by Tyler Huebner | Jan 23, 2018 | Biogas, Policy, RENEW Wisconsin, Renewables, Solar, Wind
There was a palpable sense of excitement and our largest crowd ever (330 attendees), for our 7th Annual Renewable Energy Summit held January 18th. This year’s Summit, “Connecting to a Powerful Future,” included NextEra Energy Resources as a Presenting Sponsor.
Wind energy is coming back to Wisconsin as evidenced by the 2017 addition of Quilt Block Wind Farm, which was awarded the Renewable Energy Project of the Year.
Solar energy had its best year ever – for the 3rd consecutive year. The total amount of solar power capacity in Wisconsin has grown to 80 megawatts, enough to power over 10,800 Wisconsin homes. That’s up from 42 megawatts twelve months ago and 25 megawatts the year before that.
Our panel of utility executives and our solar industry speakers described the growth in solar, and the future opportunities on the horizon.
And biogas, which has struggled in recent years, is finding new opportunities. Dane County Executive Joe Parisi described the county’s plans to transform their landfill from electric generation to gas injection to a pipeline, and how it will also facilitate local biodigesters to do the same.
Bringing home our theme of “Connecting to a Powerful Future,” we learned how to improve our clean energy communications from Jane Bloch of Tusculum Consulting. Jane’s specialty in conveying the benefits of clean energy to broad audiences will help all of us continue to expand renewable energy in Wisconsin.
We also named John & Mary Frantz of Madison and Cal & Laurie Couillard of Deerfield Renewable Energy Champions for their support and philanthropy which enables RENEW Wisconsin to continue growing. John & Mary have been matching donors to our Ride with RENEW bicycle events, and Cal & Laurie founded Solar for Good to help Wisconsin mission-driven nonprofits “go solar.”
Our exhibition hall had 27 vendors, our most ever, and the networking was consistently described by many attendees as “excellent.”
Please check out the presentations from the day and photos of the event, and plan to join us at next year’s event!
Also, we encourage you to check out the media coverage of the day:
RENEW Wisconsin: Big Increase in Solar Energy Expected in Next Few Years (Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio, January 18, 2018)
Cost-Effectiveness of Solar, Other Renewables Expected to Keep Growing (Alex Moe, WisBusiness.com, January 19, 2018)
Thank you to our 2018 Summit Sponsors!
by Jodi Jean Amble | Jan 11, 2018 | Advocacy, Policy, RENEW Wisconsin, Renewables, Solar, Wind
RENEW’s seventh annual Renewable Energy Summit, set for January 18, 2018, will furnish the occasion for recognizing the leading lights in Wisconsin’s renewable energy industry and spotlighting the developments that made 2017 such a stellar year. Titled “Connecting to a Powerful Future,” RENEW’s Summit will take place at Monona Terrace in Madison; registration starts at 8:00 AM and the program runs from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM. The recognition ceremony will begin at 2:00 PM.
Last year saw the first large-scale wind power plant go up in Wisconsin since 2011. Quilt Block, a 49-turbine, 98-megawatt (MW) project developed by Houston-based EDP Renewables is now online, producing power under contract to La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative, whose four-state service area includes 18 member cooperatives and 10 municipal utilities in Wisconsin.
Representing a capital investment of $167 million, EDP’s Quilt Block project will produce enough renewable electricity to power more than 25,000 Wisconsin residences while providing millions of dollars in local aids to the Town of Seymour and Lafayette County, as well as lease payments to participating landowners over the plant’s operating life.
At the Summit, RENEW will honor Quilt Block Wind Farm as Wisconsin’s Renewable Energy Project of the Year. Recognizing the strong collaboration forged by project participants, RENEW will present plaques to representatives of the developer (EDP Renewables), the utility purchaser (Dairyland Power Cooperative), local governments (Town of Seymour, Lafayette County), and participating landowners.
Last year marked the emergence of RENEW Wisconsin’s Solar for Good, a program that provides grants to nonprofit institutions that seek to install solar electric systems on their buildings. Initiated by donations from Deerfield-based philanthropists Cal and Laurie Couillard, Solar for Good awarded 16 grants in 2017 supporting the installation of 573 kilowatts (kW) of new solar electric projects to serve such entities as public charter schools, food pantries, houses of worship, and nursing care facilities. For their philanthropy that made possible the Solar for Good program, Cal and Laurie Couillard will receive honors as Renewable Energy Champions.
