Note: This posting is a copy/paste of an email report to the NEST Energy Committee, where the formatting characteristics of the original email change when copy/pasting from Microsoft Outlook using the WordPress editor.

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Hello Energy,

Rushing a bit to finish this report on a holiday weekend, so I apologize for any errors in my haste. Your eyes and the slides will keep me honest.

Sharing my “highlights” from the Thursday August 29 IMEA Board Meeting:

1. 3 more Member contract renewals
2. Update on 150MW utility scale solar project
3. Discussion of decommissioning fund for coal plants
4. Legal report on Federal court matters:
   Sierra Club vs Prairie State, and
   New Federal EPA Final Rule on CO2 Emissions
5. Some additional noteworthy items,
   includes Prairie State, Trimble, audited financials, and more

The link to a copy of this meeting’s presentation slides pdf is:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19WtKl8PTE_sxe30CKXg2iFyKQVDiezfm/view

The link to the CLEAN historical collection of board meeting slides, agendas, minutes, resolutions, etc. is posted on the CLEAN Sources and Resource webpage:
https://cleanenergynaperville.org/sources-and-resources/

The link to IMEA’s board meetings webpage is:
https://imea.org/IMEA%20Board%20Meeting%20Schedule.asp

1.  3 more Member contract renewals (slides 67 – 69)

• The IMEA board adopted resolutions #24-08-924 through #24-08-926 to formally accept and approve the new contracts of Caryle, Red Bud, and Riverton

[Note: 23 of 32 Members have now approved new contracts vial local ordinances, followed by formal acceptance and approval of the IMEA Board:

• 10 were accepted and approved at the April 27 board meeting: Princeton, Casey, Marshall, Altamont, Bushnell, Flora, Greenup, Roodhouse, Rantoul, and Oglesby
• 10 were accepted and approved at the June 27 board meeting: Breese, Rock Falls, Farmer City, Sullivan, Waterloo, Highland, Bethany, Chatham, Metropolis, and Freeburg]

2.  Update on 150MW utility scale solar project (slide 74)

• IMEA received the vendor’s draft of a long, in-depth PPA proposal on July 22
• IMEA is working through the details and meeting weekly with the vendor
• IMEA expects to reach substantial agreement on outstanding issues and terms, so that it plans to seek formal board approval at the October 2024 board meeting
• The board also went into closed session to discuss some of the outstanding issues

3.  Discussion of decommissioning fund for coal plants  (slides 33 – 37)

• IMEA proposes a Decommissioning Fund where funds will be collected from Members from May 2025 until 2035
• IMEA says that it is a prudent utility practice to start collecting funds now to prepared for the final plant retirement obligations of Prairie State and Trimble County
• Prairie State:
  • Set to retire in 2045 due to Illinois CEJA
  • IMEA’s 15.17% share of $168 Million in estimated decommissioning costs is $25.5 M in 2045 dollars
• Trimble County:
  • “Unit 1 is slated to retired in 2045 – Unit 2 is currently slated to retire in 2050” [See note below with comment on the 2050 date for Unit 2]
  • IMEA’s 12.12% share of $90 Million in estimated decommissioning costs is $10.9 M in 2050 dollars
• IMEA will budget to collect $2.17M per year and assume a 3% rate of return on the proceeds that are held, which is $0.57 per MWh added to the IMEA rate
• It’s expected to increase Members’ average residential customer bill by less than 50 cents a month)
• The board directed IMEA to prepare plans and a resolution for formal approval at the October or December 2024 board meeting

[Note:

• The 5 IMEA slides contain additional information, and we should expect further details at the October board meeting.
• That 2050 retirement date for Trimble County Unit 2 (also listed in the December IMEA Sustainability Plan) is apparently inconsistent with the majority owners planned 2066 retirement date as reported by Louisville Public Media:
  LG&E and KU plan to burn coal for another four decades
  https://www.lpm.org/news/2022-01-12/lg-e-and-ku-plan-to-burn-coal-for-another-four-decades
  ]

