Clean Grid Alliance

Programs: Public education - to help reach the point of broad acceptance of renewables, ongoing public education and outreach are needed. Wow strives to be the 'go-to' source of reliable, fact-based information about renewables in the midwest. Specifically, wow:-held three wind farm tours and 17 in-district meetings with state representatives in illinois and minnesota to talk about the benefits of wind and educate on the latest developments in wind turbine technology, among other things. -held a media roundtable meeting to connect members of the media with renewable energy business leaders to discuss business growth, jobs and economic development, particularly related to the clean power plan. -worked with strategic partners and community leaders on a public engagement project to help address the growing amount of local issues such as moratoriums and other referendums or guidelines that are hampering future wind development projects in michigan. Four public meetings were held in three counties focused on the benefits wind energy brings to each community. The results were very favorable, with approximately 2/3 of attendees being supportive of wind energy, but not vocal in expressing their support for wind as opponents are in expressing opposition of wind. Plans are in place for a continuation of this work in 2017 but focused on educating township board members and other decision-makers at the local level. -held two media and advocacy training events, one each in illinois and minnesota. The events provided an opportunity for employees of renewable energy businesses to build vital skills in advocacy and media relations. Social media was added to the curriculum and in minnesota a case study on community engagement was added to the program. Between the two events, 65 people from 44 renewable energy companies received this training. -completed a refresh of its website and rebranded its logo as part of our strategic priority to grow wow's influence through broad communications and brand awareness. -published 82 pieces of content in 2016. Wow was quoted in 44 publications or broadcast media outlets during 2016, in five states, and was contacted for interviews by six regional or national trade publications. Wow was invited to submit three articles to a national trade publication, plus invitations to submit articles to one utility publication in michigan, and one state-wide business journal in illinois. -our social media outreach grew 38% on twitter, where the average monthly twitter impressions were approximately 13,000. Organizational sustainability -wow continues to attract new members and robust participation from both new and existing members. Wow staff is continually working with both ngo and for-profit members to strategize about effective approaches to our work and align priorities in the wow footprint. Specifically, wow:-welcomed capital power, iowa environmental council, pattern energy, tenaska, and sempra as new members. -remained well-governed through our 16 member board of directors. Wow received another "clean" audit for operating year 2015. -welcomed ron osterbauer, grants and development manager and natalie mcintire as a policy/technical consultant largely focusing on miso issues.

transmission -transmission is vital to our mission. Expanding the deployment and integration of cost effective renewables on the grid includes participating in stakeholder processes and advocating for renewable energy at the midcontinent independent system operator (miso - regional "grid" operator), stimulating market conditions that support or enhance the use of renewable energy across the miso footprint, and activating our members to strategize and participate in the transmission planning, creating new market rules, and addressing operations issues at miso. Specifically, wow: -attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the hampton-rochester-lacrosse capx2020 line. This was the last minnesota portion of capx2020 to come online. The brookings-big stone line in south dakota is underway and is expected to be energized in 2017. Wow extensively supported the capx2020 set of lines through the planning, permitting, approval and construction processes. -received a special achievement award for excellence in transmission advocacy at the 2016 windpower conference. Specifically, wind on the wires was recognized for our work on miso's multi value projects, which has allowed 14,000 megawatts of wind to be delivered to date, will provide $13-50 billion in net benefits over the next 20-40 years, and will result in consumer savings 2. 6 to 3. 9 times more than their cost.

state policy -through state policy work, our strategic objective is to stimulate market conditions that create a demand for renewables and support or enhance the use of emerging technologies through policy initiatives at state legislatures. Specifically, wow:-worked for the past five years to fix illinois' long-broken rps law. In december 2016, the illinois general assembly passed legislation that would fix the law. The passage of this bill enables approximately 1200 mw of new wind and 800 mw of new solar to be procured over the next 14 years. -was able to protect the renewable portfolio standard and clean power plan policies in minnesota. The house adopted several negative policies, including a prohibition on state spending for the clean power plan, but wow and our team of ngo partners and business members worked closely to prevent the proposal from advancing further. -worked the entire year to educate legislators on the benefits of renewable energy in the state of michigan. We worked to gain support for an energy bill that would increase the state's renewable portfolio standard to 15% by 2021 in michigan. The legislature took up the bill and passed the energy package on december 15, enabling an additional 1,400 megawatts of wind power. In addition, three legislative days were planned and held during the year. -provided written comments in support of a draft bill to permanently extend the sales and use tax exemption for wind facilities in north dakota and spoke in support of this proposal at an empower commission meeting over the summer. Rules & law -advocacy and participation at state and federal agencies is a vital component of the work wow does to advance our mission. We participate and advocate through testimony and comments in state regulatory processes and at miso, as well as engage in resource planning processes. Specifically, wow:-worked extensively with xcel energy to encourage them to include a significant amount of renewable energy in their integrated resource plan (irp). Ultimately, the minnesota public utilities commission approved the portion of their plan that included the purchase of 1,800 mw of wind and 1,400 mw of solar by 2030, with at least 1,000 mw of wind to be installed by 2019 and 650 mw of solar by 2021. Xcel energy quickly followed the irp approval with a request for proposal for 1,500 mw of wind. -helped win three victories at ferc when it rejected miso's unreasonable queue reform proposal, sided with the industry on e-nris issues, and granted a request for a technical conference to discuss interconnection issues. -addressed a decommissioning rule change at the public service commission in north dakota and submitted comments that addressed two issues important to wow members.