which is just in my perspective, my humble perspective,
waste of time. ft's realIy about pragmatics and about
survivaf and our chil-dren.
I have an amazing step-daughter who just fills
my heart with so much joy and I want her to have a world
to live in, I reaIly do, and that's not going to be
possible unl-ess we all come together and stop this
contenti-ous battle between what's not possible and what
is possible and all brainstorm and come up wj-th new ideas
about how to make it work, because plain and simple,
other states are making it work. Other nations are
making it work. That is true, so it is a simply a story
that it's not possibl-e, itrs too expensive, i-t's
unreliable, people don't do the right thing.
Actual1y, I beg to differ. I think that's a
very cynical and resj-gned perspective. I do believe in
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the future and I do believe in humanity and I do believe
in practical, rational, loglcal solutions and if there's
one thing that has really inspired me about my new state,
it is the practicality of its people. There's not so
much fl-oweriness as I had in California. There was a l-ot
of taIk, a 1ot of liberal- ta1k, that was just not about
practical solutions, and I love my new state. It reaIIy
focuses on hard work and responsibil-ity and lntegrity and
decency and families and humans, and these are human
choices about our planet and our future for our children
and our grandchil-dren if they even have a chance and that
is very real.
There is scientific agreement about that. The
only question at this point is just how long we can
survive and how nightmarish and post apocalyptic our
world has to be. It doesn't, it rea1Iy doesn't. There
is a way to make this happen. We can work by looklng to
other model-s. We don't have to figure it out for
ourselves. We can l-ook to how other countries, states,
and groups and consulting firms have already done thj-s
before and l-earn from them and bring in that information
and create new models together so that we can survive.
You know, there was once an association of the
makers of buggy whips. My dad loves this story. There
1itera1ly was a group of people whose job it was to
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CSB REPORTING
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create buggy whips and you know what, they were not a fan
of the automobile. Oh, wel-l-. Itrs just part of the
evol-ution and you know whatrs rea11y interesting about
this case that was in front of the Supreme Court about
unleaded gasoline, those automakers, they 1obbied and
they fought and they argued why it was absolutely
impossible, it wou1d be so expensive to make an
automobil-e that no Amerj-can couJ-d af f ord one. Do you
know how long once the Supreme Court said I'm sorry, but
we're not sacrificing our children's brains for your
Iaziness, that's me paraphrasing, not what the Supreme
Court saj-d, definitely not thei-r holding, yet do you know
how long it took the car manufacturers to make an
unl-eaded gasoline run car? Two years. Did the prices go
up? Not at all-. In fact, the American auto industry
continued just fine. We can make it happen. It reaIIy
is doable, and I really think that we can work together,
I really think we can, so thank you for letting me speak.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you. Are there
any follow-up questions? None from the Commission?
Thank you very much.
(The witness l-eft the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Wel-l-, we have
exhausted our list and what f 'm about to ask wil-l get our
court reporter to cringe, but is there anyone else who
ADLER
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CSB REPORTING(208) 890-s198
would like to testify? Come on up.
MARCIA BLESSING,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMTNATION
BY MR. HOWELL:
a. Could you state your name and spelI your l-ast
name for the record, please?
A. My name is Marcia Blessing, B-1-e-s-s-i-n-9.
O. And are you employed?
A. Yes, I am with Tomorrowrs Hope. I take care of
handicapped adults.
O. Great, and are you an fdaho Power customer?
A. Yes, I am.
O. A11 right, 90 ahead.
A. I just want to say everyone here has spoken
beautifully and I agree on everything. Yourre all
amazing and awesome and I request that you deny Idaho
Power's petit j-on, and I believe that solar power wil-l-
change the world and the way we look at things, and not
only it is it a clean, economical fuel-, but I believe
it's going to save the future. Thanks.
BLESSING
Pubfic
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COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Thank you, and
Marcia, I want to apologize to you, you were on my list
on the first page and I accidently crossed you off.
THE WITNESS: ft's okay.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: So I'm glad you came
up.
THE WITNESS: You're st1ll loved.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: I'l-l- give you my
wj-fe's number and please share that sentiment.
(The witness l-eft the stand. )
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER: Is there anyone el-se
who would like to provide some testimony this evening?
If not, I'd like to thank everyone for their thoughtful
comments and also for giving up what was a very loveIy
evening to be inside and, again, thank you very much for
providing your comments. As far as the remaining
proceedings that we have associated with this case, our
technical- hearing will begin on Monday of next week.
It's scheduled for three days.
My sense is it probably wonrt last that 1ong,
but we also then wll-l- have a telephonic hearing at 7: 00
p.m. on Tuesday of next week, and so if there are others
that you know that couldn't make it tonight and would
l-ike to provide testimony, they can do so via the
telephonic hearing, and if you need the details for that,
COLLOQUY
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Gene Eadness who is standing is about to leave now
that I've pointed him out has the detail-s of the phone
number you can cal-l or you can go to our website and get
those detail-s as wel-I, and, again, if there are
additional comments or thoughts you'd like to share, even
if you testified this evening, please feel- free to do so
through the written comment, access through our websj-te
or you can merely send it to our attention under this
case number to the Commissj-on directly, so with that, I
want to thank you again for your participatlon and we
appreciate, again, your involvement in this process as we
move forward to come to a conclusion in relationship to
this case, so, again, thank you very much.
(The Hearing concluded at 9:10 p.m. )
COLLOQUY