Week #44 - President Tim Cahill
(Power to the people)
President Tim Cahill opened the meeting at 12:05 P.M. He did not ring the bell as the bell is with Al Cady and he either has the flu or Covid and couldn’t make it to the meeting. We pray it is allergies. He welcomed everyone to the May 18th meeting of the Arden Arcade Rotary Club. This is the 40th meeting of the Rotary year, and the 18th for 2021. I want to thank you for allowing me to be the president, and may God help you. He then asked Rob Ford to lead the pledge of allegiance to the flag that we hold dear in our imagination as the actual flag is with Al Cady, which he did. At the completion of the pledge to our imaginary flag, Prez C. welcomed our guest speaker Gregg fishman. He also welcomed our visiting Rotarians: Gary Johnson and Tom Collopy. It is great to see both of you. We’ll have to do it again real soon.
Fines, Announcements and Birthdays
- Prez C. suspended fines for people not wearing their badges as they are being kept safe by Al Cady. He chose not to fine anyone for not wearing their pins because he is a nice guy... and he forgot to wear his pin.
- There will be a golf tournament committee meeting immediately following this meeting.
- Starting in July, at the beginning of Patrick’s term, we will be going back to collecting quarterly lunch dues. Prez Cahill attempted to convince the club that this was a great deal because Piatti’s charges us $28 and with the quarterly deal we only are charged $25. However, presently we are already paying $25, one meal at a time. It is $250 per quarter and it is a good deal. It supports the club and gives incentive to come to the meeting to enjoy the meeting you have already paid for.
- For all of you Zoomers out there… please be aware that these Zoom meetings come to an end at the end of June. Patrick O’Neil will not be Zooming… unless a new and improved pandemic causes us to revisit the internet meetings… God forbid!
- Johnathan Barker has attended our meetings a number of times. He is sponsored by Tom Goode and has put in an application for membership. The Board has reviewed it and has approved it subject to approval of the overall membership. People that have any comments, good or bad about Johnathan, need to communicate them to the Prez within the next week. Barring any problems with his FBI background check and an in-depth search of past issues of the Inquirer and Facebook page, he will be inducted on June 8th.
- May 19th is Yuri Kvichko’s birthday. We wish him a Happy Birthday and a real Fine time… at the next meeting.
On or About This Day in History
- On this day in 1830 Edwin Budding in England, signed an agreement for the manufacture of the lawnmower. Thus, creating the obligation to mow lawns, placing that on everyone’s honey-do list, forever ruining Saturdays.
- On this day in 1897 American Baseball New York Giants player, Bill Joyce hit four triples in one game.
- John Gabriel noted that his youngest daughter had four triples in a game and set the record in Oakmont High School for triples. He went on to say while that may sound impressive, though she was a great hitter, their softball field did not have a fence. All other, faster players, would have had homeruns. Evidently, she inherited her lack of speed from her father. John, feeling guilty about handicapping his daughter with inferior running jeans, offered up $5 to be filed under sad bucks. Unfortunately for John, the treasurer did not have any change and his $5 donation ended up costing him $20.
- Gary Johnson offered to be a Bell Ringer as this is his first in-person meeting in fourteen months. He hates Zoom meetings, which is very odd considering the name of his previous company. He did take time to acknowledge Howard Stagg, disguised as Grizzly Adams, sporting a very rough example of a beard. On second thought, Gary identified the Zoom photo as Willie Nelson. He is glad to hear that in-person meetings are starting back up as this is one of his favorite things.
- Lynn Lizarraga rang the virtual bell because as of this Friday she will have three kids in high school. Her youngest child is graduating the 8th grade this Friday. She also gave herself a raise in the form of avoided tuition payments for private school. However, it will be short lived as her oldest will start college the following year.
Happy Bucks
- Howard Willie Stagg, eager to share his rebuttal to Gary Johnson’s remark, jumped the Bell Ringer line and offered $20 for the opportunity to let Gary Johnson know that he is no longer subservient to him in the world of classic automobiles as he recently acquired an award winning 1950 Ford, full restoration pickup truck. Grizzly noted that he was joining the meeting while sitting lakeside in Main.
Bell Ringers Continued
- Jenny Davini, adding to the Bell Ringer Board annex created specifically to contain all of the diamonds that won’t fit on the main board, once again became a bell ringer in honor of the fact that yesterday was the last day of Tax Season.
