NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COMMITTEE

HIGHLIGHTS

November 15, 2005

DATES TO REMEMBER

Registration now open - Nov 30, NWCC Business Meeting 36. Planning for 2006 activities and beyond will be the focus of the next NWCC business meeting. For the draft agenda, logistics, and online registration, click here.

Dec 1-2, Washington, DC: Technical Considerations in Siting Wind Energy: NWCC Research Meeting. This meeting will engage researchers and those involved in the permitting process for wind energy to review and discuss existing research, methods, and tools available to address non-wildlife related technical issues associated with siting and operation of wind energy systems. The registration fee is $200 and the draft agenda, logistics, and online registration are at online.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Wildlife Workgroup Call
November 16 @ 1:00 pm ET

Transmission Workgroup Call
November 17 @ 2:00 pm ET

Transmission Update Call
December 13 @ 1:00 pm ET

Working Groups

Risk Assessment Subgroup Call
November 22 @ 10:00 am ET

Grassland/Shrub Steppe Species Subgroup Call
November 28 @ 1:00 pm ET

NWCC MEETINGS

NWCC Business Meeting 36
Nov. 30, 2005 - Washington, DC

NWCC Technical Siting Research Meeting
Dec. 1-2, 2005, Washington, DC

MAGIC MOMENTS

Updated Calendar of 2005 Events: click here

NWCC STAFF CONTACTS

Katie Kalinowski
Outreach Associate
(202) 965-6383
kkalinowski@resolv.org

Madeleine West
Research Fellow
(202) 965-6216
mwest@resolv.org

NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES

Nov 16 is the next Wildlife Workgroup conference call. All interested parties are invited to take part, we will look to the core group for decisions and direction.

A planning committee is being formed for the 6th NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting, proposed for Fall 2006. Suggestions on meeting topics, location, or dates are encouraged; please send these ideas to Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Grassland/Shrub Steppe Species - A RFQ for the prairie chicken project is now complete and available here. Questions about responding to the RFQ may be directed to Katie Kalinowski, kkalinowski@resolv.org.

The Ornithological Council is signing the contract to write a literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects.

Comments on the grassland songbirds monitoring protocol have been provided to the protocol authors for their review.

Operating protocols for this subgroup have been drafted and are being revised based on member comments.

Risk Assessment - NWCC staff members are updating the subgroup’s draft white paper describing ecological risk assessment and its potential application to wind power. When the draft white paper is complete, a conference call or meeting will be convened to present it to the Wildlife Workgroup and the workgroup will decide how and whether it wishes to proceed in this area.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics - The subgroup convened a call to review the letter of intent received to write a companion document to the NWCC publication Studying Wind Energy/Bird Interactions: A Guidance Document. Subgroup members will share their recommendations on the Nov 16 Wildlife Workgroup call.

Verification of state-by-state siting factsheets guidelines with the appropriate parties in each state continues. A cover document to accompanying the factsheets is also under development. The factsheets will provide an overview of each state’s guidelines, model rules, or regulations that govern wind energy. For information about this project, please contact Madeleine West at mwest@resolv.org.

On Dec 1-2, NWCC is hosting a workshop in Washington, DC on technical considerations for siting wind facilities. The meeting will bring together researchers and those involved in the permitting process for wind energy to review and discuss existing research, methods, and tools available to address non-wildlife related technical issues associated with siting and operation of wind energy systems. Panels on sound, visual, safety, communications interference, and other impacts associated with wind development will be featured. More details are available here. A limited number of fee waivers will be available to state and local officials. For additional information, contact Katie Kalinowski, kkalinowski@resolv.org.

The next Transmission Workgroup conference call is November 17, 2 pm ET.

The October / November Transmission Update is now available. This update covers low voltage ride-through interconnection standard for wind turbines, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority's recent announcements on financing transmission, and changes happening in the west on Transmission Planning by the Seams Steering Group-Western Interconnect.

The meeting summary for NWCC’s “Wind Energy and Transmission in the Southwest Power Pool” workshop, held September 19th in Topeka, Kansas, is being prepared. Presentations and other meeting materials are already available at the above link.

45 people took part in NWCC’s first webcast of an issue forum, in addition to 25 participants in Lansing, MI. Presentations from this meeting on the relationship between wind energy and air quality are available online, and an issue brief on this topic is under development.