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NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE |
HIGHLIGHTS
August 1, 2007
DATES TO REMEMBER
New Wildlife Workgroup Subgroups- The Wildlife Workgroup has initiated two new subgroups. The first, to oversee updating of the Birds & Bats Factsheet and Methods & Metrics document, will begin its activities shortly. The second, to oversee planning for the 2008 Research Meeting, will commence in mid-September. Anyone interested in joining these groups should please contact Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org. The wildlife section of our mid-August update will be redesigned to feature the currently active Wildlife Workgroup subgroups.
Register now for SPP Transmission Workshop III!- Nearly 50 people are already registered to attend NWCC's third Southwest Power Pool wind and transmission workshop on August 22nd in Dallas, TX. Click here to check out the agenda and register. An exciting program is planned, including reports on the EHV Overlay study, X-Plan, and Kansas Electric Transmission Authority, expert panels on transmission financing, wind integration lessons learned, and strategizing about how to get more wind to load. The latest addition is a lunch session on environmental considerations of transmission development.
Updated plans for Nov 13-14 Wildlife Workgroup Meeting- The Wildlife Workgroup will now devote an entire day, Nov 13th, to a workshop on methods for assessing probability of impact to wildlife from wind power development. Core Group business will be discussed on Nov 14th. More details on both events will be made available in the coming months.
Increasing Renewable Energy in the Western Grid Summit- On Sept. 27-28, the Western Governors' Association, Geothermal Energy Association, and NWCC will host the summit Increasing Renewable Energy in the Western Grid in Ft. Collins, CO. Transmission access and availability for wind, geothermal, and solar energy will be discussed. Confirmed speakers include Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, FERC Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff, and many other energy leaders. Check out the full draft agenda and sign up by visiting the meeting website here.
NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS
Steering Committee Call
August 23, 1:00 pm ET
Wildlife Workgroup Call
September 12, 2:30 pm ET
Transmission Workgroup Call
September 18, 2:00 pm ET
Working Groups
South Dakota Transmission Workshop Planning Call
August 1, 4 pm ET
Eastern Midwest Transmission Workshop Planning Call
August 3, 3:00 pm ET
Western Transmission Leadership Group Call
August 3, 4:00 pm ET
NWCC EVENTS
NWCC SPP Transmission Workshop III
August 22, Dallas, TX
WGA / NWCC /GEA Increasing Renewable Energy in the Western Grid Summit
September 27-28, Ft. Collins, CO
NWCC Probability of Impact Workshop
November 13, Denver, CO
NWCC Wildlife Workgroup Fall Meeting
November 14, Denver, CO
NWCC Wind Energy & Transmission: The South Dakota Landscape meeting
November 29-30, Sioux Falls, SD
MAGIC MOMENTS
Updated Calendar of Events: click here
NWCC STAFF CONTACTS
Katie Kalinowski
Outreach Coordinator
(202) 965-6383
kkalinowski@resolv.org
Taylor Kennedy
Program Associate
(202) 965-6392
tkennedy@resolv.org
NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES
Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:
Grassland and Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) - The research project at Kansas State University investigating possible impacts of wind energy development on prairie chickens has begun its second year, and the GS3C has updated its Media Advisory accordingly. Once finalized, the media update will be made available on the NWCC website.
Technical edits to the literature review have been completed and returned to the Ornithological Council for consideration. NWCC staff will circulate an announcement once the document has been posted online.
Mitigation Toolbox - The Wildlife Workgroup discussed and agreed to a proposed approach for periodically updating the Mitigation Toolbox on the July 18 Wildlife Workgroup call. NWCC staff will circulate a call for updates to the toolbox every 6 months. Responses will be discussed by the group, compiled by NREL, and inserted into the document for approval by the group before the document is reposted. Having achieved its goal, the subgroup will now cease to be active but will reconvene every 6 months for updates. Volunteers interested in participating in update oversight should contact Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org.
Nocturnal Methods and Metrics - The Nocturnal Method & Metrics manuscript has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Wildlife Management's fall issue. Once published, the article will also appear on the NWCC website. With its task finished, this subgroup is now inactive.
Research Priorities Subgroup - Wind power and wildlife research priorities released over the course of 2007 are being compiled. A proposal for how to reorganize the NWCC research priorities white paper to include this new information is anticipated on the September Wildlife Workgroup call. The updated white paper is envisioned to represent cross-stakeholder, collective thinking about priorities and help inform research investment decisions.
Risk Assessment - The Risk Assessment subgroup will now cease activity. A small group of volunteers will continue planning for the NWCC's November 13 Probability of Impact Workshop.
The next Wildlife Workgroup call has been scheduled for September 12, 2007 at 2:30pm ET.
Midwest - A subset of the South Dakota transmission workshop planning committee made a thorough edit of the draft workshop agenda. The full planning committee will review and discuss the updated agenda on their August 1st call. The workshop is scheduled for Nov 29-30 in Sioux Falls, SD; please hold these dates on your calendar.
A meeting on wind energy and transmission in the Eastern Midwest, featuring Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, is being planned for January 2008. Representatives of the various states and sectors are being recruited for the planning committee. If you would like to be involved in the planning process, please contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.
SPP - Registration is open for SPP Transmission Workshop III, August 22, 2007 in Dallas, TX. Visit the meeting website here for the draft agenda, hotel reservation information, and online registration. NWCC staff is holding coordination calls with workshop speakers. Also, sponsors are now being sought for this event. If your organization is interested in being a sponsor, please contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.
West - The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), Western Area Power Administration, and WestConnect are the latest organizations to commit as sponsors for the Sept 27-28 renewable energy summit in Ft. Collins, CO. Other sponsors to date include the Clean Energy States Alliance, Horizon Wind Energy, Interwest Energy Alliance, National Conference of State Legislatures, and Trans-Elect, along with event hosts NWCC, the Western Governors' Association, and the Geothermal Energy Association. If your organization is interested in sponsoring this or other NWCC workshops, please contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.
Check our exciting group of speakers and register to attend on the NWCC website here. This year's event features wind, solar, and geothermal, a unique opportunity to focus in on how transmission influences growth of these resources in the West.
The third issue of NWCC's Implementing Wind Energy & Transmission in the West quarterly newsletter is due out in August. Suggestions for articles are welcome; please contact Katie Kalinowski, kkalinowski@resolv.org, with ideas. The first two newsletters volumes are available online. To join the newsletter mailing list, please contact Katie Kalinowski.
Transmission Updates - A summary of the June 19th Transmission Update call, describing CAISO's new transmission category for "locationally constrained resources" and the Texas PUC docket on implementing competitive renewable energy zones (CREZ) is being finalized for distribution. The next update call will be in September; the date and time will be announced soon.
Workgroup Call - The next Transmission Workgroup call is scheduled for Tuesday, September 18th, 2:00 pm ET; the next Transmission Update call will be scheduled for September.