- Tom Collopy in honor of his middle daughter’s graduation from Creighton University this past weekend and already has a job. She will be home for a month or two until she passes her nursing test and starts her new job. His youngest daughter is graduating this week from St. Francis High School and will be heading to Loyola, New Orleans.
- Tom Goode in honor of his younger brother Christian, for graduating from med school and now he is a doctor. He is heading to Temecula, California to do his residency in emergency medicine.
Happy Bucks Continued (thanks to Howie)
- Duane Oliveira offered up Cheap Bucks for attending his granddaughter’s seventh birthday in McKinleyville, California. $15 was contributed to the coffers, $2 for each year because she is twice as sweet at 7 as she was at 6 and and $1 for the heck of it.
- Rob Ford offered up $20 for having the privilege of playing golf with Cathy Skeen. He hadn’t seen Cathy in a long time and he really enjoyed the day hanging out with her. She is doing well and hopes to come back soon. She said to say hi to everyone.
Announcements
John Gabriel announced once again that the annual scholarship luncheon will be held this year at the Del Paso Country Club on the 15th of June. Please sign up to attend. The cost is $25. If you would like to help with the $25 cost of the meal for the guests, please contact Jenny Davini and let her know you would like to help pay for guest lunches. There will be about 52 scholars and guests. Presently 18 Rotarians have singed up and he would like to see 25 attend. John will be gone the next three weeks so please see mike grace, the keeper of the sigh-up sheet to sign up after today.
Patrick O’Neil reminded the club that the next Fireside Chat will be held at Linda Bigler’s house on May 21st. The third one will be at Roy Vogel’s house on June 1st at 4861 Gresham Drive, El Dorado Hills. It is a mandatory requirement for club members to attend one of these meetings. Sign-up sheets with addresses of the locations will be available at the next meeting.
Guest Speaker
Prez C. introduced Gregg Fishman, a member of the SMUD board since 2015. He represents Ward 3, which covers Arden Arcade, East Sacramento and other nearby neighborhoods. Gregg has had a varied career. He has been a news reporter on KFBK, an anchor on KFBK and KGO. He has been a public information officer for SMUD and the California Independent Systems Operator (Cal ISO). He was also the communications director for the California Association of Counties. He has been a long-time clean energy advocate. As a SMUD employee he promoted wind and solar energy power. While at the Cal ISO, he led public engagement efforts to promote new wind energy projects in California. As president of the SMUD Board in 2018 he led the utility in passing the integrated resource plan hailed by the California Energy Commission. Gregg is married, lives in Arden Park and has two daughters and is a graduate of Sac State.
Gregg thanked the SMUD staff that joined him via Zoom for their technical support should it be needed during the presentation and to help get his foot out of his mouth should it inadvertently get there. He thanked the club for inviting him to talk about SMUD and their clean energy plan, their 2030 Zero Carbon Plan.
He shared his lifelong gratitude to Rotary for having been the recipient of an exchange student program recipient back in 1992. A group from this district went to Columbia for four weeks. It was a life experience that he will always treasure. When he came back, he sort of paid back the debt by speaking to about 15 to 20 different Rotary Clubs. It was a pleasure and he thanks Rotary for the experience.
He is going to share SMUD’s Zero Carbon Energy Plan with the club today. The plan was adopted by the SMUD board on April 28, 2021. It establishes a path to remove carbon entirely from our power system by 2030. It is building a better, healthier future for Sacramento. It is not going to be easy but it is doable. The plan will benefit the whole Sacramento region in a number of ways. Ideally it will help other utilities and cities by showing that this is possible and leading them into more sustainable futures.
SMUD built the first commercial scale utilities solar array in 1984. We developed the first community solar program and the first utility to develop a public tree program with the Sacramento Tree Foundation. That is where he first met Mike Grace, during a tree planting in Arden Park. SMUD’s commitment to sustainability has grown exponentially as the effects of climate change has become more evident. We are having longer droughts and more destructive wildfires.
SMUD’s path to zero carbon occurred in three steps:
- A 2040 Energy plan was approved in 2018 committing SMUD to spending seven billion dollars over the next twenty years to achieve a net zero greenhouse gas position by 2040.
- This plan was submitted to the California Energy Commission which unanimously approved the plan.
- July of 2020 the Board committed SMUD to a more aggressive goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. The Board was saying that the stakes were too high not to move as quickly as they possibly could. That declaration spawned the Zero Carbon Plan.
