Department: County Administration
Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez, County Administrator
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Grant
Project ID (if applicable):
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Office of County Administration for approval to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Energy for grant funds in the amount of $6,000,000, with a required match of up to $2,571,429, for the Harris County Virtual Power Plant (HCVPP) Program.
end
Background and Discussion:
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EERE), the purpose of the DOE’s Connected Communities 2.0: Innovations to Manage Growing Transportation, Building, and Industrial Loads to the Grid funding opportunity is to validate technology in real world situations and share outcomes in ways that will enable these practices to be replicated by other jurisdictions and to inform technical assistance and stakeholder engagement. This funding opportunity will support research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) at the grid edge - the portion of the electric grid between the feeder and the plug - to evaluate how to right size future electricity infrastructure using various technical measures, which can also improve customer benefits and grid resilience.
Connected Communities 2.0 has three primary goals for the cohort of awarded projects:
1) Demonstrate how smart and coordinated management of EVs and other Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), including the integration of efficiency, smart electrical panels, solar, heat pumps, controls, EV charging, and storage can together provide grid support, reduce system costs, and improve the economics of customer technology adoption, at a scale sufficient to enable confidence in wide-scale adoption; 2) Demonstrate approaches that enable acceptance by utilities, PUCs, and communities of smart charge management, technical measures at the grid edge, and innovative planning strategies as valid methods towards right sizing investments in the distribution system; and 3) Demonstrate approaches towards improved resilience for communities, end-use customers, and the overall grid in the face of growing loads, extreme weather events, cyber threats, and increasing reliance on the electric grid through the use of grid edge technical measures.
Expected Impact:
The goals of the HCVPP program are to enhance grid resilience, reduce energy costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enable electrification of Harris County facilities, prepare the grid for new and emerging loads, and develop a scalable model for Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) across the Greater Houston Area. DOE funding will go towards the design, validation, and deployment of an AI-driven framework to optimize the management of electricity consumption and Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) (e.g. solar panels, battery storage, EV chargers, etc.) across 18 county facilities, including community centers and libraries. Harris County, as the lead, will be collaborating with the following subrecipients to deliver the HCVPP program: CenterPoint Energy, the University of Houston, Rice University, and the Power Systems Engineering Department at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The period of performance will be for 60 months. There is a required 30% cost share match, which could be up to $2,571,429 for this grant. This cost match will occur in FY26 or later and consist of a combination of capital funds, staff time for Harris County and partners, such as the University of Houston and CenterPoint Energy.
Alternative Options:
To not submit this grant proposal and seek funding elsewhere.
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
X Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
N/A |
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Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
Harris County Virtual Power Plant (HCVPP) |
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
|
|
Existing Budget |
|
|
|
|
|
Commercial Paper |
$ |
$2,571,429 |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Current Budget |
$ |
$2,571,429 |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
Grant |
$ |
$6,000,000 |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$6,000,000 |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Funding Request |
$ |
$8,571,429 |
$ |
$ |
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
|
Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Additional Positions Request |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 10/8/24
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): N/A
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Lisa Lin, Director, Office of Sustainability, Office of County Administration; Carlos Hernandez, Sustainability Manager, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable): Grants Documents