NWCC NATIONAL WIND COORDINATING COMMITTEE

HIGHLIGHTS

August 1, 2006

DATES TO REMEMBER

Wind Power & Radar Presentations Available – Presentations from the July 27 NWCC Issue Forum on wind power and radar interaction are online. A written brief based on the forum is under development and will be posted on the same webpage.

Presentations from the NWCC / WGA Leadership Forum Also Online – Presentations, next steps, and the final participants list from the July 18-19 leadership forum on Western transmission co-hosted by NWCC and the Western Governors’ Association are on the web. The NWCC and Western Governors Association hosted a leadership forum featuring federal, state, regional, and local leaders from across the western US who discussed how to implement the WGA CDEAC recommendations on wind and transmission. The meeting included over 150 federal, tribal, state, regional, and local leaders, who agreed to form an implementing team to carry out the draft Action Plans implementing CDEAC recommendations for moving wind and transmission forward. A meeting summary is being written; a notice about the final summary will go out in this update.

Deadline Extension for Wildlife Abstracts – Abstracts to present at NWCC’s Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting VI are now being accepted through September 15, 2006. Information on submitting abstracts is available on the NWCC homepage or from Madeleine West, mwest@resolv.org.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Transmission Workgroup Call
August 22 @ 2:00 pm ET

Steering Committee Call
August 24 @ 1:00 pm ET

Wildlife Workgroup Call
September 13 @ 2:30 pm ET

Working Groups

Midwest Transmission Planning Call
August 10 @ 1:00 pm ET

GS3C Call
August 14 @ 2:00 pm ET

NWCC MEETINGS

Wildlife Interaction with Wind Developments: Research Meeting VI
November 14-16, 2006 -
San Antonio, TX

Midwest Transmission Workshop
December 4-5, 2006 - Minneapolis, MN

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

6th NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting – Registration is open for this meeting, scheduled for Nov 14-16, 2006 in San Antonio, Texas. Register online. Topics to be covered include:

• Interaction of wind power facilities and birds pre- and post-construction;
• Interaction of wind power facilities and bats pre- and post-construction;
• Applicable methods and study designs specialized for birds, bats, and common to both;
• Assessing impacts and risk to wildlife;
• Identification of critical gaps in knowledge related to wind project decision-making. Attempt to identify what is needed to fill these gaps.

The deadline for abstracts has been extended to September 15!
For more information about this event, contact Madeleine West at mwest@resolv.org.

The new Gaps Subgroup held its first conference call on July 31st. The subgroup is drafting a white paper on research gaps as prioritized at the June Core Group meeting. The draft white paper will be presented for discussion at the NWCC Wildlife Research Meeting VI this November in San Antonio. Following the meeting, the Wildlife Workgroup will continue to refine the white paper and would like to finalize it in 2007 as a consensus on research gaps.

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Grassland and Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) – The researchers investigating the potential impacts of wind energy on prairie chickens submitted their first quarterly report. A GS3C conference call to discuss the report is scheduled for Monday, August 14th at 2 pm ET.

Members of the subgroup submitted comments on the first draft of the literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects. NWCC staff is compiling the comments and will provide them to the literature review authors.

The GS3C discussed options for revising the draft grassland songbirds monitoring protocol and these options are being weighed by the protocol authors prior to making revisions.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics – NWCC staff are requesting an informal progress report from Dr. Kunz on his team’s progress in drafting a primer on nocturnal methods and metrics for studying wind interaction with birds and bats; more details will be provided in the next update. At the recent Core Group meeting, participants arrived at a two-stage review process for the draft primer, where the first draft will undergo review by the Nocturnal Subgroup and a few additional experts, with comments will b incorporated by Dr. Kunz and his team. The second draft will undergo an independent review by a small group of reviewers. The Core Group will comment on the draft after the independent review occurs, and final approval will come from the NWCC Steering Committee.

Mitigation Toolbox – The intern continues her work researching and assembling a “toolbox” of possible mitigation options. Support for the intern is provided by a grant from the Energy Foundation. The Mitigation Subgroup is also developing a panel on mitigation for the November wildlife research conference. For more information or to become involved, contact Madeleine West at mwest@resolv.org.

Risk Assessment – The Risk Assessment Subgroup has been reconvened. A conference call is being scheduled for September to discuss a workplan. To become involved, contact Madeleine West, mwest@resolv.org.

A panel on risk assessment is being planned for the November 2006 NWCC Wildlife Research VI meeting. For the NWCC draft white paper on ecological risk assessment, click here.

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 September 13, 2:30pm ET (note a change from the usual call time). Please mark your calendars.

A draft blueprint of potential Siting Workgroup activities was presented at the NWCC business meeting on July 27th. Steering Committee members and the Siting Workgroup will be asked for additional feedback on the workplan in August and September.

On the last Siting Workgroup call, the group discussed interest in creating a web-based tool on siting of wind facilities and received reports from AWEA and Wind Powering America on siting-related activities.

The state siting guidelines fact sheets are available for free download. Hard copies are now available by request. For information about this project, please contact Madeleine West at mwest@resolv.org.

The August Siting Workgroup has been postponed to September 21, 1 pm ET. There is no longer a siting call on August 16 or 23. Please update your calendars.

Next steps, presentations, and the final participants list from the NWCC / WGA Leadership Forum: Implementing Transmission Recommendations in the West are online. Forum participants agreed to create a Leadership Implementation team and to further update the draft action plans for implementing the CDEAC and Western Governors’ wind and transmission recommendations. Event co-sponsors included BPA, EERC, Interwest Energy Alliance, NARUC, NASEO, NCSL, National Grid, Trans-Elect, and WestConnect. For more information, contact Katie Kalinowski, kkalinowski@resolv.org.

Revision of the Midwest Transmission workshop agenda continues; the event is scheduled for December 4-5 in Minneapolis, MN. A planning call is scheduled for August 10th at 1 pm ET.

The August 1 Transmission Update call featured David Withrow from the California ISO and Larry Chaset from California PUC discussing transmission related statues and policies in their state. Briefs from the June and August calls remain under development. To join the Transmission Update listserve, contact Katie Kalinowski at kkalinowski@resolv.org.

The next Transmission Workgroup call is scheduled for August 22, 2 pm ET and the next Transmission Update call will be October 10, 1 pm ET. Please mark your calendars.