The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission will host an interconnection workshop March 18-19, 2008, in Pierre. The workshop will be held at the Kings Inn Hotel and Conference Center, 110 E. Sioux Ave. This will be the first of several workshops designed to develop a statewide best practices model for connecting small generating facilities to the electric grid.

On November 29th – 30th, the meeting Wind Energy and Transmission: The South Dakota Landscapewill be held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The meeting will focus on wind and transmission issues relevant to South Dakota, including the following topics:

This session focused on providing practical information and advice on addressing barriers to home and farm wind projects. Topics include: when and how to approach local boards and state agencies to secure permits, how to build support for your installation, and tips on working with your installer and utility to interconnect your wind system.

http://www.newrules.org/electricity/interconnect.html

From the U.S. Dept. of Labor: Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/electric_power/illustrated_glossary/index.html

http://www.midwestiso.org/page/Generator%20Interconnection

The electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system has been labeled the most complex machine ever created by humans. There are many rules and regulations to ensure that it runs reliably, and as a result the process for interconnecting your energy project with this system involves dealing with regulatory agencies at the state and regional level as well as utility personnel, engineering consultants, and lawyers with experience with interconnection contracts. It can take over a year to complete the required interconnection studies and can cost your project up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. You will need to weigh the results of conversations and studies to determine if it is worth moving on to the next phase of studies or if the cost of interconnection will not allow your site to be profitable.

The 2006 Minnesota Wind Integration Study found that enough wind power to supply up to 25% of Minnesota's retail electricity sales by 2020 can be reliably incorporated by the electric power system at minimal additional cost. The study was ordered by the Minnesota Legislature.

Interconnection is the process of hooking your wind electricity generator into the larger electricity grid.

Interconnection standards and policies vary from state to state, and can have a large impact on the economics and feasibility of wind projects.

This is the production of reactive power to maintain stability on the transmission system. Power on the system comes in two main types: the first is the power that is actually delivered to end users, and the second is reactive power, which is power provided to the system to maintain the system, rather than for end-use consumption.