Comments from Bonneville
Council and RTF Staff –
Thank for you the opportunity to provide comment on the draft 2016 RTF work plan. The RTF provides BPA and the region with enormous value and the proposed work plan shows to continue that practice. Overall, we support the allocations of the 2016 budget to the proposed categories. We have reviewed each category and offer the following comments to RTF Staff. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Existing Measure Review & Updates
- For ‘update standard protocols slated to sunset in 2016’, it appears as though this allocation is assuming the non-residential lighting retrofit protocol will be completed in 2015. We are now in the process of receiving data and expect a large portion of this work to continue into 2016. We would suggest allocating some additional funds for 2016 to cover this effort.
- RTF Response: The work plan accounts for the non-residential lighting work under the “Advance non-Proven Standard Protocols” line item. To better reflect the anticipated level of effort for the non-residential lighting work relative to the two measures currently set to sunset in 2016, the Contract Analyst per unit costs have been changed. Specifically, the per unit cost was reduced to $10,000 for the two measures set to sunset in 2016 to reflect approximately 2 weeks of work each, and it has been increased to $25,000 for the Advance non-Proven Standard Protocols (i.e. Non-Residential Lighting work) to account for approximately 8 weeks of contract analyst time. Additionally, some contract RFP costs have been added to support the non-residential lighting work given the anticipated lift of that effort.
- BPA has received little uptake on the VFD Milking Machine protocol in recent years and we do not expect this area to increase in savings. We recommend that the RTF consider de-activating this protocol instead of updating it, as we believe the market is transformed here.
- RTF Response: Given the expected level of effort for this the VFD Milking Machine relative to the other measures, the “Contract Analyst” per unit costs has been reduced to $20,000. This is to account for some being a bigger lift than others, but recognizing on whole that
- Can the RTF provide the four non-proven UES measures that are expected to advance to proven this year?
- RTF Response: As of August 14, 2015, there are 19 non-Proven (non-Small Saver) measures on the RTF books. This line item is intended to account for work to advance these measures, but not necessarily to move them to proven. This includes reviewing research plans and advancing measures to Provisional or reviewing research results to potentially advance to Proven. The specific measures will be dependent on regional research. The placeholder for 4 was based on the assumption that only a handful will be advanced in the near term. Likely candidates include commissioning, controls, and sizing related measures, heat pump water heaters, and advanced power strips. Rather than including a placeholder, the work plan has been updated to reflect approximately 10 weeks of contract analyst time to support this work.
- Does the advancement of non-proven standard protocols include the non-residential lighting protocol?
- RTF Response: Yes. See comment above for more detail
New Measure Development & Review of Unsolicited Proposals
- Review New UES Measures – BPA expects to present the RTF with at least two new measures for consideration in 2016: DHP for new construction and Web Enabled Programmable Thermostats for commercial
- RTF Response: Noted and reflected in work plan.
- Review New Standard Protocols – BPA believes that there are a number of efforts the region would be interested in develop new standard protocols. We are interested in the RTF exploring either through Guidelines or new standard protocol opportunities for industrial and commercial strategic energy management. We also think the RTF may have a role in a development of standard protocols for data centers. In general, we are interested in working with the RTF in areas that have been identified as large new savings potential in the 7th Power Plan, yet do not yet have a clearly defined path for implementation. In addition, we are expecting the approval of the ACEEE EMPLI pump protocol and would recommend that the RTF budget account for some funds for CATs review and support in the workbook/documentation.
- RTF Response: Noted and reflected in work plan. Added one more placeholder for new standard protocols. The estimate per standard protocol is high to account for working through the expected lift for these.
Standardization of Technical Analysis
- This category has the greatest increase in budget over previous years. For the area of ‘Coordination and review across measures’, we are interested in learning more about the details of this work effort and understanding the reasons for the change in the funding levels.
- RTF Response: This category was changed to better reflect how the contract analyst team spends their time. This includes time spent in weekly meetings reviewing each other’s work and other review time. The notes have been updated to better explain this change.
Regional Coordination (Research and Data Development)
- BPA is interested in learning more about what is included in this category. Is the research sponsors group included within this allocation? With the development of the research coordination group, we expect an increase in the amount of regional coordination this year, especially in areas light non-residential lighting. We are also interested in understanding the distinction between this category, and the $170,000 that is allocated to coordination and review across measures (mentioned above)
- RTF Response: This category is intended to include general coordination on research questions that are not necessarily tied to a specific measure and more focused on coordination with research taking place across the region. This includes the Research Sponsors Group, R&E Subcommittee engagement, interaction with other research groups as appropriate (such as NWRG and RETAC). This also includes added support for a Research Methods Group to explore questions around how to use different research or statistical methods to inform RTF measures.