NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COMMITTEE

HIGHLIGHTS

March 1, 2006

DATES TO REMEMBER

Wildlife Workgroup Core Group Meeting – On February 27-28, 2006, NWCC hosted a meeting of its Wildlife Workgroup Core Group. Through a one-day workshop on ecological risk assessment and adaptive resource management frameworks, the Core Group decided to further revise the risk assessment white paper and make it available as a resource document on the NWCC website. Day 2 included an update on subgroup activities, discussion of the November 2006 wind power and wildlife research meeting, and a report on the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative research. Presentations and other information from the meeting will be posted online.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Wildlife Workgroup Call
March 8 @ 1:00 pm ET

Steering Committee Call
March 23 @ 1:00 pm ET

Working Groups

SPP Transmission Planning Call
March 16 @ 2:00 pm ET

Western Transmission Planning Call
March 17 @ 1:00 pm ET

Midwest Transmission Planning Call
March 20 @ 11:00 am ET

Environmental Caucus Call
March 27 @ 1:00 pm ET

NWCC MEETINGS

Wildlife Interaction with Wind Developments: Research Meeting VI
November 14-16, 2006
Texas

MAGIC MOMENTS

Updated Calendar of 2006 Events: click here

NWCC STAFF CONTACTS

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

Madeleine West
Program Associate
(202) 965-6216
mwest@resolv.org

NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Grassland/Shrub Steppe Species (GS3) – Research on the potential impacts of wind power on prairie chickens is slated to begin in March. A revised research approach is being reviewed by Karin Sinclair, the project’s technical monitor, and will be made available to the GS3 Oversight Committee for approval. Contributions from the project sponsors—FPL Energy, Horizon Wind Energy, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, PPM Energy, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service--are being transferred to the researchers at Kansas State University.

The GS3 Oversight Committee is providing feedback on the group’s operating protocols prior to their adoption. NWCC staff is coordinating with USFWS to fill their position on the Oversight Committee. Representatives for the other sectors--wind industry, federal management/research (USGS/USFWS), scientific academic, state agency – management/research, and NGO—have been established.

A database developed to assist with the literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects is being reviewed by members of the GS3 Subgroup. The Ornithological Council research team will refine this tool based on feedback received.

The draft grassland songbirds monitoring protocol was made available to the Core Group at their recent meeting. The songbird protocol will be made available to all Core Group members for review and possible release as a NWCC resource document.

Risk Assessment – Members of the Risk Assessment Subgroup presented their white paper on ecological risk assessment at the recent Core Group meeting, including case studies on risk assessment use. Case studies may be incorporated into the white paper itself. The subgroup plans to revise the white paper and proceed with making it available as a NWCC resource document.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics - A contract is now signed, so Dr. Tom Kunz and his technical team will begin drafting a primer on nocturnal methods and metrics for studying wind energy interaction with birds and bats.

Mitigation Toolbox - A draft workplan was discussed at the Core Group meeting. The plan is to build upon the workplan and determine next steps of action for developing the toolbox. For more information or to become involved, contact Madeleine West at mwest@resolv.org.

The 6th NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting will be November 14-16, 2006 in Austin, Texas. Review and discussion of the draft agenda occurred at the Core Group meeting and a follow-up call is being scheduled with the planning committee. For more information, contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.

Wind/Wildlife Activities and Events Electronic Table – For the latest on wind/wildlife related research, meetings, papers, and more, check out our electronic table available here. If you have a new item or update to add to this table, please contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.

The next Wildlife Workgroup call is scheduled for March 8, 2 pm ET. Please mark your calendars.

Final edits are being made to the state-by-state siting fact sheets, with the Steering Committee having a final opportunity for review before its release as a NWCC resource document. For information about this project, please contact Madeleine West at mwest@resolv.org.

The Siting Workgroup is considering expanding its 2006 workplan to include a meeting convening regulators and legislators in a region to share information and ask questions about wind power siting issues. This idea will be explored further with WPA, NCSL, and NARUC staffs.

Draft proceedings from the December NWCC workshop on technical considerations for siting wind facilities are under review. The final proceedings will be made available here. Speaker presentations are already available at this site.

The next Siting Workgroup call is scheduled for April 12th, 1 pm ET. Please mark your calendars.

The most recent Transmission Update call dealt with the status of the Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee (CDEAC) transmission and wind reports, with updates provided by Rich Halvey, Western Governors Association; Tom Carr, Western Interstate Energy Board; Ron Lehr, American Wind Energy Association; and others. A brief based on this call is under development and will be made available here.

Planning is underway for 2006 NWCC regional transmission meetings. The first meeting anticipated would occur the week of July 17th and center around formation of implementation strategies for the recommendations made by CDEAC and the Western Governors on wind energy and transmission. A late summer SPP transmission meeting is in the works on funding economic transmission projects and lessons learned from wind transmission strategies employed by other regions. December 4-6 is the tentative time for a meeting with Midwest decision makers to talk about transmission policy in their region. Expect more information on these events in coming months. If you would like to participate in the planning committees for any of these regions, contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.

The next Transmission Workgroup call is scheduled for April 4th, 2 pm ET. Please mark your calendars.