Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting - August 20, 2025
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting - August 20, 2025
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the Denver City Council met on August 20, 2025, at 1:30 PM in Room 391 of the City & County Building. Chair Shontel Lewis presided. The committee considered two action items related to a major solar project at Denver International Airport (DEN) and received a briefing from the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency (CASR) on energy policy and decarbonization. All consent items were approved without discussion.
Consent Calendar
- Granting a revocable permit to Michiko Kizaki for encroachment into the right-of-way with elevated patios, canopy, and buried electrical line at 1501 South Pearl Street (Council District 7).
- Approving HIGH POINT SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 6, a subdivision plat located between High Point Blvd, E 72nd Ave, N Argonne St, and N Himalaya St (Council District 11).
- Amending a service agreement with Livable Cities Studio, Inc. to extend the contract by six months for landscape architectural design for Joseph P. Martinez Park Phase 1, with no change in agreement amount (Council District 3).
- Granting a revocable permit to Margaret Ann Ryan Sippel and Jeffrey M. Sippel for a 6-foot-tall cedar fence encroachment at 670 North Columbine Street (Council District 10).
Discussion Items
- Approval of Ground Lease and Power Purchase Agreement with Oak Leaf Solar 60 LLC: DEN CEO Phil Washington, Chief Construction and Infrastructure Officer Jim Starling, and Senior Vice President for Sustainability Scott Morrissey presented two linked contracts for an 18-megawatt solar array on approximately 90 acres north of the airfield. The ground lease is valued at $2,335,009 and the power purchase agreement at $47,473,937, both for 25 years. The project is expected to generate 31 million kWh annually, saving 17.5% compared to standard Xcel Energy rates. The speaker emphasized that the project is the largest solar array in the city and county of Denver and will be built adjacent to existing solar installations. Council members questioned the location (confirmed north side, outside security fence), decommissioning plan (bond required, city has flexibility), and performance specifications. The motion to approve passed with a second from Councilman Flynn and Councilman Hinds, followed by a roll call vote. After the vote, CEO Washington provided updates: the FAA's Part 139 inspection resulted in zero deficiencies (seventh perfect inspection in nine years), Fitch Ratings assigned a AA- rating to DEN's senior revenue bonds and A+ to subordinate bonds (highest ever), and the completion of Runway 17L/35R pavement rehabilitation.
- CASR Energy Briefing: Acting Deputy Executive Director Jonny Rogers and Senior Energy Policy Advisor Daniel Shea presented an overview of Denver's decarbonization strategy. They noted that energy and transportation account for 97% of Denver's core greenhouse gas emissions. Key points included the need to influence Xcel Energy's $50 billion in planned infrastructure investments using the $50 million Climate Protection Fund, the importance of electrification across all sectors, and progress through state regulatory processes (e.g., PUC). Specific achievements include doubling bill credits for poor service, $10 million for neighborhood-scale electrification pilots (Valverde area), and increased rebates for cold-climate heat pumps. Council members raised concerns about grid reliability, the cost of electrification for residents, Xcel's customer service, and the city's franchise agreement with Xcel. Councilman Flynn asked about the number of new substations planned (nine in the Denver Metro planning division over five years). Councilwoman Alvidrez questioned the impact of IRA credit phase-out and the status of municipal building audits. Councilman Hinds expressed worry about the feasibility of full electrification given current grid constraints and urged CASR to provide cost comparisons for converting buildings from gas to electric. CASR committed to follow-up on data and further briefings.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the Ground Lease Agreement (item 25-1187) and Power Purchase Agreement (item 25-1188) with Oak Leaf Solar 60 LLC for the 18 MW solar array at DEN. The motion was made by Councilman Flynn, seconded by Councilman Hinds, and passed by voice vote.
- Approved all four consent agenda items (25-1176, 25-1178, 25-1179, 25-1185) without objection.
- The committee acknowledged the DEN's FAA inspection results, credit rating upgrades, and runway project completion as informational updates.
- No formal votes were taken on the CASR briefing, but council members expressed interest in continued discussions on the franchise agreement, grid capacity, and electrification costs. CASR agreed to provide additional data and schedule follow-up briefings on municipal building energy performance and substation locations.
Meeting Transcript
It's time for this biweekly meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Denver City Council. Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Cashman, is this you? Okay, there we go. Good afternoon. My name is Chantel M. Lewis, and I represent the residents of District 8. Welcome to our Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Do you have around online? All right, right. Well, we'll start with you, Castle. Good afternoon. Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6. Great. Thank you. So we have one action item and we have one briefing. Our first action item is actually done by from the Denver International Airport. And so you all can do a round of introductions and get started. Phil Washington, CEO of Denver International Airport. Jim Sterling, I'm the Chief Construction and Infrastructure Officer. Scott Morrissey, the Senior Vice President for Sustainability. Thank you. We'll dive right in. Thank you. Well, first, uh, thank you everyone for being here and allowing us to talk about our latest solar program that we are presenting to you today. Um, I did want to start with just some high-level context about the airport's broader solar program. As you know, this is just one piece of our sustainability portfolio, um, includes everything from our ISO 14,001 environmental management system to our green building and infrastructure program to our energy performance contract to our stormwater and glycol um collection program to our waste reduction programs. But this really is part of our program that we are probably best known for across the country. Um, it is really one of the largest renewable energy programs of any airport within the entire world. Um, the vast majority of our solar portfolio is the kind of project that we're going to be talking about today, which is a ground mounted behind the meter um uh photovoltaic system. Um, but we have done a number of different programs over the course of the last several years to try to diversify our solar portfolio, including community solar gardens, both um ones that we've done independently and those that we've done with our partners in the climate office, um, as well as um concourse expansion rooftop solar that we installed as part of those programs. Um, we have a solar canopy at on the 61st and pain yeah parking lot, um, and we do subscribe to Excel Energy's Renewable Connect program, which allows us to access power from solar that's generated that just doesn't happen to be on the airport site. Um, but for this particular project and requested council action, um, we are requesting approval of two connected contracts to allow this solar project to move forward. Um, the first is a lease agreement. Um, both of these contracts are 25 years in the lease agreement and license as well as the power purchase agreement gives us the ability to have all of the approvals that we need to be able to implement this solar solution. Um so focused on the lease agreement itself. Um, there is a um defined rent that has been established at fair market value in um in accordance with FAA regulations. Um it is a 90-acre lease, so this will be the largest solar project that we've ever done um at Den. And um we believe it is also the largest solar project in the entire city and county of Denver. Um, and there is significant revenue that comes along with this. Um, in terms of the power purchase agreement, um, the power purchase agreement is the mechanism by which we actually purchase the solar that gets generated by this PV system. Um we have worked very hard over the course of the last 17 years now that we've been doing solar projects at the airport to make sure that we are um really focused to have to ensure that these are the best possible um financial investments for the airport to make, um, but also come with all of the environmental benefits that we're going to talk about. And so this particular project um again is a uh 17.5 uh I'm sorry, an 18 megawatt um uh PV system, um, but it comes with a 17.5% reduction on each kilowatt hour of electricity that gets purchased compared to um the typical um Excel rate tariff that we would otherwise be playing paying. And so we've really focused on this index approach. So rather than paying a specific rate, we have indexed it to the avoided cost of electricity to ensure that we get an immediate cost savings, but that that cost savings will persist over the entire 25-year term. You can see some of the energy benefits associated with it. But again, I would just point out this is a very large system projected to generate 31 million kilowatt hours of electricity, which even in the context of the airport in our operations is a is a significant amount. This project being a power purchase agreement, it is financed, designed, constructed, operated, and maintained by the solar developer.
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