by jboullion | Nov 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a Tom Content blog post on JSOnline:
We Energies’ newest coal-fired plant is generating power, after “significant progress” in construction over the past three months, the company’s chairman said Thursday.
The coal plant consists of two coal-fired boilers next to an older coal plant on Lake Michigan in Oak Creek. The first new boiler began burning coal earlier this month and has been running at 25% of maximum power in recent days, said Gale Klappa, We Energies chairman and chief executive.
Bechtel Power Corp., the contractor on the project, also has made progress on building the second boiler, which is now 74% complete, Klappa said.
The $2.3 billion project is the most expensive construction project in state history, as it’s roughly double the combined cost of building Miller Park and rebuilding the Marquette Interchange.
by jboullion | Oct 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
COMMENTS FILED ELECTRONICALLY IN
Application of Madison Gas and Electric Company for Authority to Change Electric and Natural Gas Rates 3270-UR-116
Commentor Information:
Name: Michael Vickerman
Address: 509 Elmside Blvd.
City: Madison State:WI Zip:53704
E-mail: mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
To the Commission:
I would like to comment on the recommendations from PSC staff (witnesses John Feit and Jerry Albrecht) to increase the premium charged to Green Power Tomorrow subscribers. I approach this issue from a multiple of perspectives: (1) as a professional renewable energy advocate; (2) as a 100% program subscriber (since 1999); and (3) as a proud owner of a 1.7 kW solar electric system that was installed after Madison Gas and Electric launched its Clean Power Partners program in 2008.
All of MGE’s Clean Power Partners, (including me) sell the output from our solar systems to Green Power Tomorrow program subscribers through a 25 cents/kWh buyback rate. Among these customer-producers of clean energy are TDS Custom Construction, Goodman Community Center, City of Madison, Dane County Regional Airport, Madison No Fear Dentistry, and Isthmus Engineering.
The solar buyback rate is supported through voluntary purchases of renewable electricity. When the Clean Power Partners program was announced, MGE envisioned a 300 kilowatt ceiling on solar energy purchases through the special tariff. All Clean Power Partners must subscribe to Green Power Tomorrow. At the same time Clean Power Partners was launched, MGE reduced the subscription premium to a penny per kWh. The declining premium sparked a significant upsurge in subscribership, which enabled MGE to carve out a larger space for solar electric production supported by the program. The ceiling on the Clean Power Partners program is now one megawatt.
I mention Clean Power Partners to highlight the link between subscription volume and solar electric production. The larger the volume of electricity flowing through Green Power Tomorrow, the greater the amount of solar generation that the program can support. The reverse, however, is also true.
The participation rate of these programs is very sensitive to premium amounts. According to research compiled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the median premium price of voluntary programs nationwide is about a penny per kWh. Programs with higher premiums have a significantly smaller participation rates than Green Power Tomorrow. Forcing MGE to increase its renewable energy premium would trigger a falloff in participation, which in turn would very likely result in higher rates to nonparticipating ratepayers. Moreover, a contraction in subscribership may very well force MGE to curtail its Clean Power Partners program due to insufficient program revenues.
Clearly, the special buyback rates offered by MGE, Wisconsin Power & Light and We Energies have delivered a positive jolt to Wisconsin’s solar electric marketplace. Wisconsin is actually a regional leader in solar electric capacity. No other Midwestern state comes close to where Wisconsin is right now. Given the significant progress made in the last three years, how does it benefit the state to choke off the one enabling policy that makes solar generation a reasonable value proposition to responsible energy users?
Shifting gears somewhat, there is an implicit understanding among program subscribers that they are committing to energy resources whose costs are fixed through long-term contracts. Many of these subscribers are likely to react negatively to a higher premium, because they know that the renewable resources leveraged through Green Power Tomorrow are not going up in price. They are likely to interpret an increased premium as expressing a public policy preference for burning more fossil fuel to take advantage of temporary dips in coal and gas prices. Is that really the message the PSC wishes to convey?
Let’s summarize the consequences of a higher premium:
1) Decline in program participation rate, due to a combination of economic impacts and negative reinforcement.
2) Decline in program revenues, forcing MGE to compensate through higher rates on all customers.
3) Premature seizing up of the solar electric marketplace in the Madison area.
It is highly ironic that the PSC would consider inflicting such a cascading sequence of perverse outcomes to a nationally recognized renewable energy program like Green Power Tomorrow. Just last month, MGE’s renewable energy program received the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Utility Green Power Program of the Year Award. The award was announced at the Green Power Leadership Awards banquet in Atlanta, Georgia. The honor bestowed to MGE was well-deserved, as evidenced by the letter I wrote in support of its program (see below).
Let’s not wreck a good thing. Please refrain from forcing MGE to raise its premium on current and future renewable energy subscribers. Thank you.
