City Council Meeting Date: October 16, 2018
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: David E. Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Consider Approval of Xcel Energy Partners in Energy Memorandum of Understanding for Northfield Energy Action Plan.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council approves a Motion for a Memorandum of Understanding with Xcel Energy for assistance in the Partners in Energy Program.
Summary Report:
As part of the City's development of the Climate Action Plan that is underway, a core focus area within the plan is energy. To assist with the development and action steps for the energy section, the City has requested assistance from Xcel Energy to help facilitate this process.
The Partners in Energy (PiE) program is a two-year collaborative effort to develop and implement your city's energy plan goals. The first six-months includes a planning effort and goal identification process, and the next 18 months is working on implementation.
Attached is a PowerPoint from Xcel Energy that highlights more of the program and other key considerations as to why the City should participate in the program.
1) PiE allows the City to directly engage our utility provider in our energy plans.
2) The PiE process has worked for many comparable cities in our area (Winona, Faribault, Red Wing, etc.).
3) We are working with volunteers and a limited budget, the PiE program provides much-needed FREE facilitation to manage a complex subject like energy.
4) PiE gives the City direct access to data that will be needed for energy planning and carbon accounting.
5) The PiE comes to the table with a long list of lessons learned and vetted strategies that have worked in other places, which avoids reinventing the wheel (while still tailoring our solutions to Northfield).
6) This is not a monetary grant, it is a free service provided by Xcel.
Alternative Options:
N/A
Financial Impacts:
No initial direct impact to the City. ...
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