NWCC Logo NWCC
NATIONAL WIND
COORDINATING COMMITTEE

HIGHLIGHTS

December 15, 2006

DATES TO REMEMBER
Midwest Transmission Workshop VI Presentations Online – Presentations from NWCC’s recent workshop on wind energy and transmission in the Midwest are posted here. An audio file of FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly’s keynote address is also available at this link.

Happy Holidays from RESOLVE – Thanks to everyone for your hard work over the last year with NWCC. We wish you well and look forward to an exciting year in 2007! Have a joyous, peaceful holiday season.

NWCC CONFERENCE CALLS

Steering Committee Call
December 21 @ 1:00 pm ET

Wildlife Workgroup Call
January 10 @ 2:30 pm ET

Working Groups

GS3C Call
December 18 @ 12:00 pm ET

Western Transmission Leadership Group Call
January 8 @ 1:00 pm ET

NWCC MEETINGS

2007 Meetings Coming Soon

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

Jason Peller
Executive Assistant
(202) 965-6387
 jpeller@resolv.org

NWCC WORKGROUP UPDATES
Wildlife:

Recent Wildlife Workgroup subgroup activities include:

Gaps Subgroup – The Wildlife Workgroup plans to refine the white paper as a 2007 activity.

Grassland and Shrub Steppe Species Collaborative (GS3C) – The next GS3C conference call is on December 18th. KSU researchers will report on their project investigating the potential impacts of wind power on prairie chickens. Other call topics include discussing next steps for the literature review on avian grassland/shrub steppe species and wind projects and for the draft grassland songbirds monitoring protocol.

Nocturnal Methods and Metrics – The first draft of the primer on nocturnal methods and metrics for studying wind interaction with birds and bats is delayed. NWCC staff is working with the authors on a schedule for completion and a subgroup conference call will be scheduled when the draft is received.

Mitigation Toolbox – The mitigation toolbox intern is incorporating comments and adding case studies to the toolbox.

Risk Assessment – A conference call is being scheduled for the Subgroup to discuss how to finalize the Ecological Risk Assessment white paper and plan for a 2007 Risk Assessment workshop. To become involved, contact Madeleine West, mwest@resolv.org. For the current draft of the NWCC white paper on ecological risk assessment, click here.

NWCC Wildlife-Wind Research Meeting VI – Presentations from this meeting are on the NWCC website here. Proceedings are being written and will be posted at this site once completed.

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 January 10, 2007 at 2:30pm ET. Please mark your calendars.
Siting:

NWCC staff are speaking with DOE and others about siting-related activities to include in the NWCC workplan. Updates to follow in the coming months.
Transmission:

Slides and other materials from NWCC Midwest Transmission Workshop VI held on December 4-5, 2006 in Bloomington, MN are online. The meeting summary is under development and slated for release in January.

On December 13th, the Western Transmission Leadership Group (WTLG) held a conference call. The group is working on factsheets about conditional firm and redispatch; a webinar on these topics is under development for January 2007. WTLG members also discussed opportunities to reach out to leadership at TEPPC and WAPA about transmission needs. NWCC and WGA staff are working together on methods for sharing progress made on implementation of wind energy and transmission goals in the West. The next WTLG call is on January 8th. For more information on Western transmission activities, contact Katie Kalinowski, kkalinowski@resolv.org.

The next Transmission Update call is scheduled for Tuesday, January 9th at 1 pm ET. The call topic will be announced shortly. Find all of the 2006 Transmission Updates online. To join the Transmission Update listserve, contact Jason Peller, jpeller@resolv.org.

The next Transmission Workgroup call is scheduled for January 16th at 2 pm ET; please mark your calendars.