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NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COMMITTEE |
HIGHLIGHTS
June 15, 2005
DATES TO REMEMBER
NWCC Midwestern Transmission Workshop: The Midwestern Transmission Workshop will be held June 22, 2005 at the MISO Center in St. Paul, MN. The meeting will engage utilities, state and federal regulators, advocates, wind developers, and others in linking long term transmission planning with short term challenges facing wind. If you have not done so yet, please register online.
NWCC Siting Case Studies: Please provide comments on the NWCC Siting Case Studies: Community Response document before June 17th. This is the final step before finalization of the case studies as a resource document. The document is available here.
NWCC Wildlife Workgroup Call Time Change: Please note that the Wildlife Workgroup call on June 16 has been moved to one hour earlier, 1 pm EDT.
NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS
Siting Workgroup Call
June 15 @ 2:00 pm ET
Wildlife Workgroup Call
June 16 @ 1:00 pm ET
NWCC Steering Committee Call
June 30 @ 1:00 pm ET
Working Groups
Midwest Transmission Subgroup
June 6 @ 11:00 am ET
SPP Transmission Subgroup
June 14 @ 2:00 pm ET
NWCC MEETINGS
Midwestern Transmission Meeting
June 22, 2005 - St. Paul, MN
SPP Transmission Issue Forum
Sept.19, 2005 - Topeka, KS
NWCC Business Meeting 36
October 20, 2005 - Lansing, MI
NWCC Technical Siting Research Meeting
Nov. 2005, Washington, DC
MAGIC MOMENTS
Updated Calendar of 2005 Events: click here
NWCC STAFF CONTACTS
Miles Keogh
Outreach Coordinator
(202) 965-6209
mkeogh@resolv.org
Katie Kalinowski
Outreach Associate
(202) 965-6383
kkalinowski@resolv.org
NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES
The next Wildlife Workgroup call is Thursday, June 16 at 1 pm EDT. Note this is one hour earlier than previously scheduled.
Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:
Risk Assessment - The Risk Assessment Subgroup continues to plan a paper defining risk assessment, related models available, and application of risk assessment tools to wind development including wind development case studies.
Grassland/Shrub Steppe Species - An independent literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects will be conducted. Additionally, subgroup members are drafting separate research protocols for prairie grouse and songbirds. These protocols will be circulated among experts in the field for review and comment. A request for proposals to conduct the two research plans will be sought out and reviewed at a fall technical workshop. The fall workshop will also include presentations on the status of current research in this field. The Subgroup is seeking funding to conduct research. NWCC staff is creating a collaborative management structure and communication protocols for this Subgroup to operate as an independent entity, with the NWCC and RESOLVE offering organizational support.
Nocturnal Methods and Metrics - The Subgroup is reviewing alternatives for providing additional information on methods and metrics for studying the nocturnal activity of birds and bats to complement the NWCC publication Studying Wind Energy/Bird Interactions: A Guidance Document.
Mitigation Toolbox - As was decided at the Wildlife Workgroup meeting, this Subgroup is not active at this time
The NWCC Siting Case Studies: Community Response document has been made available for comment until June 17th. After comments have been received and incorporated, the case studies will be released as a NWCC resource document. The current document is available here.
In coordination with NCSL, the NWCC staff will be developing a series of state-by-state siting fact sheets that illustrate the variety of approaches taken at the state level to wind energy facility siting.
A planning committee is creating an agenda for the proposed November Technical Siting meeting, focusing on sound, visual, safety, and other impacts associated with wind development.
The Transmission Workgroup is preparing for the June 22, 2005 Midwest Transmission Workshop in St. Paul, MN to discuss activities in the MISO region that affect wind energy. The agenda, logistics, and online registration are available here. There is no registration fee for this meeting.
The next Bi-Monthly Transmission briefing call will be on June 14 at 1 pm EDT and will be made available here.
Transmission case studies for Lamar, CO, McCamey, TX, and Buffalo Ridge, MN are being reviewed by Transmission Workgroup members. Discussions are ongoing about directions for the California case study and commonalities analysis.
A meeting is being organized in Kansas for September 2005 to discuss transmission issues in the SPP. If you are interested in being on the planning committee, please contact Miles Keogh at mkeogh@resolv.org.
An Economic Development call was held on June 8. Call participants made suggestions for revising the ED Brief format, gave member updates, and discussed the possibility of NWCC sponsoring an economic development workshop. The latest ED Brief should be available on the NWCC website by July.
ED Brief Vol. 1 can be found here.