FSEC Advisory Board Meeting

October 24, 2024
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
In-Person Meeting with Remote Option via GoToMeeting

Time	Description	Speaker
9:30 a.m.	Welcome	Jen Szaro, Chair, FSEC Advisory Board; President & CEO, AESP
9:40 a.m.	Introductions – Advisory Board Members Roll Call	Sherri Shields, Director, Communications & Marketing, FSEC
9:40 a.m.	Approval of May 10, 2023 Minutes	Jen Szaro, Chair
9:45 a.m.	Status of FSEC Programs	James Fenton, Director, FSEC
10:30 a.m.	Florida Energy Office Report	Brooks Rumenik, Director, Office of Energy, FDACS
10:40 a.m.	Florida Legislative Session Report	Louis Rotundo, Principal, Louis Rotundo and Associates
10:50 a.m.	50th Anniversary Celebration	Sherri Shields, Director, Communications & Marketing, FSEC
11:00 a.m.	Break
11:10 a.m.	M2X Research and Manufacturing at FSEC	Paul Yelvington, Chief Technology Officer, M2X
11:40 a.m.	Research and Ecological Findings from Floating Solar Research Project	Manjunath Matam, Assistant Research Professor, FSEC Rebecca Hernandez, Associate Professor of Ecology, Energy, and Sustainability, UC Davis
12:10 p.m.	New Business Date and Agenda for Next AB Meeting	Jen Szaro, Chair
12:30 p.m.	Adjourn for Lunch

Attendance

Presenters

James Fenton, Director, FSEC
Brooks Rumenik, Board Member – Director, Office of Energy FDACS
Louis Rotundo, Board Member – Principal, Louis Rotundo and Associates
Paul Yelvington, Chief Technology Officer, M2X
Manjunath Matam, Assistant Research Professor, FSEC
Rebecca Hernandez, Associate Professor of Ecology, Energy, and Sustainability, UC Davis
Emma Forester* – PhD Student, UC Davis

Board Members
Carrie Black*, Orange County Government; Brian Donnelly*, Publix Super Markets, Inc;  Jason Gaschel*, FPL; Bill Grieco, Innventure, LLC; Jeff Juger, Jinko Solar Inc.; Karen Kicinski*, Lifestyle Homes Builders; Justin Kramer, Orlando Utilities Commission; Bruce Lindsay*, Trane Technologies; Tony Norrow*, Universal Orlando Resort;  Louis Rotundo, Rotundo and Associates; Brooks Rumenik, Office of Energy FDACS; Susan Schumann*, Florida Municipal Power Agency; Kelley Smith Burk, HTNB; Jennifer Szaro, AESP; Tamara Waldmann*, Duke Energy Florida;

Guests
Des Carlisle, Southeast Hydrogen Energy Alliance; Johnson Chen, M2X Energy; Benajmin Cross*, Nusynergy Energy; Sandra Leone, City of Satellite Beach; Alexander Mack*, State of Florida; Roger Messenger*, VB Engineering; Ben Millar, Jinko Solar; Tony Morgan*, Office of Energy FDACS; Joseph Pietrzak*, Duke Energy; Ashley Perez, City of Orlando; Dave Robau*, Gulf Coast Energy Network; Pankaj Sharma, Purdue University; Benjamin Yoakum, Orange County Government

FSEC, Faculty, UCF Staff
Zhipeng Deng, Philip Fairey, James Fenton, Hamed Haggi, Colleen Kettles*, Manjunath Matam, Robyn McCarl, Dan Morris*, Nazim Muradov, Elizabeth Myron*, Bereket Niguesse*, Karthick Panchabikesan*, Garrett Priesser, Daniel Ramirez, Richard Raustad*, Emily Rawley*, Joshua Roney*, Winston Schoenfeld, Hubert Seigneur*, Sherri Shields, M.J. Soileau, Kelly Stevens*, Cheryl Suter Thorn*, Muthsamy Swami, Rob Vieira, Zhongyang Wang*, Nick Waters*, Charles Withers

