by jboullion | Feb 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Larry Sandler in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Politicians and business leaders were quick to celebrate – and claim credit for – Monday’s announcement that a Spanish company will bring hundreds of new jobs to Milwaukee.
Wisconsin’s current governor, two candidates to succeed him, and not one but two regional economic development alliances all lined up to score points from a new Menomonee Valley plant for Ingeteam, a Spanish manufacturer of wind-turbine generators.
About 270 manufacturing jobs will be created by the plant, said Greater Milwaukee Committee President Julia Taylor. Building the plant will bring construction jobs as well, said Patrick Curley, chief of staff to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
It will be Ingeteam’s first North American factory, said Gale Klappa, co-chairman of the Milwaukee 7 economic development coalition.
Ingeteam chose the valley because of its proximity to workers, I-94 and Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, as well as Milwaukee’s “great reputation for manufacturing,” said Barrett, also a Milwaukee 7 co-chairman.
The plant will be built near the western end of the valley, Barrett said. The exact site will be announced Tuesday, Curley said.
Barrett called on Klappa, the chief executive officer of We Energies, to make the announcement during the mayor’s “state of the city” address at the downtown headquarters of Manpower. He also introduced five Ingeteam executives, who he said had just flown in from Spain for the announcement.
In January, President Barack Obama’s administration announced that Ingeteam had been awarded $1.66 million in clean-tech manufacturing tax credits to make wind turbine generators as well as power converter and control systems in Milwaukee. Further indications surfaced last week that the company had picked Milwaukee.
Ingeteam is a privately held, diversified manufacturer based in Zamudio, Spain, a suburb of Bilbao, the city visited last fall by state Commerce Secretary Richard Leinenkugel, City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux and Milwaukee 7 representatives. Outside Spain, the company has operations in seven countries, including an office in Mequon.
by jboullion | Feb 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by 1000 Friends
of Wisconsin:
Local property taxes would go down according to testimony given on Wednesday [February 10] by 100 Friends of Wisconsin.
“The demand-side provisions of the the transporation policies included in the Clean Energy Jobs legislation would drive down the costs of building and maintaining the transportation infrastructure,” according to
Steve Hiniker, Executive Director of 100 Friends of Wisconsin.
Hiniker provided testimony at Wedneday’s Senate Select Committee on Clean Energy hearing on the Clean Energy Jobs Act. The hearing focused on transportation and agricultural policies contained in the bill. 1000 Friends testimony focused on demand-side transportation policies that reduce the demand for driving a single occupant vehicle.
“The bill calls for simple strategies to significantly reduce teh costs of transportation facilities as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. By focusing on infill development, enhancing transit options and eliminating subsidies for parking, communities canc tgive a hboost to the environment, make their communities better places to live and reduce taxes,” Hiniker noted.
The following strategies were highlighted at the hearing:
• Development of a market-based pricing model for parking . . .
• Planning grants for compact development . . .
• Metropolitan Planning Organization reform . . .
by jboullion | Feb 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Barry Adams in the Wisconsin State Journal:
MAZOMANIE — The furnace at Cardinal Solar Technologies on this village’s west side is far from ordinary.
Yes, it heats the 180,000-square-foot building. But the primary purpose of the $5.5 million, 120-foot-long apparatus, which took six months to install, is to harden 2-by-4-foot sheets of quarter-inch-thick glass used to make solar photovoltaic panels.
If projections bear out, it may be a while before the 1,200-degree, gas-fired convection furnace is allowed to cool, as more solar energy installations are built around the world.
“They’re mostly in Europe right now,” said Bob Bond, president of Cardinal ST. “But the United States is coming. I visited one near Las Vegas that will have a million panels sitting in the desert. And that will all be our glass.”
Very little of the energy used in the U.S. comes from the sun. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, petroleum, natural gas and coal accounted for 93 percent of the total in 2008. Renewable energy, which includes hydropower, biomass, geothermal, wind and solar, combined to make up the remainder. Solar energy accounted for just 1 percent.
But that sliver of the market, combined with state and federal incentives, has Cardinal ST officials enthusiastic about the future.
by jboullion | Feb 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Matt Standal posted on the Northland Newscenter:
ASHLAND, WIS. – Wisconsin Politicians say new renewable energy Standards could be the key to creating more jobs.
It’s called the Clean Energy Jobs Act, and the final public hearing was today in Ashland.
Local folks and political figures gathered at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor’s Center to voice their opinions regarding its changes.
“We would be remiss to ignore the opportunities presented by this bill,” State Senator Bob Jauch said, speaking at the hearing. “These are the kinds of initiatives that could create jobs in Wisconsin and protect our environment.”
If adopted by Wisconsin’s state legislature in April, proponents say The Clean Energy Jobs Act would Create At Least 15,000 Green Jobs by 2025 in Wisconsin.
According to Senator Jauch, the bill’s major changes would include new statewide goals for greenhouse gas emissions, improved state funding for renewable energy resources, and strict new requirements for Wisconsin–based renewable energy to flow through the municipal grid.
Jauch and State Representative Gary Sherman say those new requirements should result in better funding for a larger renewable energy industry and more renewable energy jobs too.
Tourism and forestry are our two main industries in the area and they are linked together by this environment,” Sherman said. “If we can find a way to produce jobs, to produce industry, to produce economic development without destroying that resource, than we are looking at a bright future,” Sherman added.
Local residents largely agreed, speaking for or against various points on the proposed bill.
“I was happy to present to Senator Jauch today a petition in support of this bills signed by more than 150 area residents,” said community organizer Bill Busse from Bayfield. “So it has strong grassroots support in our area.”
However, several speakers vocally opposed the bill’s most controversial measure, a resolution reversing the moratorium on new nuclear energy development throughout Wisconsin.
by jboullion | Feb 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
In the rhetoric of the energy bill debate in Madison, energy prices will go up – either because the Legislature passes the Clean Energy Jobs Act or because the Legislature fails to pass it.
Rising energy prices are a familiar refrain to many in Wisconsin, where energy expenditures total $16 billion a year. A review of electricity price increases by the Journal Sentinel found residential customers across the state pay 39% to 70% more than they paid in 2001.
Advocates on both sides of the debate over the Clean Energy Jobs Act are raising fears about higher costs.
Opponents say utilities will have to invest billions of dollars in wind farms and other projects to comply with an aggressive renewable energy mandate proposed by the bill. Supporters say billions of dollars are at risk because of Wisconsin’s heavy reliance on coal.
A new analysis by the state Public Service Commission found that utility bills are likely to be less in 2025 if the bill passes and there’s a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system that penalizes coal.
Public Service Commission Chairman Eric Callisto testified at a recent hearing that power prices for a typical Wisconsin customer would fall nearly 7% if the bill is passed and there’s a $20-per-ton price on carbon. Prices would fall 1% if there’s a $10-per-ton price on carbon and would rise nearly 6.6% if there’s no carbon price, he said.
“But that’s not reality,” he said. “I don’t believe for a second that we’re going to see a future where carbon doesn’t have a price on it.”
In its studies over the last several years, the commission has been banking on the fact that there will be a price on carbon, he said.
Under that scenario, “there are dollars left on the table by the status quo,” Callisto said.
by jboullion | Feb 12, 2010 | Uncategorized
From the home page of Governor Doyle:
