NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE

HIGHLIGHTS

March 15, 2007

DATES TO REMEMBER

Save the Date! April 24th, NWCC Business Meeting #38 & Issue Forum – The first 2007 NWCC business meeting will be on Tuesday, April 24th in Lansing, Michigan. That afternoon, Wind Powering America and NWCC will co-host an issue forum on economic development and manufacturing opportunities of wind power development. Details on the meeting venue and registration are being finalized; more details will be announced soon.

Announcements from the U.S. Department of Interior: Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee & MMS Alternative Energy EIS – The Secretary of the Interior recently announced a new Federal Advisory Committee to provide “advice and recommendations” to the Department of the Interior in “developing effective measures to avoid or minimize impacts to wildlife and their habitats.” The Federal Registry announcement of this Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee is available here.

The DOI Minerals Management Service has announced the availability of its draft OCS Alternative Energy and Alternate Use Programmatic EIS. The draft Programmatic EIS looks at development of wind power and other alternative energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and is available online. A 60 day comment period is now open; details on submitting comments are here.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

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

NARUC/WGA/NWCC Webcast on FERC Order 890
March 27 @ 1:00 pm ET

Steering Committee Call
March 29 @ 1:00 pm ET

Working Groups

Western Transmission Leadership Group Call
March 16 @ 4:00 pm ET

SPP Transmission Planning Committee Call
March 26 @ 1:00 pm ET

Midwest Transmission Planning Committee Call
March 27 @ 9:00 am ET

GS3C Call
April 9 @ 11:00 am ET

NWCC EVENTS

Business Meeting #38 & Issue Forum
April 24, 2007 - Lansing, MI

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

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Gaps Subgroup – This subgroup is on hold until the results of current national research efforts are available.

Grassland and Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) – The grassland songbirds monitoring protocol has been finalized within the GS3C; it 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. A final version is expected for release in April.

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

Mitigation Toolbox – The Mitigation Toolbox is currently receiving a final technical edit. The final version will be sent to the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group for approval.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics – Subgroups members are reviewing the 2nd draft of the Nocturnal M&M document and will submit comments by March 20th. Plans are underway for peer review/publication of the document. Options for review/publication will be presented to the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group for approval.

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 and beginning to solicit potential workshop participants. Revisions are also underway to the NWCC draft white paper on ecological risk assessment and the new version will be posted on the NWCC website once completed.

NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting VI – Presentations from this meeting are online. Proceedings are being written and will be posted at this site once completed.

The next Wildlife Workgroup call is scheduled for May 9, 2007 at 2:30pm ET. Please mark your calendars.

West – Western Transmission Leadership Group (WTLG) members put together a draft agenda for a September summit on integrating renewable energy into the western grid and are extending invitations to speakers. As speakers confirm their availability, the meeting dates will be announced and a draft agenda made available on the NWCC website.

The first issue of NWCC’s Implementing Wind Energy & Transmission in the West newsletter was distributed in February and is available here. 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). The next newsletter is due out in May.

Midwest – The Midwest transmission planning committee is exploring meeting possibilities to discuss integrating large amounts of wind into the eastern interconnection. As their plans evolve, more information will be provided.

SPP – The SPP transmission planning committee met on March 13th and continued revising a draft workshop agenda. The planning committee is still considering possible meeting dates between July and September. The committee will meet again on March 26th.

Transmission Updates – The FERC Order 890 webcast is being held in place of the March Transmission Update. The next Transmission Update will be announced at a future date.

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.