4.  Legal report on Federal court matters (slide 46)

• Sierra Club vs Prairie State
  • Court denied Prairie State’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit
  • Response form Prairie State is due by September 23, 2024
  • Prairie State legal team analyzing options and strategy for next steps
• New Federal EPA Final Rule on CO2 Emissions
  • Many legal challenges have been filed, including motions to Stay the new rules
  • Prairie State and IMEA CEO submitted Impact Declarations
  • All Motions for Stay were denied
  • US Supreme Court is now considering applications for Stay

5.  Some additional noteworthy items

• President and CEO reports (slide 9 -13)
  • 70% of IMEA members are now pledged and an underlined list of 8 bullet points enumerating how “IMEA will be here to serve the needs of its members” (slide 10)
  • A list of agency updates since June (the previous board meeting), including Sept Exec Board meeting to be cancelled, and both Energy Efficiency committee and Member Generation committee requested to meet at IMEA offices (slide 12)
• Closed minutes of Nov 6-7, 2019, June 17, 2021 and Nov 9-10, 2022 were again approved to continue to be restricted from the public.  Apr 27, 2023 and Dec 6, 2023 were released. (slide 17)
• Operations – PJM (slides 18 -21)
  • PJM capacity auction prices for 2025/2026 Delivery Year were 833% higher than the 2024/2025 price of $28.92/MW-day
  • Impact to IMEA should be minimal due to IMEA long-term reliable resources and hedging
• Operations – MISO (slides 22 – 26)
  • MISO concerns on thermal retirements and projections of insufficient long-term capacity
• Operations – Wind (slides 27 -29)
  • Wind scheduling challenges because wind output is hard to forecast due to unpredictable weather patterns
• Trimble County (slide 31)
  • Stack replacement design to be completed and construction timeline finalized in Spring 2025
  • Project to be completed in 2027-2028
  • IMEA share of costs is $10-11 Million, most already projected by IMEA
• Prairie State (slide 32)
  • Fall planned outage moved to Nov-Dec
  • No further action on carbon capture
  • Prairie State staff is finalizing the 2025 budget with a proposed 2% increase in operating budget primarily due to insurance costs
• Marshal and Princeton solar projects expected to be completed by end of year and Oglesby in spring 2025 (slides 42-44 Solar Project Update)
• FERC has accepted MISO’s sloped demand curve, and rules are expected to increase the value of capacity (slide 47: Legal Report)
• IMEA filed a limited project on MISO Resource Accreditation Requirements reform.(slide 48: Legal Report)
  • IMEA Member Generation  diesel Units would be penalized the same as natural gas units for natural gas winter performance problems
• Presentation of completion of IMEA’s FY 2024 clean audit (slides 50-66)
• Resolution #24-08-928 was approved to provide Winnetka a waiver on IMEA’s 1-year replacement policy (slide 73)
  • Winnetka is planning “to replace Unit #4 with two or three new generating units (estimated to be approximately 2,450 kW each)”
  • Current 1 year policy is inadequate and will likely be reviewed and update, so a waiver at this time was recommended.

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There was also an IMEA Exec Board meeting held on the previous day Wed Aug 28. When there are Exec Board meetings on the day preceding the regular Board of Directors meeting, the Exec Board agenda typically only covers items that are also included in the regular Board agenda. Therefore, I don’t spend limited time on providing a duplicative report on the Exec Board meeting. The CLEAN historical collection of board meeting records does include agendas and minutes of these meetings.

And finally no surprise that once again here’s my encouragement to attend IMEA board meetings. Public power also needs informed and knowledgeable citizens too. Webinar means not having to devote a whole day commuting to and from Springfield.

• The IMEA’s board meetings webpage lets us know to mark our calendars for the next scheduled full IMEA Board Meeting on Oct 24, 2024 at 10:00AM, preceded by an Exec Board Meeting on Oct 23, 2024 at 2:00PM.

• The webinar registration info is posted within the IMEA meeting agenda document file, typically posted at the end of the preceding week.

• Also IMEA has now begun to publicly post the board meeting packet too. For this past week’s meetings, it was apparently posted in the afternoon/evening on Mon before the Wed/Thu meetings.

Thanks.

Greg