Electric transmission improvement and expansion currently ranks high on the national energy agenda, highlighting an opportunity to review current state and regional transmission planning processes. Building new transmission requires planning, paying for, permitting, and siting lines. In addition to traditional transmission planning, that focuses on reli¬ability and economics, new landscape-level, collaborative planning approaches have emerged to bring wildlife and other land use interests to the table early in the transmission planning process. This series of webcasts will address the state of the art landscape planning activities currently performed at state and regional levels.

Western Renewable Energy Zone initiative and Renewable Energy Transmission Access Advisory Committee
September 28, 2009

The third webinar featured the recently completed Phase 1 of the Western Governor’s Association (WGA) Western Renewable Energy Zone (WREZ) planning process-a significant multistage and stakeholder initiative. Leaders from the WGA, WREZ’s Technical Committee and work groups discussed the process and lessons learned. The recently released Phase II report of Nevada’s Renewable Energy Transmission Access Advisory Committee (RETAAC) was also featured.

• Watch the webinar

• Speaker presentations

  • Ron Lehr, American Wind Energy Association

  • Rich Halvey, Western Governors’ Association

  • Tom Darin, U.S. Department of Energy

  • Dan Schochet, Ram Power

  • Michael Hampton, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

• Summary: Coming soon

California Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative
August 24, 2009

RETI is is a statewide initiative to help identify the transmission projects needed to accommodate these renewable energy goals, support future energy policy, and facilitate transmission corridor designation and transmission and generation siting and permitting. Presenters provided detailed overviews of RETI, wildlife and habitat data incorporated into the zone identification process, and wind industry perspectives on the process.

• Watch the webinar

• Speaker presentations

  • Anne Gillette, California Public Utilities Commission

  • Carl Zichella, Sierra Club

  • Dariush Shirmohammadi, Shir Consultants

• Summary: Coming soon

State Renewable Energy Zone Planning: Arizona & Colorado
July 27, 2009

In the first webinar, participants sought to understand the purpose and goals of planning processes in Arizona and Colorado, as well as the challenges associated with data collection and the technical tools used to identify and classify zones.

• Watch the webinar

• Speaker presentations

  • Tom Darin, Western Resource Advocates

  • Greg Bernosky, Arizona Public Service & Amanda Ormond, The Ormond Group

  • Laura Canaca, Arizona Game and Fish Department

• Summary: Coming soon

Wildlife and Other Land Use Data in the Midwest and East
TBD

In anticipation of other renewable regional transmission planning projects, a fourth webinar will present wildlife mapping projects in the Midwest and East. This webinar will provide transmission planners in featured parts of the country with information about available resources for integration in their planning efforts.

Increasing Application through Technology
TBD

The fifth webinar will feature a panel of participants from the first four webinars to discuss lessons learned and future application of landscape level regional planning. This webinar will identify opportunities to apply lessons learned from the cases featured in the first four webinars to benefit future transmission planning initiatives.