by jboullion | Oct 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
More information
Michael Vickerman
Executive Director
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
From the North Woods to the Illinois border, from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, growing numbers of Wisconsin factories, businesses, schools, hospitals, fire stations, apartment buildings and breweries have installed systems that heat their water with the power of the sun.
A newly launched online map on RENEW Wisconsin’s web site displays the locations of more than 60 nonresidential solar hot water systems installed in the state. Each flagged system is accompanied by a box containing information on the owner, installation contractor, system size and date of installation. Many of these systems are linked to their installers’ web sites, accompanied by photos.
The solar hot water map joins the family of on-line renewable energy maps developed by RENEW Wisconsin in the past year. Some maps are resource-specific; others break out renewable energy systems by county.
“These maps verify the enormously positive effect that Wisconsin’s clean energy initiatives like Focus on Energy have had in creating such a vibrant economic sector,” said RENEW executive director Michael Vickerman.
Created in 1999 and strengthened in 2006, Focus on Energy is a ratepayer-funded initiative that helps Wisconsin residents and businesses employ energy efficiency measures and install renewable energy systems.
“In the past five years, Focus on Energy incentives have been instrumental in putting solar hot water on the map in Wisconsin,” Vickerman said. “No other Midwestern state has come close to experiencing Wisconsin’s success in advancing this particular application of solar energy.”
The table below shows the five largest solar hot water installations operating in Wisconsin, two are located at University of Wisconsin campuses.
Owner: UW-Oshkosh
Installer: H&H Solar, Green Sky Energetics
County: Winnebago
Capacity: 6,800 square feet (total)
Year installed: 2010, 2011
Kalahari Resorts
Terrytown Plumbing/H&H Solar
Sauk
4,160
2007
Menomonie Indian Tribe
Energy Concepts
Menomonie
2,600
2010
UW-Stevens Point
Hooper Corp./ Pertzborn Plumbing
Portage
2,240 (total)
2011
Avis Rent-a-Car (multiple locations)
Mitchell’s Heating & Cooling
Outagamie
2,160 (total)
2007
Milwaukee-based Hot Water Products, one of the largest stocking distributors for solar thermal and domestic hot water systems in the Midwest, supplied and designed four of these systems and many others in Wisconsin over the last five years. In addition to training contractors in this field, Hot Water Products also assists them with system design and equipment sizing support.
This year, installation activity has been brisk, but most installation contractors are bracing for a sharp slowdown in 2012, due to a Focus on Energy decision on July 1st to suspend renewable energy grants and incentives to nonresidential customers. The announcement of the funding suspension came after the Legislature voted in June to lop $20 million from Focus on Energy’s 2012 budget.
“The longer Focus on Energy’s funding suspension goes on, the deeper the damage will be. Installers are holding their breath as they wait for Focus on Energy to restore renewable energy funding assistance.”
Installers and system owners wishing to add their installations to the map should contact Alex Brasch at brasch@renewwisconsin.org.
by jboullion | Oct 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Chris Hubbuch in the La Crosse Tribune:
The White House announced plans Wednesday to speed up federal approval of a controversial high voltage power line planned for the area.
The CapX2020 line, which will connect power stations in Hampton, Minn., Rochester and La Crosse, was one of seven projects tagged by the Obama administration as key for creating jobs while modernizing the nation’s electric system.
“To compete in the global economy, we need a modern electricity grid,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement. “An upgraded electricity grid will give consumers choices while promoting energy savings, increasing energy efficiency and fostering the growth of renewable energy resources.”
The accelerated process will not affect state approval processes already under way, said Sahar Wali, spokeswoman for the Council on Environmental Quality. It will instead speed up federal processing by encouraging cooperation between agencies.
Tim Carlsgaard, spokesman for the consortium of utility companies including Xcel Energy and Dairyland Power Cooperative, said he hopes that means the federal process will be done by the time Minnesota and Wisconsin complete their reviews, likely in mid 2012.
