UWIG Update

UWIG held a special topical workshop on wind integration study models and methods June 24-25 in Minneapolis, Minn. Attracting 60 attendees, this workshop enjoyed participation from utilities and system operators, forecasting providers, study providers, and individuals from the research and academic communities. The purpose of the workshop was to:

• Develop a better understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, and differences among the current generation of wind integration study models and methods
• Develop a better understanding of the needs for the next generation of wind integration studies and the associated models and methods
• Continue an ongoing dialog between the power system engineering and wind forecasting and engineering communities

Date, Venue for Fall Turbine O&M Users Group Meeting Announced

The UWIG Turbine Operations & Maintenance Users Group will hold its fall meeting September 23-24 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Austin, Texas. The format will consist of a morning plenary session focusing on generators followed by meetings of the GE and Vestas Roundtable. The Siemens Roundtable and Clipper/Mitsubishi Roundtable will meet the morning of September 24. Following that will be an opportunity for participants to tour TECO-Westinghouse's manufacturing facility in nearby Round Rock, where DeWind turbines are assembled. Details can be found on the UWIG web site.

Details Posted on UWIG Fall Technical Workshop

The 2010 Fall Technical Workshop will take place October 13-15 at the Loews Le Concorde in Quebec City. This will be UWIG’s first meeting in Canada and is being held in partnership with sponsors Hydro Quebec, MSE Power Systems, OSIsoft, GL Garrad Hassan, GENIVAR, Alstom Grid, and the Canadian Wind Energy Association.

This event was located to recognize UWIG’s large Canadian utility membership base, and is co-located with the 9th International Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power into Power Systems as well as on Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms (see story below). Additional details on this event can be found on the UWIG web site.

For more information, please visit http://www.windintegrationworkshop.org. A registration discount for this event will be extended to UWIG members who attend the Fall Technical Workshop. 

UWIG Meeting Attendance Scholarship Program for Co-ops, Public Utilities Extended

In 2010, the Public Renewables Partnership effort led by Western Area Power Administration (Western) and funded through the U.S. DOE Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program will offer thirty $500 scholarships to employees of electric cooperatives and public power utilities to attend UWIG meetings. The scholarships can be applied to any UWIG workshop or user group meeting and can be used to help defray travel expenses or registration fees. The applicant’s employer must be a member of NRECA or APPA and there is no limit on the number of scholarships per utility. To apply for the scholarship, please contact Randy Manion at 720-962-7423 or manion@wapa.gov.

In addition, UWIG offers financial assistance for registration fees for college students interested in attending UWIG workshop events. For more information, please send e-mail to info@uwig.org. 

UWIG User Groups: A Significant Membership Benefit

On behalf of its membership, UWIG operates six topic-specific user groups. They are:

• Wind Plant Modeling and Interconnection
• Operating Impact and Integration Studies
• Distributed Wind Applications
• Market Operation and Transmission Policy
• Wind Turbine Operations and Maintenance
• Solar Integration

These groups are open to all UWIG members. The concept is to gather together in one place all relevant information on the topic of interest, and make it easily available to the members. Each user group has its own web “home” in the members area of the UWIG web site. There, one can find proceedings for user group meetings, a technical resource library, and links to additional information. In addition, each user group has its own discussion list, or listserv. The listservs, open to UWIG members only, enable UWIG staff to alert members to new items posted to the web site, enable staff and members to ask and answer questions, and facilitate information exchange outside the confines of face to face meetings. Additional information on the user groups can be found on the UWIG web site. If your employer is a UWIG member and you want to participate in a particular user group, send e-mail to info@uwig.org. Please note that there are participation restrictions for the O&M User Group.

UWIG Board of Directors

If you are not interested in receiving announcements from the Utility Wind Integration Group, please send e-mail to info@uwig.org and we will remove your name.