Also set to receive honors as Renewable Energy Champions are John and Mary Frantz, both retired physicians and long-time renewable energy advocates now living in Madison who have been generous supporters of RENEW Wisconsin’s work to expand renewable energy. In recent years, their generosity has taken the form of providing matching donations to “Ride with RENEW,” a fundraising event held in autumn featuring bicycle tours of noteworthy renewable energy projects in Wisconsin.
The recognition segment will also draw attention to other milestones and notable achievements in 2017, including the following:
- All 15 solar arrays built by SoCore Energy (Illinois) and GroSolar (Vermont) under contract to Dairyland Power are now producing electricity. Three of the arrays, located in New Auburn, Phillips, and Roberts, are the state’s largest in operation.
- Xcel Energy’s Wisconsin utility commissioned a 1 megawatt (MW) array in Eau Claire, which now supplies energy to its shared solar subscribers.
- SunPeak designed and built the state’s largest rooftop solar electric system in operation, a 1.2 MW array atop the American Family Insurance headquarters building in Madison.
- Eagle Point Solar installed 350 kilowatts (kW) of solar generation atop two schools in the Northland Pines School District, which now has more solar capacity than any other K-12 district in Wisconsin.
- SunVest Solar and Current Electric teamed up to design and install 800 kW of solar capacity on six rooftops in the Oneida Nation reservation in Brown County.
- Contractors partnered with local nonprofits to launch five residential group solar purchase programs across Wisconsin. Together these initiatives result in 158 installations totaling nearly 1,000 kW of new solar capacity.
“These award winners and honorable projects deserve recognition for the benefits they are bringing Wisconsin’s people and economy,” said Tyler Huebner, RENEW Wisconsin’s Executive Director. “These honorees are leading the way towards a clean, vibrant, and self-sustaining Wisconsin energy future.”
For more information on the 2018 Summit program agenda, speakers, and registration, please visit http://www.renewwisconsin.org/2018_Summit/index.html.
by jboullion | Apr 21, 2017 | Solar, Utility Scale
Yesterday, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced that the County will study the feasibility of building a 6-megawatt solar project on 30 acres at the local airport.
Learn more: Dane County’s Press Release and a Wisconsin State Journal article
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| Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, at Podium, with Michael Vickerman of RENEW Wisconsin (right), Mark Redsten of Clean Wisconsin (far left), and Elizabeth Katt Reinders of the Sierra club. |
RENEW Wisconsin’s Michael Vickerman was on-hand and delivered these remarks:
Seven months ago, County Executive Joe Parisi held a press conference to announce what was then the largest commitment by a local Wisconsin government to solar energy. This was the 770 kilowatts of solar that will serve the Alliant Energy Center and the Dane County Jobs Center, which will be installed this summer. As befitting such a milestone, he stood among local clean energy leaders and advocates, including me.
Standing here today with Joe, I am experiencing a very strong sense of déjà vu, for today’s announcement surpasses the clean energy bar he set last September. When this solar project is completed, which I expect will occur in the second half of 2018, it will become not only the largest solar project in Dane County, but also in the state of Wisconsin. We have businesses right here ready to construct and interconnect more than 15,000 solar panels on airport property, and every other County resident will benefit from the improvement to local air quality and the lift to the local economy.
There is a reason why so much solar energy activity is happening in our midst, and that is local leadership. We are fortunate to have political leaders in Dane County who not only recognize the value of locally produced clean energy for its citizenry, but also take all necessary and appropriate actions to integrate solar, biogas and other low-carbon resources into all facets of municipal operations. Leaders like County Executive Parisi to are grabbing the reins and plugging their communities into the 21st century energy landscape.
The local of the array is on the northeast side of the airport property, as shown below.
by jboullion | Jan 30, 2017 | Solar, Utility Scale
For immediate release
January 30, 2017
More information
Tyler Huebner, Executive Director
608.255.4044
tyler.huebner@renewwisconsin.org
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One of the Dairyland Power Cooperative arrays at
Taylor Electric Cooperative in Medford, WI.
The NextEra and WPPI project will be approx. 50x as large. |
Today, an agreement was announced between NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and WPPI Energy to build a 100 megawatt solar energy project in northeast Wisconsin. The project, according to the companies, would be located on land adjacent to the existing Point Beach Nuclear Plant which operates in Two Rivers, and serve more than 23,000 people with affordable, clean energy.
RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director, Tyler Huebner, said, “This will by far be the largest solar energy project built in Wisconsin yet, and it builds on the continued growth of solar energy in the state. We congratulate both WPPI Energy and NextEra Energy Resources on the announcement of this project and their leadership in bringing more affordable, clean energy to Wisconsin.”
