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NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE |
HIGHLIGHTS
August 15, 2007
DATES TO REMEMBER
SPP Transmission Workshop III Only 1 Week Away!- Space is still available for NWCC's upcoming workshop on wind and transmission in the Southwest Power Pool region. The workshop is on August 22nd in Dallas, TX and over 75 participants are registered. Click here. to check out the agenda and sign up to attend. An exciting program is planned, including reports on the EHV Overlay study, X-Plan, and CREZ, expert panels on transmission financing, wind integration lessons learned, and strategizing about how to get more wind to load.
Governors Freudenthal and Ritter Speaking at Sept. Summit- Wyoming governor Dave Freudenthal and Colorado governor Bill Ritter are confirmed to speak at the WGA / NWCC / GEA summit Increasing Renewable Energy in the Western Grid. The governors will address business strategies and public policies for energy and climate security, joined by utility and regulatory leaders. Check out the full summit agenda and register to attend by visiting the meeting website here.
Updated GS3C Media Advisory- The Grassland and Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) distributed an updated media advisory on the status of the research on the potential impacts of wind power development on greater prairie chickens. The media advisory is available 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
Western Transmission Leadership Group Call
August 21, 3 pm ET
South Dakota Transmission Workshop planning Call
August 27, 3 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) - Kansas State University has begun its second year of research investigating potential impacts of wind energy development on prairie chickens. It released a Media Update to alert the community to this and other details of the project. The update is available on the NWCC website here.
The Ornithological Council has provided its final round of edits to the literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects. Reviewers are consulting on a few remaining issues and will soon deliver the final version for technical editing. Once complete, the document will be posted online and NWCC staff will circulate an announcement.
Probability of Impact - A volunteer committee is helping plan the Nov 13th workshop on methods for assessing probability of impact to wildlife from wind power development. A draft workshop agenda will be made available soon.
Research Meeting VII Planning Committee - Planning for the 2008 Wildlife Research Meeting will commence shortly. Those interested in joining the planning process should contact Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org.
Research Priorities Subgroup - Information from several wind power and wildlife research priorities processes will be compiled and circulated to the Wildlife Workgroup for its September call. This document will inform a discussion of a reorganization strategy and timeline for revising the research priorities white paper. The updated white paper is envisioned to represent cross-stakeholder, collective thinking about priorities and help inform research investment decisions.
RfP Oversight Subgroup - Volunteers have reviewed and commented on two RfPs requesting updates to the Methods & Metrics document and the Birds & Bats factsheet. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is reviewing and incorporating this input prior to the RfPs' distribution.
Wind/Wildlife Activities & Events Table - This tool for tracking wind power and wildlife-related studies and meetings was updated this month and is available online.
The next Wildlife Workgroup call is scheduled for September 12, 2007 at 2:30pm ET.
Midwest - The South Dakota transmission workshop planning committee continued revising its draft workshop agenda. Invitations to speakers are expected to go out beginning in September and the draft agenda will be made available on the NWCC website at that time. 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. The next planning call for this group will be scheduled for September.
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 is pleased to announce the following co-sponsors for the Dallas workshop: Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, OG&E Wind Power, PPM Energy, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
West - Wind, solar, and geothermal energy will be featured at the Increasing Renewable Energy in the Western Grid summit on Sept 27-28 in Ft. Collins, CO. The Western Governors' Association, NWCC, and the Geothermal Energy Association are hosting the summit. See the speaker lineup and register to attend on the NWCC website here.
The Bonneville Power Administration, GE, and National Grid are as the newest summit sponsors, joined by the Clean Energy States Alliance, Horizon Wind Energy, Interwest Energy Alliance, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, National Conference of State Legislatures, Trans-Elect, Western Area Power Administration, and WestConnect.
The third issue of NWCC's Implementing Wind Energy & Transmission in the West quarterly newsletter is due out at the end of this month. The first two newsletters volumes are available online. To join the newsletter mailing list, please contact Katie Kalinowski, kkalinowski@resolv.org.
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.