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NATIONAL WIND
COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE

HIGHLIGHTS

March 1, 2007

DATES TO REMEMBER
Midwest Transmission Workshop VI Meeting Summary – The final meeting summary from the 6th Midwest Transmission Workshop, held December 4-5th in Bloomington, MN is now available on-line at http://www.nationalwind.org/events/transmission/midwest/2006/default.htm.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Wildlife Workgroup Call
March 14, 2:30 pm ET

Transmission Workgroup Call,
March 20, 2:00 pm ET

Working Groups

Nocturnal Methods & Metrics Subgroup Call
March 6 @ 2:00 pm ET

Western Transmission Leadership Group Call
March 8, 4:30 pm ET

SPP Transmission Planning Committee Call
March 13, 3 pm ET

Midwest Transmission Planning Committee Call
March 15, 3 pm ET
 

NWCC EVENTS

To be announced

MAGIC MOMENTS

Updated Calendar of Events: click here

NWCC STAFF CONTACTS

Katie Kalinowski
Outreach Coordinator
(202) 965-6383
kkalinowski@resolv.org

Madeleine West
Program Associate
(202) 965-6216
mwest@resolv.org

NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES
WILDLIFE:

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Gaps Subgroup – The Department of Energy is taking into consideration the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group and technical advisor feedback on research priorities as it decides how to direct available research funds. Results of the prioritization survey were distributed to Wildlife Workgroup Core Group members.

Grassland and Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) – Final edits to the grassland songbirds monitoring protocol are completed and will be made available as a resource on the NWCC website in the near future after final approval.

The Ornithological Council is currently finalizing the GS3C literature review based on feedback from the literature review advisors of the GS3C.

The Kansas State University research team investigating the potential impact of wind power on prairie chickens submitted its first annual report to the GS3C. The second field season is getting underway soon, with data collected at 3 experimental sites, each with its own control site.

Mitigation Toolbox- Subgroup members have submitted final comments on the mitigation toolbox. A finalized version will be sent to the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group for approval.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics –The Subgroup has developed an independent expert review process for the primer on nocturnal methods and metrics for studying wind interaction with birds and bats, which has been approved by Core Group members. The next conference call is scheduled for March 6th to discuss the 2nd draft of the document and plans for the independent review.

Risk Assessment – On their last call, the subgroup discussed an outline for a workshop to explore the application of a risk assessment framework to wind development. NWCC staff is revising the workshop outline, based on subgroup comments, for discussion on the next conference call. Scheduling forms for the next call will be sent out shortly.

NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting VI – Presentations from this meeting are on the NWCC website at http://www.nationalwind.org/events/wildlife/2006-3/default.htm.  Proceedings are being written and will be posted at this site once completed.

The next Wildlife Workgroup call is scheduled for March 14, 2007 at 2:30pm ET. Please mark your calendars.

TRANSMISSION:

West – The Western Transmission Leadership Group (WTLG) is discussing possible topics and speakers for its next western transmission workshop. The workshop will likely be held in September 2007.

On February 2nd, the NWCC and Western Governors’ Association (WGA) jointly held a webinar on conditional firm and redispatch transmission products. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule amending its open access transmission tariff (OATT) with “adoption of a ‘conditional firm’ component to long-term point-to-point service and reform of existing requirements for the provision of redispatch service.” A FERC press release on the OATT final rule is available here. For the NWCC/WGA webinar presentations and factsheets on the transmission products, please go to http://www.nationalwind.org/events/webinar/default.htm. 

The first issue of NWCC’s Implementing Wind Energy & Transmission in the West newsletter is now available at http://www.nationalwind.org/workgroups/transmission/newsletter/default.htm. The newsletter covers recent developments such as California ISO work on removing barriers to wind power, release of the final rule on Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) in Texas, and more! The newsletter will be released quarterly in cooperation with the Western Governors’ Association (WGA).

Midwest – Early planning is underway for a workshop exploring challenges and opportunities of 20% wind energy across the Midwest ISO footprint. More information will be made available in future updates.

The final meeting summary from NWCC Midwest Transmission Workshop VI held on December 4-5, 2006 in Bloomington, MN is now online at http://www.nationalwind.org/events/transmission/midwest/2006/default.htm. 

SPP – The SPP transmission planning committee is working on a draft workshop agenda. The meeting is envisioned for the fall and a planning call is scheduled for March 13th to further develop the meeting concept.

Transmission Updates – NWCC is coordinating with its members to plan a webcast on FERC Order 890, the final rule amending FERC’s open access transmission tariff. The webcast will replace the transmission update scheduled for March 13 at 1 pm ET. More information on this Order 890 webcast will be made available soon through the Transmission Update and Workgroup listservs and on the NWCC website. To be added to these lists, please contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org. 

Workgroup Call - The next Transmission Workgroup call is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20th at 2 pm ET and the next Transmission Update call is to be announced.