Wind Today - Q4 2008 - (Page 42) T ransmission A Look at Regional Entities The Midwest Reliability Organization with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Making up a portion of the Eastern Interconnection, the MRO footprint encompasses appoximately one million square miles in all or a part of six states—Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin—and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The region includes more than 100 organizaowners, operators, and users of the bulk power system. • Providing seasonal and long-term assessments of the bulk power system’s ability to meet demand for electricity. • Providing an appeal and dispute resolution process. Members. Schoenecker says MRO members include municipal utilities, cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, The MRO region encompasses all or part of six states and two Canadian provinces. The Midwest Reliability Organization, Roseville, MN (MRO/651-8551760), is a non-profit organization formed in 2002 to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system in the north central region of North America. The MRO is one of eight regional entities operating under agreement “Most utilities in the MRO are tions that are involved in the production and developing wind as a part of delivery of power to their portfolio.” more than 20 million Schoenecker — Dan Schoenecker people. Dan Schoenecker, MRO vice president of operations, says federal power marketing agencies, that as a regional entity, MRO is Canadian Crown Corporations, and responsible for the following: independent power producers. • Developing reliability standards. Membership benefits include: • Monitoring and enforcing compli• Participation in developing a ance with those standards on the regional reliability policy. • Enforcing compliance with that policy and voting on key matters. • Participation in North American and Interconnection technical assessments and policy. • Working with peers to maintain and enhance regional reliability of the bulk power system. • Association with a regional organization dedicated to improving reliability for the benefit of all end users. Wind Energy. Regarding wind energy, Schoenecker says there is a significant amount of wind generation in the MRO. “Most utilities in the area are developing wind as a part of their portfolio,” he says. “MRO’s role is not in developing wind energy, but in assessing the integration of wind with other resources.” Heather Ervin, associate editor 42 Response No. 421 WIND TODA Y Fourth Quarter 2008 http://www.ulteig.com http://www.ulteig.com
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