The National Wind Coordinating Committee : a model for consensus building around renewable technologies

The role of the U.S. National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC), its main activities, key accomplishments and operational methods were described. The NWCC is a collaborative of representatives from the utility, wind industry, environmental, consumer, regulatory, power marketer, state and federal government sectors. Their main objective is to identify issues that impact the use of wind power. As one of its accomplishments, the NWCC has published a Permitting Handbook which describes the general features of a wind project and provides help for the basic steps in planning, permitting, construction, operation and closure of a wind facility