AWEA and CanWEA - Wind & Transmission Workshop

Transmission is the most significant long term barrier to continued wind power expansion and it presents significant challenges for developers in the US and Canada. This workshop will explore how the wind industry and transmission entities can make better use of existing transmission capacity, work through the logjams in interconnection queues, comply with reliability rules, and expand transmission capacity.

Keynote Speaker - Richard Sergel, NERC President & CEO:
Richard P. Sergel is President and Chief Executive Officer of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Until 2004, Mr. Sergel served as President and Chief Executive Officer for National Grid USA, and was National Grid Group plc Executive Director for North America upon the completion of the National Grid and New England Electric System (NEES) merger in March 2000.

Mr. Sergel is presently a director of State Street Corporation. He also served on the boards of the Edison Electric Institute, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and the United Way of the Merrimac Valley.

Keynote Speaker - Marc Spitzer, FERC Commissioner:
FERC Commissioner Spitzer believes the FERC’s primary missions are to ensure that America’s ratepayers have safe, economic, and reliable supplies of electricity and natural gas; and transparent, robust and competitive wholesale energy markets. Commissioner Spitzer believes that successful regulation of FERC-jurisdictional industries requires a balancing of all competing interests to ensure just and reasonable rates.

Marc Spitzer was nominated by President George W. Bush to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term expiring June 30, 2011.

Program Co-Chairs:
- Canada: David Jacobson, Interconnections & Grid Supply Planning Engineer, Manitoba Hydro
- U.S.: Don Furman, Senior Vice President / Thermal Generation and Power Origination, PPM Energy, Inc

Topics to be Covered:
- Wind growth and potential in the U.S. and Canada
- Transmission limits to the growth of wind power, such as operational, infrastructure and services
- Models of successful, proactive transmission development and transmission cost recovery policies
- Making new transmission products work for wind companies and transmission providers, including conditional firm service, redispatch, curtailment, and dynamic line ratings
- Reliability rules, such as voltage ride-through and reactive power
- Solutions to interconnection queue logjams
- State and Provincial case studies & solutions
- US Federal legislation and regulatory initiatives in US and Canada

What Attendees will Learn:
- How to overcome transmission challenges developing wind projects
- How to use new innovations in transmission services and operations
- How to expand transmission to better accommodate wind
- How interconnection standards will affect wind projects

Who Should Attend:
- Wind developers
- Wind turbine manufacturers
- Transmission system operators, planners, and
reliability authorities
- Regulators – State/Provincial and National
- Wind energy customers including utilities
- Law firms
- Consultants

Registration and Hotel Information:
Early registration deadline is February 26th. Act now and save $50 on registration! To book your hotel reservations at the Marriott Detroit where the workshop is held, call 800-266-9432 and tell them you are with the American Wind Energy Association. The local number for the hotel is (313) 568-8000.

A limited number of discounted rooms have been arranged for workshop attendees. The discounted rate will be offered while availability remains up to Friday, February 22. Once the discounted rooms are sold out, or after February 22 (whichever comes first), the hotel may charge a higher rate for any remaining inventory.

Why Attend AWEA Events?
The revenue generated from AWEA events is put right back into services that promote and advance the wind industry. Examples include promoting favorable policies (such as the PTC and RPS) through work with our government legislators, wind visibility campaigns, communicating and educating America on the benefits of wind energy, addressing environmental concerns, pushing for advanced transmission access for wind, and many others. Only AWEA puts your dollars to work on advancing the wind energy industry.

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For more workshop information, including a detailed program agenda and speaker list, visit www.awea.org/events/transmission08.