Joint Initiative Notice of Initial Sessions of “Think Tank” and Strike Teams
August 26, 2008 - Reno, Nevada

The next session of the Joint Initiative is on Tuesday, August 26th, from 8 – 3 (Mountain Time) at the offices of Sierra Pacific Power Company in Reno. The purpose of this session is to continue the progress made on June 30th and July 8th.

Based upon the input received on July 8th, Northern Tier, WestConnect, and ColumbiaGrid have structured a process to advance the development and implementation of high-value, cost-effective regional products and services. This process will be implemented at the August 26th meeting, which will be broken into three sessions. In the morning, a broad stakeholder “think tank” group will meet for the following purposes: to be briefed on the Joint Initiative Approach, to test for continued consensus on the development of load following and other intra-hour products and associated communications and scheduling protocols, and to be educated on the legal and technical ramifications of pursuing intra-hour generation and transmission products. In the afternoon, two “strike teams” will meet, one focused on infrastructure and one focused on products and services. At these meetings, individuals will commit to work on a specific team and, after discussion, the strike teams will scope their work and develop a work plan including products, milestones, and timelines.

In order to help us plan for this meeting, please RSVP to Judy Welch at 503-943-4953 or welch@columbiagrid.org. Conference call arrangements are being made and specifics will be provided at a later date. Meeting materials will be available no later than August 21st.

To view this notice and other posted documents, please go to the ColumbiaGrid website at www.columbiagrid.org. Under "Programs" we have added a "Joint Initiative Program". If you click on it, you will see the documents to download. Also, you can sign up on the mailing lists for this effort by clicking here http://www.columbiagrid.org/interested-persons.cfm

Thank you for your interest and we hope to see you in Reno!

With Regards,

Kristi Wallis, ColumbiaGrid
Sharon Helms, NTTG
Charles Reinhold, WestConnect