NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE

HIGHLIGHTS

April 15, 2007

DATES TO REMEMBER

Forum Webcast! - The first hour of the April 24th forum, featuring presentations on the national economic development impacts of wind energy, will be webcast. Presenters on the webcast include Marshall Goldberg, MRG & Associates; Susan Williams Sloan, American Wind Energy Association; and Larry Willey, GE. Follow this link for webcast log-in instructions and the forum agenda. The webcast begins at 1:00 pm ET (noon CT, 11 am MT, 10 am PT), ending at 2:00 pm ET.

Draft California Statewide Guidelines, Comment Period Extended to May 14 – On April 5 California Energy Commission published a revised version of the Draft California Statewide Guidelines for Reducing Impacts to Birds and Bats from Wind Energy Development. CEC is accepting comments on this second draft and has extended the comment period to May 14. In February, CEC staff briefed NWCC Wildlife Workgroup members on comments that had been received on the past version of the guidelines. A summary from the February webcast is available online.

Great Lakes Region Wind Coordination Group Scoping Session – On May 1st, NWCC is hosting a scoping session among stakeholders from the 8 Great Lakes states and Ontario to discuss interest in forming a group to address wind power topics at a regional level. For more information on this initial scoping session, please contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.

April Steering Committee Call Cancelled – Due to the NWCC Business Meeting on April 24th in Lansing, MI, the NWCC Steering Committee call scheduled for April 26th has been cancelled. The next call will be held on May 31st at 1 pm ET.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Steering Committee Call
May 31 @ 1:00 pm ET

Working Groups

Western Transmission Leadership Group Call
April 20 @ 1:00 pm ET

SPP Transmission Planning Committee Call
April 27 @ 2:00 pm ET

Wildlife Workgroup Call
May 9 @ 2:30 pm ET

NWCC EVENTS

Business Meeting #38
April 24, 2007 - Lansing, MI

WPA/NWCC Wind Energy & Economic Development 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:

NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting VI – Proceedings Now Available! Meeting proceedings have been finalized and are posted here. Presentations from the meeting are also available at that link.

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 and approved by the Core Group. It will be made available as a resource on the NWCC website in the near future.

The Ornithological Council has finalized the GS3C literature review. The draft is currently under review by literature review advisors of the GS3C. A final version is expected for release later this month.

Additional funds have been secured for the Kansas State University research project investigating the potential impact of wind power on prairie chickens. KSU researchers have begun the 2007 field season, and have submitted their first annual report to the GS3C Oversight Committee. Please click here for an overview of the GS3C, including project supporters and Oversight Committee members.

Mitigation Toolbox – The final version of the Mitigation Toolbox was sent to the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group for approval. Once some final edits are made, it will be available on the NWCC website.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics – Tom Kunz and his team of authors are incorporating the subgroup comments into a final version of the Nocturnal Method & Metrics manuscript. Options for peer review and publication of the manuscript have been presented to the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group and are awaiting final 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. A conference call is being scheduled this month to interview a potential workshop speaker.

Revisions have been made to the Draft Ecological Risk Assessment White Paper and the new version is available here on the NWCC website.

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

West – The Western Transmission Leadership Group (WTLG) continues planning for a September summit on integrating renewable energy into the western grid. Members of the geothermal and solar communities are participating in the planning group. As speakers are confirmed and a meeting venue secured, the meeting dates and other information will be announced and made available on the NWCC website. The next WTLG planning call is scheduled for April 20th.

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

Midwest – The Midwest transmission planning committee is now focusing on two meeting concepts for 2007, a transmission workshop in Indiana or Illinois and a forum in South Dakota on making transmission more accessible in that region. Both events are tentatively slated for this Fall; additional details will be made available as planning proceeds. The next planning call originally scheduled for April 18th is currently being rescheduled.

SPP – The SPP transmission planning committee continues to revise a draft agenda for a one-day workshop this August in Dallas. Invitations are going out to speakers before the date and location are confirmed. The committee meets again on April 27th.

Transmission Updates – On March 27th, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), Western Governors’ Association (WGA), and NWCC co-hosted a webcast on FERC Order 890 and what it means for the West. A webcast summary is under development and will be posted on the NWCC website once completed.

Workgroup Call - The next Transmission Workgroup call is scheduled for Tuesday, May 22nd at 2 pm ET and the next Transmission Update call is scheduled for June 19th at 1 pm ET.