Attendance Total = 58
In-Person: 25
Virtual: 33
*Virtual attendees

DRAFT Meeting Minutes

1. Sherri Shields started roll call at 9:38 a.m. Board members and guests briefly introduced themselves.
2. Jen Szaro, the new FSEC Advisory Board Chair, presented the meeting minutes from April 24, 2024. Motion to approve was given by Kelley Smith Burk. Motion was seconded by Bill Grieco. Minutes were unanimously approved by voice vote.
3. Jim Fenton, director of FSEC, provided an Update of FSEC Programs. Updates were provided on FSEC contracts, partnerships, and research projects. Jim Fenton and FSEC researchers are actively working on solar energy research, zero emission goals, Florida electricity generation, and alternative fuels. The FSEC Executive committee shared updated 2024 data for the Strategic Plan Key Performance Indicators. This data finalized the Strategic Plan for 2020-2024. A new strategic plan will be drafted and shared to the Advisory Board members for their input.
4. Brooks Rumenik, director of the Florida Office of Energy, provided an Energy Office program update. The Florida Office of Energy received the state budgeting authority and can officially apply for Inflation Reduction Act funding, bringing $346 million to assist Floridians with energy efficiency upgrades using two rebate programs (HEAR and HOMES). A contract was executed with Ernst & Young for the planning and implementation of these programs.
   • HOMES Program: Florida’s Whole Home Rebates: This program is for single-family and multi-family households to receive discounts on efficiency upgrades. FDACS Application had not been made at the time of this meeting, but the tentative launch date is Fall 2025.
   • HEAR Program: Florida’s Home Electrification Program: This program is for low to moderate income households to purchase high-efficiency equipment. FDACS Application for this program was submitted to U.S. DOE on August 13, 2024 and the tentative launch date is early 2025. This program will also be known as the Florida Energy Saver Program.
     • U.S. DOE led technical assistance group to align the HEAR program with Weatherization (Florida Commerce Partnership). This partnership is to allow for a smooth application process for Floridian’s and a more efficient approach to utilizing the available funds.
     • Training Residential Energy Contractors Grant (TREC) (Florida Commerce Partnership): The purpose of this program is for training, testing and applying residential energy contractors. Colleen Kettles, FSEC, assisted with this partnership to benefit Florida’s workforce development.
     • Wastewater Treatment Facility Energy Efficiency Grant: For fiscally constrained communities. A notice of intent was planned for November 4^th, 2024, with the application deadline in February 2025. It is expected that 6 to 20 awards will be gifted between $250,000-$750,000.
5. Louis Rotundo, Louis Rotundo & Associates, provided an update on recently passed House Bill 479. House Bill 479 was created to “Authorize local governments to adopt alternative mobility plan & fee system.” Individual cities or counties will be fiscally responsible for capacity mitigation and cities/counties may decide what their mitigation looks like. Only local governments that issue building permits will collect the transportation impact fees. This was the biggest overhaul of growth management. This has created a golden opportunity for transportation to more efficiently move people around.
6. Garrett Preisser, Executive Director for Advancement for the University of Central Florida College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Sherri Shields spoke to board members and guests about fundraising as FSEC plans for their 50th anniversary in 2025. FSEC is planning several events and looked to Advisory Board members for suggestions to amplify celebrations.
7. A 5-minute break occurred. Jen Szaro called the meeting back to order.
8. Paul Yelvington, CTO of M2X Energy, shared a presentation that detailed how they “Repurpose stranded methane into low-carbon methanol”. M2X Energy and FSEC have a mutualistic relationship, which allows M2X Energy to research, operate and manufacture on the FSEC campus.
9. Manjunath Matam, FSEC, Rebecca Hernandez, University of California, Davis, and Emma Forester, University of California, Davis shared Key Findings from their Floating Solar Research Project. The purpose of this project was to determine if land or water photovoltaics were more efficient and to also study the impacts of floating PV on the aquatic ecosystems.
10. Bill Greico was honored for his service as the FSEC Advisory Board chair from 2022-2024.
11. The next FSEC Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 5^th, 2025. Additionally, FSEC will hold a 50^th anniversary celebration on Friday, June 6^th, 2025.
12. Jen Szaro adjourned the meeting at 12:30 P.M.