NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE

HIGHLIGHTS

April 15, 2008

DATES TO REMEMBER

Texas LPC Habitat Webcast Summary now available! – On March 6th, Heather Whitlaw, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, gave a webcast presentation on study initiatives in Texas examining lesser prairie chicken habitat and grassland ecology in relation to wind energy development. A summary of this presentation is now available on the Wildlife Workgroup website.

Save the Date—Midwest Transmission Meeting July 30 – August 1 – The Midwestern Governors Association and the NWCC will present the meeting Midwestern Wind Energy: Moving It to Markets on July 30th – August 1, 2008 in the Detroit metro area. More details will be available soon, but please hold these days on your calendars!

Storage Webcast presentations online! – Over 80 people participated in NWCC’s recent webcast on what role storage may play in increasing wind power and how different storage technologies pair with wind power. The webcast presentations and a summary are available online here.

Take our Transmission Update survey! – Please help us ensure that the NWCC’s bi-monthly briefings on wind and transmission issues are accessible, valuable, and effective by taking our short line survey. Thanks!

Call for Wind-Wildlife Research Abstracts! – A call for abstracts has been distributed seeking presenters for Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII on October 27 – 29th in Milwaukee, WI. Visit the meeting website for more details; abstracts are due June 30th, 2008.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Transmission Update call
April 28, 2:00 pm ET

NWCC Steering Committee call
May 1, 1:00 pm ET

Transmission Workgroup call
May 13, 2:00 pm ET

Wildlife Workgroup call
May 14, 2:30 pm ET

Transmission Update call
May 20, 1:00 pm ET

Working Groups

Midwest Transmission planning committee call
April 22, 11am ET

NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES

Wildlife Workgroup Call Summary distributed – A summary of the March 19th Wildlife Workgroup call has been distributed to the Wildlife Workgroup listserv. To request a copy, or to add your name to the listserv, please contact Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org.

Grassland Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) - Researchers from KSU will review their 2008 1st quarter report with the GS3C on May 12th. On that call, the GS3C will also discuss whether to pursue activities relating to sage grouse.

Habitat Subgroup - A summary of the presentation by Heather Whitlaw, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is final and available on the NWCC website. Ms. Whitlaw discussed study initiatives exploring impacts of wind energy development on lesser prairie chickens in Texas.

Key Research Topics Subgroup - The Key Research Topics white paper almost finished. Once finalized, it will be submitted to the Wildlife Workgroup for approval and publication.

Mitigation Toolbox - The Mitigation Toolbox is currently undergoing its first, bi-annual update process. Stay tuned for notice of the finalized, updated version.

Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII - Planning continues for Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII, hosted by We Energies and sponsored by NWCC, BP Alternative Energy, NREL, Audubon Society, Union of Concerned Scientists, and AES Wind Generation, Inc. The meeting is scheduled for October 27-29th, 2008, in Milwaukee, WI, and will be followed by a Wildlife Workgroup meeting on October 30th. A call for abstracts of proposed presentations is now available on the meeting website. Abstracts are due on June 30th.

Wind/Wildlife Activities & Events Table - The NWCC wind power/wildlife studies, activities, and events table is available online. Please send information on wind-wildlife meetings, studies, or publications to Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org for inclusion in this table and the NWCC calendar.

Transmission Workgroup call rescheduled – Please be advised that the NWCC Transmission Workgroup call originally scheduled for May 20th at 2 pm ET has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 13th at 2 pm ET. The Transmission Update call on transmission financing remains on May 20th at 1 pm ET. Please update your calendars.

Midwest – The Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) will host the meeting Midwestern Wind Energy: Moving It to Markets, co-sponsored by the NWCC, on July 30 – August 1 in the Detroit metro area. Participants will discuss actions needed to implement the MGA energy security and climate stewardship platform, and explore steps for maximizing Midwestern wind power to achieve 20% wind power in the region and nationwide. Invitations are going out to speakers and a draft agenda will be publicly available soon. Stay tuned for more details on the logistics and registration.

The next Midwest Transmission planning committee is now Tuesday, March 22nd at 11 am ET instead of May 15th at the same time.

SPP – NWCC staff is checking in with Southwest Power Pool staff about opportunities to assist with regional wind and transmission issues.

West – The next Western Transmission Leadership Group call is being scheduled at this time.

The 5^th volume of NWCC’s Implementing Wind Energy & Transmission in the West quarterly newsletter is complete and online here, featuring over 15 news items.

Layperson’s Guide to Wind Integration – The first draft of this guide is being written and should go out soon to the guide’s advisory group.

Transmission Updates –Brad Nickell, US. Department of Energy and Paul Denholm, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, presented on NWCC’s Wind Power and Storage Webcast. Their presentations and a written summary are available through this link.

A Transmission Update focused on interconnection queues and plans for reforming and improving the queues is scheduled for Monday, April 28^th at 2 pm ET. Dennis Peters of the California ISO and Jennifer Curran of the Midwest ISO will present.

On May 20^th, NWCC’s Transmission Update will revolve around transmission financing. Gregory Ioanidis of ITC and Julie Voeck of ATC will discuss FERC’s approval of their petitions related to cost allocation for interconnecting large generators. Then Southwest Power Pool’s Jay Caspary will provide a progress report on whether SPP will develop a portfolio of transmission projects that can create benefits to all members and is beneficial to SPP as a whole, which would mean that the costs of transmission expansion, if developed, could be allocated to all load in the Southwest Power Pool.

NWCC is seeking feedback your feedback on these update calls and webcasts. Please take our brief online survey available here.