RENEW: “It’s Time to Put Renewables Back to Work in Wisconsin”
For Immediate Release – 2/26/2014
Today, Sen. Mark Miller and Representatives Katrina Shankland and Cory Mason introduced comprehensive legislation to expand pathways for powering Wisconsin’s economy with renewable energy. Titled the Wisconsin Renewable Energy Act, this is the first energy bill introduced since 2010 that aims to strengthen the state’s commitment to locally available renewables and ratchet back its dependence on $12 billion of annual imported fossil fuels.
Among the bill’s principal provisions are (1) a boost to Wisconsin’s Renewable Electricity Standard, (2) additional targets for in-state bioenergy production, and (3) improved state policies to facilitate “distributed generation” such as solar, wind, and bioenergy production facilities that are owned by customers.
If adopted, the bill would raise the percentage of renewable energy supplying Wisconsin’s electricity customers to 20% by 2020 and 30% by 2030, up from the current requirement of 10% by 2015.
“Adopting the Wisconsin Renewable Energy Act would help re-establish Wisconsin’s long-standing leadership in renewable energy and Wisconsin-based job creation,” said RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director Tyler Huebner.
“Renewable energy means business opportunities for Wisconsin-based companies that are regional and national leaders in wind, bioenergy, solar, and hydropower project development, engineering, and supply chain manufacturing. Wisconsin was one of the first states to pass a renewable energy standard like this back in 2006, but now we’re quite a ways behind our neighbors, and the gap is certain to widen unless we pursue and pass worthy legislation like the Wisconsin Renewable Energy Act,” Huebner said.
“It’s time to put renewables back to work in Wisconsin,” Huebner said.
- View RENEW’s Fact Sheet on the Wisconsin Renewable Energy Act.
- See also Tom Content’s article “Legislative Dems propose renewable energy ramp-up to 30% by 2030”, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (2/26/14)