Zero Carbon Energy is provided solely by non-carbon resources, wind solar hydroelectricity and bio mass. They are going for absolute zero carbon emissions. This will not only help the environment but also air quality. This is really important as we live in one of the dirtiest air regions in the country. Childhood asthma rates are 30% higher than the rest of the country. The American Lung Association ranked Sacramento the 5th worst air in the country in their 2020 report. SMUD hopes to help lead the way in cleaning up the pollution.
How are we going to accomplish this in nine years without compromising our world-class reliability and our affordable rates? SMUD has a very good reliability record and they don’t want to change that. Gregg is so proud of the SMUD staff. They worked tirelessly, even over the holidays, to develop the plan in keeping with the Board’s vision. The staff embraced the vision. The plan has been broken down into four main areas:
- Proven Clean Technology.
- Wind, Solar, geothermal hydro, biomass, battery storage and demand response. This will get them to 80% to 90% of the goal.
- Business models and potential partnerships. Identifying new technology and partnering with businesses to bring them to fruition. Things like the use of more hydrogen and long duration energy storage options.
- Retiring their five natural gas power plants or retooling them. The largest one is about 500 megawatts located near the former Rancho Seco nuclear power plant. The other four are of varying sizes and are in great shape. Compared to other gas power plants these are relatively clean. These plants provide low-cost reliable energy 24 hours a day. They are looking at retooling them and using renewable fuel to run them. Using hydrogen and blending that with natural gas eventually going 100% hydrogen. The idea is to use the excess solar and wind energy to generate hydrogen. Store the hydrogen for use when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. This is being done in other parts of the country. It can be done, but keeping it cost effective is the challenge.
- Using financial and regulatory strategies. Looking for ways to reduce operating costs and investing in new clean technologies. They recently helped pass a bill that will allow SMUD to capitalize on their intellectual properties. SMUD works with a variety of companies on leading edge technology. SMUD want to monetize this investment. They are committed to keeping their rates at or below the inflation rate. SMUD wants to be a leader in the development of the new technologies and partner with the Federal government in making this happen. Their 2030 goal is making a buzz in the energy world and has captured the attention of the world. Their CEO testified to congress about what SMUD is doing. By partnering with all of the local governmental agencies in Sacramento they think it will position them well in securing federal funds to help move them forward in their plan.
A series of public meetings were held in the fall to help develop the plan. They are now rolling the plan out through advertising and public meetings. The key to this plan is flexibility. They are looking at everything they need to.
Gregg admitted that he felt a little skeptical when the Board first started to embrace the 2030 vision. His work with CAL ISO made him worry about the reliability of the power source. He was there in 2000/2001 and turning off energy to people on purpose is something that nobody wants to do. As the plan developed and staff was getting excited about the possibilities. Getting 90% of the way there with existing technology is very exciting. Now he is very excited and optimistic about being able to get there and what it means to Sacramento.
They have launched Clean Power Sacramento on their website. They need the community’s help in making this work. The site informs the community of all the benefits of the plan, reduction in global warming, cleaner energy job creation and clean air. Programs designed to help reach this goal that address the needs of the community are vital in helping reach this goal. This is a once in a generation opportunity to build a better sustainable future. SMUD needs our help and buy in.
Question: Duane Oliveira – What about the jobs of the folks that are working at the power plants that they are about to retire?
Answer: Gregg Fishman – One of the plants is a small Peaker-plant that is controlled remotely and has no staff. The other plants that are going to be “Retired” are still going to need them and will have to be maintained so when they are needed, they will start up. The attrition process will address the rest. Most of the positions in question are contracted out so SMUD will not be laying off people but the contractors might if they do not reassign the people. There is also retraining opportunities for other employees to be used in different areas within SMUD.
Question: John Gabriel – Sacramento is growing and the demand may be 25% to 30% greater by 2030 due to population increase and automobiles going electric and increase in all-electrical homes. Will the technology be sufficient to cover this increase? We don’t want to be like Texas and not have the power when we need it.
Answer: Gregg Fishman – Yes. All of those factors have been taken into consideration in this plan. They are hoping the demand is going to grow. They want the load to grow, especially the electric cars as that will help combat air pollution. They are helping people put in electric heat pump systems for water heating and space heating. The electrical vehicles can be used in the vehicle to grid program that allows the utility to borrow energy from the car batteries during peak times of use with your permission, and then recharges them with off peak electricity. There will be financial incentives for doing this.
