April 29, 2025 | 1:00 PM ETThis thematic discussion, with discussion leaders from Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro and SaskPower, will explore how utilities approach wind energy development, weighing the pros and cons of:Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) – Contracting wind energy to secure pricing and supply stability.Partnering with Independent Project Developers – Collaborating on projects while balancing risk and control.Owning and Operating Wind Assets In-House – Direct investment in wind generation with full operational oversight.This discussion depends on attendees sharing their real-world experiences, challenges, and lessons learned. Whether your organization has found success or encountered difficulties, your insights will help shape best practices for the group.To make this discussion valuable, please come prepared to answer (if you can):What approach(es) has your organization used, and why?What worked well? What didn’t?What financial, operational, or regulatory factors influenced your decision?What lessons would you share with others considering these options?Outcome: Key takeaways from the discussion will be compiled into best practices notes for the group.This session’s success depends on active participation. We look forward to the conversation.

We have scheduled our next FEWS User Group meeting for Monday, May 12th, at 1 p.m. ET. During this time, we'll have a presentation (TBC) and have participants provide updates on their use of the FEWS system.

We are pleased to announce that we have scheduled a webinar on “Impact of Water Availability on the Grid of the Future” for Tuesday, May 13th, at 1 p.m. ET, presented by Soumyadeep Nag, a Postdoctoral Researcher (Energy Systems) at USDOE—Idaho National Laboratory.About the Presentation:As renewable, yet non-dispatchable energy resources continue to replace carbon-emitting generation plants, more reliance will be placed on hydro-based generation to provide ancillary services as well as baseload generation in absence of such generations. This ultimately demands for all-inclusive studies of hydropower generation for power system operation and planning. Power system steady-state and dynamic models, and study software are keystones to perform planning and operational system studies. Currently, hydro-based generation representation in such  software and models, accounts for nominal water availability only, leading to inaccurate generation dispatch and dynamic response with respect to water conditions in watersheds. Moreover, the existing hydropower models do not capture environmental constraints, such as maximum and minimum headwater elevation, and minimum instantaneous and average flows. The presented work focuses on developing methods to capture the impact of variations in water availability. This work is divided into 3 phasesa) development of tools and procedures for aggregating hydropower data and modifying power system model files, b) development of new power system model files (dynamic and steady-state) representing reduced water availability c) examination of the impact of regional water availability reduction on the Western U.S. power system using N-1 contingency analysis, cascading failure analysis and dynamic simulation techniques. Incorporating regional water availability into the power system simulation has revealed the reliability and resiliency implications of hydropower generation, which would otherwise remain unnoticed during operation and planning studies. Specifically, any reduction in the water availability leads to a) change in the number, severity and type of power system thermal, voltage and stability violations during contingencies, as compared to nominal water availability, b) change in number, depth and severity of cascading failures, and c) higher deviations in key power system parameters such as frequency and voltage during high impact dynamic events.

We have scheduled our joint HOP & DS Climate Change Q3 virtual meeting on Tuesday, July 8th at 2pmET, featuring a presentation on "Assessment of Climate Change Impacts for Modifications to Hyrum Dam Construction" presented by Kent Walker & Amanda Stone of USBR. The agenda & presentation overview will be provided closer to the date.