NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COLLABORATIVE

HIGHLIGHTS

August 15, 2008

DATES TO REMEMBER

Midwestern Wind & Transmission Conference Materials Online! – Presentations given at Midwestern Wind Energy: Moving It to Markets, on July 31 and August 1 in Dearborn, Michigan, are now online. The 2-day conference and introductory workshop, attended by nearly 200 people, featured a discussion about implementing the Midwestern Governors’ Association Energy Security and Climate Stewardship platform for the Midwest. A meeting summary is under development and will be made available on the NWCC website.

Wildlife Research Meeting Registration to Open in Early September – Registration for Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII will open during the first week of September. The meeting, sponsored by We Energies and co-sponsored by NWCC and other organizations, will be held in Milwaukee, WI, on October 28-29. An optional introductory workshop will be held on October 27th in the same location. Agendas for the meeting and the workshop are under development and will soon be available on the meeting website. Look for an announcement in the September 1 update with additional registration information.

Open Season Transmission Update Brief Now Available! The brief from the July 7th Transmission Update call on open season processes is now complete and is available on the NWCC website.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Transmission Update call
August 19, 1:00 pm ET

NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES

Grassland Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) – The GS3C will hold its next call on August 20th to discuss Kansas State University’s progress on its study of greater prairie chickens and wind energy. The group will also review plans for a GS3C meeting to be held October 27th in Milwaukee, to coincide with Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII. This meeting will focus on GS3C business, primarily whether to pursue activities relating to sage grouse.

Updates to Methods & Metrics Document – The committee overseeing updates to Studying Wind Energy/Bird Interactions: A Guidance Document has scheduled a workshop to provide a framework for the new document.

Outreach Audit – A questionnaire assessing the value of current NWCC Wildlife Workgroup outreach strategies and opportunities has been approved. It will be distributed to the Wildlife Workgroup in early September for completion. Responses will contribute to the development of a proposal for an improved outreach strategy.

Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII - Abstract evaluations for Wind Wildlife Research Meeting VII are currently being compiled. Speakers will soon be notified of their invitations to speak at the meeting, which will be held on October 28-29 in Milwaukee, WI. The meeting will be hosted by We Energies and co-sponsored by NWCC, BP Alternative Energy, Horizon Wind Energy, NREL, Audubon Society, Union of Concerned Scientists, AES Wind Generation, and DeTect, Inc. Additional parties interested in co-sponsorship should contact Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org. Meeting registration will open in early September.

Mitigation Toolbox – Bi-annual updates to the Mitigation Toolbox are currently on hold.

Wind/Wildlife Activities & Events Table – The NWCC wind power / wildlife studies, activities, and events table has been updated and is available online. Please send information on wind / wildlife meetings, studies, or publications to Taylor Kennedy at tkennedy@resolv.org for inclusion in this table and the NWCC calendar.

Midwest - Presentations from the July 31 – August 1 Midwestern Wind Energy: Moving It to Markets conference and the July 30th introductory workshop Why Wind Is a Power Generation of Choice in the Midwest are now available on the NWCC website. Work on finalizing the participant list and drafting a meeting summary is underway, and those materials will be posted on the website when complete. At this meeting, participants from throughout the region and the country, including Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, focused on ways to implement the Midwestern Governors Association Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform for the Midwest, as well as the Midwest’s potential to contribute to 20% wind power nationwide.

Transmission Updates – The Transmission Update brief from the July 7th call on open season financing is now available on the NWCC website. The brief from the July 7th call on open season financing is now available on the NWCC website. The brief features the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority’s open season process for transmission capacity on the proposed Wyoming-Colorado Intertie transmission line project, and the Bonneville Power Administration’s Network Open Season for generator interconnection requests. Specific topics covered in the brief include: 1) how it may be possible to help finance new transmission through open season pre-subscriptions; and 2) how a Network Open Season system may help facilitate interconnection processing and finance new transmission.

West – The prospects for a winter meeting are still uncertain; however, if the meeting is given the go-ahead, planning activities will likely resume in late August. The 6th volume of NWCC’s Implementing Wind Energy & Transmission in the West newsletter is undergoing final revisions and updates in accordance with a later August release date. Stay tuned for its release!

Layperson’s Guide to Wind Integration – Work on incorporating revisions into the draft portion of the layperson’s guide is currently on hold. The editing team will reconvene eat the end of August, and will then be able to provide further status updates.