Personal Testimony: Mike Grace – Everyone knows that the people of Sacramento owns SMUD as a public utility. What SMUD has been doing has been fantastic, keeping our rates down, coming up with the partnerships to provide trees, and help with developing a park. And this last week I signed a contract to replace my gas/electric HVAC system, gas water heater with a heat pump water heater and change out my electrical panel and install an electric charging circuit for an electric vehicle that I don’t have yet, all with the support of a SMUD rebate. It is a great program. I will also have a new roof but SMUD didn’t help with that.
Answer: Gregg Fishman – SMUD does have a number of programs that will help you in this transition, including rebates and advice. The rebate program is where a lot of the money is going to go to help achieve the 2030 goals. Solar rebates have been very successful as SMUD pays people for putting solar on their roofs at a pretty high rate. These rebates will soon include incentives for installing battery packs with the solar. This will help increase the electrical storage for use by the utility during high demand.
Question: Is there any truth that reflected light from solar panels is contributing to global warming?
Answer: Gregg Fishman – Gregg thought not, as he had not heard of that being a problem. They do absorb the sunlight to some degree. He feels that the reduction in carbon emissions far offsets any thermal reradiation the panel may have.
Question: John Gabriel – Solar installations, especially on new homes, is reducing demand for electricity and impacting the revenue for the utility companies. There are some cities increasing the charges for solar installations to access the electrical and reducing the rates for reimbursement for the power the utility uses to help offset the loss of revenue. Is this something SMUD anticipates and what is going on with the rates for the solar in Sacramento?
Answer: Gregg Fishman – It is an issue. Existing customers will not have their contracts changed. New lower rates may be considered for future installations. Initial connection fees may increase. SMUD is looking at this topic this week at their Board meeting. The incentives are switching from putting in solar to putting in batteries. The solar industry has come of age as the cost per panel has come way down. SMUD is discussing lowering the excess power rate from 12 cents per kilowatt hour to .07.4 cents.
Question: Tim Cahill – Is there a program for commercial businesses to sell back excess solar power to SMUD?
Answer: Gregg Fishman – Yes. It is compensated at the 7.4 cent per kilowatt hour rate.
Question: Howie (Willie Nelson) Stagg – What is SMUDS primary source of energy?
Answer: Gregg Fishman – 20% of the energy comes from the Upper American River Project, a series of hydroelectric dams and powerplants northeast of Placerville, the Icehouse/Union Valley Lake area. This will remain a very important source. It is saved until needed on demand. 15% comes from federal dams like Lake Shasta and Folsom Lake. 12% comes from renewable resources like wind and commercial solar. The remaining comes from the natural gas power plants that they need to replace. Willie Stagg wanted clarification on how the plants that are going to be shut down can provide energy. Gregg explained that they will not all be shut down at the same time and that they will remain available as needed. They will be replaced with more wind, solar, battery storage and retooling the power plants to utilize non-natural gas energy, such as hydrogen or dairy digestive gas off poop ponds (methane) to run them. This is not their first choice but it is possible. Howie Nelson expressed his concern that all of the solar panels are manufactured in and controlled by China. Gregg agreed that it is a concern they are taking into consideration. This is why they are not placing all their eggs in one basket. SMUD is also participating in the energy imbalance program that helps even out electricity availability. Grizzly Adams admitted he is a little gruff and #1 is skeptical about the optimistic plans, #2 natural gas has been a very good product (stake holder in PG&E?) and #3 he thinks the energy industry and engineers think they are better than they really are. Gregg admitted that he didn’t disagree with anything that Howie Adams said, in fact that is why it is so important to keep the gas fired plants available when needed. He is not going to let the lights go out as it is his job to ensure power when needed. Also, when they do go down this road, if they do not do it right, it will be bad for Sacramento, SMUD and him personally, and for the whole concept of going to a different power source and rethinking how we get power. SMUD is asking the world to look at them. With that comes risk. If they blow it, then it will not do anyone any good. He would rather have to turn on the gas fired energy. SMUD has its own power sharing capabilities. Willie signed off by letting Gregg know that he thinks he is doing a great job.
Prez C. informed Gregg that $25 was being donated to End Polio Now campaign in his name.
Prez C. ended the meeting with the following quote from Martin Luther King, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Prez Tom Cahill said “we’re done” rather than ring the bell as the bell was not there to be rung at 1:12 P.M. closing the meeting.
Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,
Mike Grace
