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NATIONAL WIND
COORDINATING COMMITTEE

HIGHLIGHTS

March 15, 2006

DATES TO REMEMBER
Research on Wind Power & Prairie Chickens - The NWCC Grassland/Shrub Steppe Species (GS3) Subgroup is supporting a half million dollar research project on the potential impacts of wind power on prairie chickens. This project is collaboratively funded by the following parties: FPL Energy, Horizon Wind Energy, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, NREL, PPM Energy, TNC-Kansas, and TNC-Oklahoma. NREL and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are providing in-kind support. DISGEN, Greenlight Energy, and Horizon are opening proposed wind sites in Kansas to researchers. Principal investigators on the project are Drs. Brett Sandercock and Samantha Wisely from Kansas State University. NREL will provide Technical Monitor support and RESOLVE will continue to facilitate the GS3 Subgroup.

Business Meeting #36 Summary - The final summary for NWCC’s last business meeting, held Nov 30, 2005 in Washington DC, is now complete and available online.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Steering Committee Call
March 23 @ 1:00 pm ET

Transmission Workgroup Call
April 4 @ 2:00 pm ET

Wildlife Workgroup Call
April 7 @ 1:00 pm ET

Siting Workgroup Call
April 12 @ 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
Wildlife:

Presentations and handouts from the Feb 27-28 Wildlife Workgroup Core Group meeting are available online. A meeting summary is being drafted and will be posted at this site once completed.

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Grassland/Shrub Steppe Species (GS3) – The GS3 technical advisor continues to work with KSU researchers on refining the revised prairie chicken research approach before it goes to the GS3 Oversight Committee for final approval. This research is slated to begin in March.

All member positions on the GS3 Oversight Committee have been filled. Operating protocols for this group are nearing finalization.

The Ornithological Council is researching papers to include in its literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects. A first draft is expected in April.

The draft grassland songbirds monitoring protocol was made available to the Core Group at their February meeting. Wildlife Workgroup technical advisors will be sent this protocol for feedback. The protocol authors will review this information and provide a revised version to the GS3 Oversight Committee for review. Finally, 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 March Core Group meeting, including case studies on risk assessment use. A summary of this presentation is being drafted and will be posted on the NWCC website. A panel on risk assessment is also planned for the November 2006 NWCC Wildlife Research VI meeting. A revision of the white paper is not planned at this time, but it will be posted in draft form on the NWCC website.

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 - Further revisions to the mitigation toolbox draft workplan were made after the Core Group meeting. NWCC staff is reaching out to parties interested in collaborating on the mitigation 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. Revision of the draft agenda continues. Possible venues in Austin have been contacted regarding availability. For more information, contact Madeleine West at mwest@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 Madeleine West, mwest@resolv.org.

The next Wildlife Workgroup call is scheduled for April 7th, 1 pm ET. Please mark your calendars.
Siting:

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 have been sent to the planning committee for review and comment. 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.
Transmission:

The next Transmission Update call is scheduled for April 24, 1 pm ET. This call will focus on the U.S. Department of Energy’s work on identifying transmission corridors under Sections 368 and 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT). Speakers will include Larry Mansuetti and Julia Souder from, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, U.S.DOE. A brief on the last transmission update call, discussing the WGA’s CDEAC’s wind and transmission recommendations, is under development and will be made available here once finalized.

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 4-5 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.