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,

Sharing my “highlights” from the Wednesday Jan 22 IMEA Exec Board Meeting:

1. Upcoming Transmission Committee Meeting
2. Potential Further Transmission Ownership Opportunities
3. Bond Refinancing
4. Status Update on IMEA Member Contract Extensions
5. Some Additional Noteworthy Items

Note: There is no regular full board meeting this month, only an Exec Board meeting.

The link to a copy of this meeting’s presentation slides pdf is:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TD7uD9HdvwSKufOE2L7jl-SbQsNEgnJL/view

The links to the CLEAN historical collection of board meeting slides, agendas, minutes, resolutions, monthly financial reports, etc. is posted on the CLEAN Sources and Resource webpage:
https://cleanenergynaperville.org/sources-and-resources/imea-board-and-other-imea-records/

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

IMEA is now keeping older meeting records posted on the website, including meeting packets. But slides are not posted on the IMEA website. And IMEA provides no recordings of the meetings, only minutes after approved at the subsequent meeting.

1. Upcoming Transmission Committee Meeting (slide 4)

• The IMEA Transmission Committee will meet, probably in April or May, to review the logistics and other considerations of IMEA becoming a MISO Transmission Owner by signing a Joint Ownership Agreement with Ameren this summer
• Board resolution and request for approval are planned for the June board meeting

Note: Further details on IMEA becoming a 25% minority owner of a 23-mile section of Ameren Illinois transmission system are in the slides and highlights report of the Dec 12, 2024 board meeting

2. Potential Further Transmission Ownership Opportunities (slide 5)

• The IMEA CEO described that over the last couple of weeks Ameren has approached IMEA again, this time with a much bigger transmission ownership opportunity in the long term.
• The opportunities are related to Illinois projects in the MISO Tranche 2.1 grid expansion
• Staff will continue to look into these opportunities and report back to the board.
• Copy/pasting several bullets from slide 5:
• These projects are at least 7-8 years away
• MISO estimates the rate impact (from Tranche 2.1) to load is $5/MWh to all ratepayers
• This is an additional strategic planning issue that staff continues to track and look for opportunities to limit the transmission rate increases

3. Bond Refinancing (slides 25 -26)

• The plan is to refinance the remaining 10 years of IMEA’s tax exempt debt from 2025-2035
• Refi will not extend bond obligation beyond current IMEA member contract
• Expected to save IMEA members $20 million over 10 years
• Verbally estimated to be roughly 50 cents per MWh over the next 10 years ($2 million savings per year divided by 4 million MWh per year)
• Board resolution and request for approval planned for the February board meeting

4. Status Update on IMEA Member Contract Extensions (Not on Slides)

• In other new business, prior to going into closed session, the IMEA CEO responded to the request to provide a status update on new contracts:

• Carmi: The IMEA CEO and Legislative Director met with Carmi City Council the previous evening. Carmi ”looks to be favorable”.
• Mascoutah: “I’m also pleased to report to you that last night, the Mascoutah City Council unanimously approved signing that contract as well.”
• 24 approved: In the February 2025 board meeting, IMEA will have at least 24 Members who have approved
• 8 remain: IMEA continues to have conversations with the remaining 8 members. “They are all aware of that April 30 open season deadline”.

5. Some additional noteworthy items

Note: Here are some but not all noteworthy items for everyone, so please review the slides.

• President and CEO Reports (slides 3 – 5):
• [Not on slides] Mark Christie has been named as the new the chairman FERC. No new policy announcements yet.
• IMEA filled the Manager of Energy Markets  and Settlements position
• IMEA is still looking to fill a new Electric Data Analyst position
• Generation and Transmission Committees will meet in March to May timeframe. Transmission Committee described above in item 1.
• Potential further long-term transmission opportunities described above in item 2
• Legislative and Regulatory Report (slide 6):
• Illinois HB587 skinny energy omnibus legislation passed which includes provisions for an ICC workshop to develop recommendations for an IPA procurement of battery storage
• Upcoming APPA legislative rally described as having two top items: protecting tax-exempt financing and protecting direct pay of tax credits
• Operations (slides 7 -9):
• PJM Delivery Year 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction now scheduled for July 9
• PJM board supports action on urgent grid reliability needs
• MISO may require 343,000 MW of additional capacity by 2043, an average annual rate increase of 262%
• MISO board approved Tranche 2.1, described as the largest grid expansion plan in US history
• NERC’s 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment reports half its region is at elevated or high risk of energy shortfalls over the next 5-10 year
• Trimble County (slide 10):
• After Unit 2 planned outage was completed on Dec 12 “slightly behind schedule”, the unit was derated “slightly” due to a cooling tower pump issue
• FEED study for stack replacement still expected to be completed  summer 2025 with scope expanded “slightly”
• Prairie State (slide 11):
• Unit 1 had two outages after coming back online from a 12-day planned maintenance outage in December: a tube leak and an excitation transformer cooling issue
• Unit 1 had another tube leak outage in January
• Unit 2 came back online the first week of January, after the electrical fault was resolved by replacing the top stator bars
• No updates on carbon capture
• Solar Project Updates (slide 13 -17):
• Marshall and Princeton energized in December; currently in testing phase; and awaiting installation of tracking software
• Oglesby racking is complete; expected online in spring of 2025
• SolAmerica USDA Pace solar projects received the initial funding commitment; projects include nearly 11MW total in Highland. Metrpolis, and Carmi + Chatham signed lease agreement for a 2.25MW project (serving as the alternative to Rantoul)
• Legal (slides 18 – 24):
• The following is only a partial list of cases described in the legal report:
• MISO FERC filing (Docket ER25-579) proposes to increase Loss of Load value (penalty) from price cap of $3,500/MWh to $10,000/MWh for emergencies and load shed
• ComEd FERC filing (Docket ER24-2890) on co-located load; Exelon companies responded on Dec 20, 2024 to FERC deficiency letter
• IMEA is following 3 FERC cases involving PJM capacity auction prices; IMEA CEO Gaden gave a comment that it is supply and demand driving the price increases
• PJM FERC filing (Docket ER25-712) proposes to fast-track 50 shovel ready projects in the PJM interconnection queue
• PJM FERC filing (Docket ER25-783) proposes to expand credit review for bilateral capacity transactions; may impact IMEA’s future use of bilateral capacity transactions
• The Exec Board approved going into closed session, as described in the agenda:
• Calling for a motion to go into Executive Session for one of the following reasons:
• Discussion of IMEA litigation
• Discussion of the purchase, sale or delivery of electricity
• Discussion of personnel matters

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The IMEA meeting schedule webpage tells us the next meeting is an Exec Board meeting on Feb 19, 2025 at 2:00PM, followed the next morning by a regular full board meeting Feb 20, 2025 at10:00AM.

Webinar means not having to commute to and from Springfield to attend. Webinar registration info is posted within the IMEA meeting agenda document files, which have typically been posted by IMEA by Friday of the preceding week.

Please remember that “open and transparent” IMEA does not provide us with recordings of the IMEA board meetings, and there is no requirement for IMEA to do so under current law.  When we advocate for public planning and transparency, showing up at board meetings can serve as an important sign that our actions match our words. You would then also have the opportunity to “trust but verify” these highlights reports.

Thanks.

Greg