CapX will need federal approval from as many as four federal agencies, including the Rural Utility Service. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers will also have a say in how and where the line crosses the Mississippi River near Alma, Wis.
Joe Morse is a spokesman for the Citizens Energy Task Force, which opposes the project. He thinks the federal government is overstepping its bounds and pressuring states to hasten approval despite local opposition. Several towns have passed resolutions opposing the line, and a La Crosse County committee this week asked for more study.
by jboullion | Oct 10, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Clay Barbour in the LaCrosse Tribune:
Hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in potential economic development are stuck in limbo as officials continue to argue over new wind siting rules.
The new rules, more than a year in the making, were suspended earlier this year just before they were to go into effect. A legislative committee sent them back to the Public Service Commission, which was tasked with finding a compromise between both sides.
Now, some seven months later, PSC officials say they are no closer to a deal than when they started. Meanwhile, wind farm developers such as Midwest Wind Energy and Redwind Consulting are sitting on their hands, and their money.
“Right now, we just don’t have a path forward in Wisconsin,”said Tim Polz, vice president of Midwest Wind Energy, a company that suspended work earlier this year on a large wind farm in Calumet County. “The uncertainty is just too much now.”
Polz said Chicago-based Midwest already spent three years and about $1 million on the Calumet County project. In full, the company expected to spend upward of $200 million on the project, employ 150 to 200 construction workers for up to 18 months and five to eight people full time after that. . . .
Walker said he is aware of the stress caused by the delay but feels it is important any rules be fair to both sides, respecting property rights and the future of the wind industry.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, plans to introduce a bill Monday to call for a moratorium on wind turbines until the PSC receives a report from the Department of Health Services on possible health effects of wind farms.
“It is more important to fully vet, understand and communicate to the public the potential changes than the specific timing of when they are adopted and enacted.” Walker said. “It is important to note that whatever proposed changes are made, there are effects on a number of different areas of the economy.”
by jboullion | Oct 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Sean Ryan in the Business Journal:
City of Milwaukee streetcar supporters, including Mayor Tom Barrett, on Wednesday rallied against the proposal to give Milwaukee County buses up to $54.9 million in federal grants dedicated to the streetcar.
Milwaukee Alds. Joe Dudzik and Bob Donovan and County Board Supervisor Mark Borkowski on Wednesday called for an April referendum on the project and requested U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore sponsor federal legislation to give county buses the federal money that was earmarked for the streetcar. Donovan listed his concerns about the project, including the potentially high cost of moving utilities for the streetcar tracks, operating costs and potential ridership.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Donovan, Dudzik and Borkowski have a history of being hostile toward transit and said many of their arguments have been made before. He said the three did not participate in a push made earlier this year to urge the state to restore money for the county transit system that was cut in the state budget.
“Where were these three individuals?” Barrett said. “They were nowhere, because they’ve never had an interest in improving transit in this community.”
The federal grant for the 2.1-mile downtown streetcar is the city’s share of $91.5 million in transit money Congress approved in 1991 for projects in Milwaukee County. A Congressional budget bill approved in 2009 earmarked $54.9 million for the city and $36.6 million for the county. As approved by Congress, the money can only be spent on capital projects, not on system operations.
by jboullion | Oct 5, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A Marathon County judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed this summer by opponents of the We Energies biomass power plant near Wausau.
The local group Save Our Air Resources and the Massachusetts-based Biomass Accountability Project had sued the state Department of Natural Resources challenging its approval of the project, which would burn wood waste and wood residues left over from logging operations.
The plant was proposed by We Energies along with the paper company Domtar, which will host the project at its Rothschild paper mill.
The $255 million project is needed to help We Energies comply with the state’s renewable energy target.
In a ruling Thursday, Marathon County Judge Michael Moran ruled in favor of the DNR that the lawsuit was filed late and by a lawyer
“It was filed late and it was filed by an out-of-state attorney,” Moran said, according to an audio recording posted online by the Wausau radio station WSAU.
by jboullion | Oct 5, 2011 | Uncategorized
