UWIG Update

August 2009

In this issue

• 2009 Wind Integration Short Course Draws Near, Room Block Expires Soon
• UWIG to Participate in Wind Turbine/Plant Model Documentation/Validation Project
• Registration Open for Fall Technical Workshop, User Group Meetings
Distributed Wind Applications User Group to Meet in Cedar Rapids
• Scholarships Available for Co-ops, Public Power Utilities to Attend Cedar Rapids Meeting
• UWIG Coordinating Special Issue of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine on Wind Integration
• UWIG Co-sponsors International Wind Integration Workshop
• UWIG to Co-sponsor Distributed Wind Interconnection Workshop
• Dates for 2010 Forecasting Workshop Announced
• Membership News & Notes

2009 Wind Integration Short Course Draws Near, Room Block Expires Soon

UWIG will hold the 2009 presentation of Wind Generation in Power Systems: A Short Course on the Integration and Interconnection of Wind Power Plants into Electric Power Systems September 14-17 in Charleston, S.C. Details on registration and accommodations can be found at http://www.uwig.org/shortcourse2009.html. The group room block expires August 24. Note that discounted registration rates are available for individuals from UWIG member organizations as well as those working in academia or government service.

UWIG to Participate in Wind Turbine/Plant Model Documentation/Validation Project

UWIG announced August 4that it will participate in a project to develop enhanced documentation, user support, and validations of computer models used to evaluate the impacts of wind energy on the bulk electric power system. EnerNex Corporation, in cooperation with UWIG, was recently awarded a grant for the project as part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiative to help facilitate 20% of energy from wind in 2030.

EnerNex will work through UWIG’s Turbine Modeling and Interconnection Study User Group, to conduct the two-phase project, whose goal is to accelerate the appropriate use of generic wind turbine models for transmission network analysis. The first phase will focus on the existing generic models, as well as the substantial number of turbine-specific models that have been developed by vendors over the past several years. The second phase builds on the first and takes on the difficult task of locating and acquiring test data from the laboratory, field, or much more detailed simulation models to conduct a validation for each generic model application.

The core project team is comprised of UWIG member organizations and individuals including GE Energy and Siemens-PTI. DOE’s Sandia National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work with UWIG and EnerNex on the effort, along with UWIG utility, ISO, turbine vendor, and regional reliability council representative members, as well as the IEEE’s Power and Energy Society. UWIG will organize and operate a Technical Review Committee with representation from UWIG, Sandia, NREL, and the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) to provide critical review and industry feedback to the project.

According to Charlie Smith, UWIG Executive Director, documentation and validation of wind turbine/plant models is a "critical industry effort, which has been identified by NERC in the report of the Integrating Variable Generation Task Force as a high priority of need for the industry. This cooperation between EnerNex, UWIG, and its members provides the critical ingredients for a successful effort."

Registration Open for Fall Technical Workshop, User Group Meetings

The Fall Technical Workshop will be held October 8-9 at the Marriott Hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Turbine O&M User Group meeting will take place October 6 with the Operating Impacts and Integration Study, Wind Turbine Modeling and Interconnection Study, and Market Operations and Transmission Policy Users Groups meeting October 7. A tour of the Clipper Turbine Works manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids is available to individuals who meet the registration requirements. Space is limited for the tour, which will take place October 9 for workshop participants. O&M User Group meeting participants will be able to tour the Clipper facility on October 7.

Details about agenda, registration, and accommodations for the workshop can be found at http://www.uwig.org/falltechworkshop2009.html. Details for the O&M User Group meeting can be found at http://www.uwig.org/oandm_cedar_rapids.html.

Distributed Wind Applications User Group to Meet in Cedar Rapids

The Distributed Wind Applications Users Group will hold meet on Wednesday, October 7 in Cedar Rapids. This event will be open to UWIG members as well as cooperative and public power utilities that are members of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) or American Public Power Association (APPA). Information on registration and accommodations is available at http://www.uwig.org/falltechworkshop2009.html.

Scholarships Available for Co-ops, Public Power Utilities to Attend Cedar Rapids Meetings

Financial support is available for cooperative and public power utilities that are members of NRECA or APPA to attend the Distributed Wind Applications Users Group meeting or the Fall Technical Workshop. The Public Renewables Partnership effort led by Western Area Power Administration (Western) is offering thirty $500 travel scholarships to electric cooperatives and public power utilities to attend. To qualify for the scholarship, individuals must meet the membership requirements, have never previously attended a UWIG meeting, and submitted a scholarship request and received a confirmation e-mail from Western.

There is one scholarship per utility. To secure a scholarship, which can also be used to defray registration costs, please contact Randy Manion at 720-962-7423 or manion@wapa.gov.

UWIG Coordinating Special Issue of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine on Wind Integration

UWIG has been working with the IEEE Power & Energy Society on putting together the November/December 2009 issue of Power & Energy Magazine, which will focus on wind integration. UWIG Executive Director Charlie Smith and Brian Parsons of NREL are serving as co-guest-editors for this issue, which will come out in mid October. Articles include:

UWIG Co-sponsors International Wind Integration Workshop

UWIG is co-sponsoring the 8th International Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power into Power Systems as well as on Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms. The event will be held October 14-15, 2009 in Bremen, Germany. This workshop provides an international forum to

• Discuss technical and economic issues of the large-scale integration of wind power including the recent advances in transmission technologies (AC and DC)
• Discuss project experiences
• Discuss innovative ideas and present results from ongoing
• Stimulate interdisciplinary thinking between wind energy and power transmission industries, as well as universities
• Identify subjects requiring more research efforts

The workshop will be preceded by the Third Workshop on Best Practice in the Use of Short-term Forecasting of Wind Power on October 13. A field trip will follow on October 16.

For more information, please visit http://www.windintegrationworkshop.org.

UWIG to Co-Sponsor Distributed Wind Interconnection Workshop

UWIG, NRECA, APPA, American Wind Energy Association, Western Area Power Administration, and the U.S. Department of Energy Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program are presenting a distributed wind interconnection workshop January 20-22 at Western’s Electric Power Training Center in Golden, Colo. A flyer on this event can be found at http://www.uwig.org/WindInterconnflyer2010.pdf.

Dates for 2010 Forecasting Workshop Announced

For the third year in a row, UWIG will be conducting a workshop on Wind Forecasting Applications to Utility Planning and Operations. This multi-day workshop will be held at the Hotel Albuquerque February 10-11, 2010.

The workshop is intended to facilitate a better understanding of the use of analytical methods for wind plant output forecasting applications for power system planning and operations, and to provide a better understanding of power system planning and operations requirements. The workshop is intended to be a two-way dialog between wind plant forecasters and power system planning and operations personnel and their consultants. The format will consist of a series of panels, with focused presentations and opportunity for extensive dialog among the panelists and the participants.

Additional details on this event, which will be open to UWIG members and invited stakeholders from the electric power and wind industries, will be released later this year.

Membership News & Notes

BP Wind and Mesoamerica Energy are new UWIG members. If your employer is interested in becoming a member of UWIG, we began accepting partial year dues payments beginning July 1. To learn more about joining UWIG, visit http://www.uwig.org/joinuwig.htm. 

UWIG Board of Directors

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