This project will nearly triple the amount of solar we have built in Wisconsin as of today. According to RENEW Wisconsin estimates, 55 megawatts of solar are built or in construction today, and that is up from 25 megawatts at the end of 2015.
“Along with Dairyland Power Coooperative, which is building 20 MW of solar projects currently, WPPI Energy is showing that solar power is a competitive resource for electricity providers in Wisconsin,” concluded Huebner.
The companies’ press release can be found at: https://wppienergy.org/News/NewsItem?item=47
Media stories on the announcement:
– Op-Ed from Two Rivers City Manager Greg Buckley
– Major solar energy project slated for Wisconsin; Sun Prairie’s WPPI Energy to buy the power
by jboullion | Nov 15, 2016 | Solar, Utility Scale
Anticipating the completion of a dozen solar projects in Wisconsin, La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative signed contracts this month to add three more arrays to its generation
portfolio. With these three arrays Dairyland now has more 20 MW of solar
generation under contract, almost all of it located in the Badger State
(see table below). These arrays will produce emission-free power for
Dairyland’s 25 member distribution cooperatives and 17 municipal
utilities.
Chicago-based SoCore Energy will build and
own the three new arrays. Two of the three arrays will be located in Wisconsin, and the third will go up in northeast Iowa. SoCore is also the developer of 11 of the initial 12 arrays announced by Dairyland in February.
All 15 arrays are located in the service territories of Dairyland’s member distribution cooperatives. In conjunction with Dairyland’s utility-scale arrays, many of the host cooperatives are adding their own panels to these installations, to serve customers who subscribe to their shared solar programs.
The environmental benefits from these arrays will go beyond clean energy. Every project site will be revegetated with native plants to create bee and butterfly habitat. When revegetation is complete, SoCore will seek certification of its projects as “pollinator gardens.”
One of the projects under construction, St. Croix Electric Cooperative’s Sunflower II array in Roberts, provided the backdrop for a solar media day on Monday, November 14th. RENEW’s Michael Vickerman took part in the open house, providing RENEW’s perspective on the rapid growth of solar generation throughout Wisconsin. The Sunflower II project is about 30 miles east of St. Paul, Minn., and 55 miles west of Eau Claire, Wis.
Of the 45-50 MW of Wisconsin-based solar generating capacity likely to be operational by April 2017, Dairyland’s projects will account for nearly 40% of that total. As of today, the only multimegawatt array producing power under contract to a Wisconsin electric provider is the 2.25 MW installation in Rock County owned by Hanwha Q CELLS USA, which supplies electricity to Wisconsin Power & Light.
For more information on Dairyland’s newest solar projects, see: http://www.dairylandpower.com/dcontent/article/DPCannouncesadditionalsolarcontracts.pdf
As a reminder, Barbara Nick, CEO of Dairyland Power Cooperative, will speak at our 2017 Energy Policy Summit, Clean Energy Goes Mainstream, on January 19, 2017. Learn more and register today!
by jboullion | Nov 17, 2015 | Community Solar, Solar, Uncategorized
With the flip of a switch, Fall Creek-based Eau Claire Energy Cooperative (ECEC) now owns and operates Wisconsin’s newest and largest Community Solar project. Consisting of 2,816 panels with a rated capacity of 872 kilowatts (DC), the array will produce approximately 900,000 kilowatt-hours a year, roughly the equivalent of what 90 households would consume in a year.
For the moment at least, it is the third largest solar array in Wisconsin (see table below).
River Falls-based Able Energy Company constructed ECEC’s system. Later this year, Able will commence construction on a 250 kW solar array in Minnesota for People’s Energy Cooperative.
“Eau Claire Energy’s project makes a statement on solar energy that couldn’t be clearer,” said Tyler Huebner, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a renewable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison. “If you’re searching for a utility project that delivers clean energy and long-term savings to its subscribers while creating good-paying jobs with in-state businesses, you’ll find an excellent example in Fall Creek.”
“Solar energy is here to stay and we encourage other electric providers to embrace that reality,” Huebner said.
Under a typical community solar project, electricity customers help finance the building of a large project through an up-front subscription fee that is paid back in full (with a modest return) through monthly on-bill credits. A centralized solar array enables all utility customers, including those who rent or are lacking sufficient solar exposure, to support the expansion of solar generation in their community.
Since early 2014, six Wisconsin electric cooperatives have built and energized solar gardens totaling more than 1.5 MW (see table below). For information on community solar activity in Wisconsin, visit RENEW’s web page at http://renewwisconsin.org/action/CommunitySolar.htm.
