Washington, D.C., September 21, 2009 - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu detailed the Obama administration's vision for implementing a smart grid and modernizing America's electrical system: a stronger, smarter, more efficient electricity infrastructure that will encourage growth in renewable energy sources, empower consumers to reduce their energy use, and lay the foundation for sustained, long-term economic expansion.

A new study released by the Minnesota Office of Energy Security shows that the state's power grid could accomodate 600 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity by making upgrades to electric transmission systems. A previous study had shown that another 600 MW could be added to the existing tranmission grid without impacting it's performance.

Times are Central Daylight Time.

The Office of Energy Security is hosting this webinar to present the results of Phase II of the Dispersed Renewable Generation Transmission Study (DRG Study). Technical Review Committee Chair, Matt Schuerger, on behalf of the Minnesota Office of Energy Security, and Study team lead Jared Alholinna of Great River Energy, will give a PowerPoint presentation summarizing results of Phase II of the DRG Study.

ITC Holdings Corp. has worked to develop the Green Power Express, a network of transmission lines that would facilitate the movement of 12,000 MW of power from the wind-abundant areas in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa to Midwest load centers, such as Chicago, southeastern Wisconsin, Minneapolis and other states that demand clean, renewable energy.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission will host an interconnection workshop March 18-19, 2008, in Pierre. The workshop will be held at the Kings Inn Hotel and Conference Center, 110 E. Sioux Ave. This will be the first of several workshops designed to develop a statewide best practices model for connecting small generating facilities to the electric grid.

The Harvesting Clean Energy Conference is the Northwest’s premiere gathering for agriculture and energy interests working to advance new opportunities for agriculture producers and rural communities in clean energy production. Clean energy offers real solutions – financial and practical – for our farmers, ranchers, rural utilities and towns, tribes, and regional economy.

On November 29th – 30th, the meeting Wind Energy and Transmission: The South Dakota Landscapewill be held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The meeting will focus on wind and transmission issues relevant to South Dakota, including the following topics:

CERTS Local Energy Initiatives Meetings - Various times and locations (see site for details on past meetings).   Join electric utility representatives, zoning and planning officials, city officials, county commissioners, economic development professionals, renewable energy developers, large end users of electricity, and

http://www.eere.energy.gov/de/wind_power.html

Basic information about distributed wind integration and technology and current research that is ongoing to help wind become even more competitive.