Michael Vickerman
RENEW Wisconsin
222 S. Hamilton Street
Madison, WI 53703
Home address:
509 Elmside Blvd.
Madison, WI 53704
+++++++++++++++++
June 5, 2009
Mr. Courtney Welch
Green Power Leadership Awards
Navarro Research & Engineering for
U.S. DOE Golden Field Office
1617 Cole Blvd, MS 1501
Golden, CO 80401
Dear Mr. Welch:
It is with great pleasure that I submit this letter of support on behalf of Green Power Tomorrow, the highly popular renewable energy subscription program offered by Madison Gas & Electric. I offer this letter of support not only in my capacity as a professional renewable energy advocate, but also as a customer purchasing 100% of household electrical use through this program.
By any objective standard, MG&E’s program is a hit with its customers. As reported in NREL’s annual assessment of leading green power programs, Green Power Tomorrow has the second-highest customer participation rate (9.7%) among investor-owned utilities in the United States. The program ranks sixth among all utilities in sales as a percentage of total retail electricity sold (3.8%). Through a judicious blend of wind projects from the region, MG&E was able to lower its premium to one cent/kWh, which set the stage for the upsurge in customer participation in 2008. Many a Madison landmark, from the State Capitol to Monona Terrace Convention Center, is powered in part through Green Power Tomorrow.
Notwithstanding its modest premium, the program also supports customer-owned photovoltaic systems through a special buyback rate fixed at $0.25/kWh for 10 years. Called Clean Power Partners, this initiative has motivated dozens of customers to install PV on the residence or business. Last August, I became a Clean Power Partner, when the electricity from the newly installed 1.7 kW system on our house began flowing into the grid. With this installation we now produce nearly emission-free 2,000 kWh/year on top of the 4,000 kWh/yr of emission-free electricity we buy from MG&E. In the 18 months since Clean Power Partners was launched, customer participation has surpassed MG&E’s initial expectations, prompting the utility to increase the ceiling on this initiative from 300 kW to one megawatt.
More than a renewable energy program, Green Power Tomorrow is a community-based sustainability initiative that supports about 50 MW of windpower that otherwise would not have been part of MGE’s resource portfolio. Instead of settling for small, incremental growth for its program, MGE elected to pursue a more ambitious path that would be appealing and affordable to a broad cross-section of its customer base, and the results are impressive. In my estimation, it is an outstanding candidate for this year’s Utility Green Power Program of the Year.
Sincerely,
Michael Vickerman
RENEW Wisconsin
by jboullion | Sep 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the testimony of Michael Vickerman in support of the installation of a biomass gasification system that would produce biomass-derived synthetic gas (“syngas”) for serving Northern States Power’s Bay Front Unit #5.
We note the following public policy objectives that would be advanced if the proposal submitted by Northern States Power Corporation (“NSPW”) were approved. These objectives include:
1) Meeting Wisconsin’s current Renewable Energy Standard;
2) Eliminating a source of coal-fired power from its system;
3) Using a locally available renewable energy resource;
4) Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other gaseous pollutants;
5) Maintaining a strong generation source in northern Wisconsin; and
6) Investing Wisconsin capital in a renewable energy generating facility power plant within its borders.
by jboullion | Sep 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nick Halter in the Wausau Daily Herald:
A new biomass power plant in Rothschild would cut dependence on fossil fuels, reduce acid rain and be nearly carbon-neutral, according to studies and experts.
It’s also a step, albeit a small one, toward Wisconsin reaching its goal of having 10 percent of all energy produced using renewable resources by 2015 — a goal established in Gov. Jim Doyle’s Clean Energy Wisconsin Plan.
We Energies announced plans Sept. 1 to build a $250 million power plant that burns low-quality and unusable wood and paper waste, powering the Domtar paper mill and providing electricity to homes in Wisconsin. The plant still needs state approval before construction can begin.
Burning wood is much cleaner than burning coal, the source of 70 percent of the electricity on Wisconsin’s power grid, said Keith Reopelle, senior policy director for the environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin.
“I think that biomass will and needs to play an important role in replacing coal generation in Wisconsin and I think there will be a trend towards it, Reopelle said.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, burning wood is nearly carbon-neutral because the carbon dioxide generated during combustion is equal to the carbon dioxide the tree consumes over its life. But the process will remain carbon-neutral only if forestry companies that supply wood to the power plant replace the trees that they cut.
by jboullion | Jul 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the direct testimony of Michael Vickerman on behalf of RENEW Wisconsin:
Q. What is the purpose of your testimony?
A. The purpose of my testimony is to communicate our organization’s support for the installation of a biomass gasification system that would produce biomass-derived synthetic gas (“syngas”) for serving Northern States Power’s Bay Front Unit #5.
Q. Why does RENEW support this particular application?
A. We note the following public policy objectives that would be advanced if the proposal submitted by Northern States Power Corporation (“NSPW”) were approved. These objectives include:
1) Meeting Wisconsin’s current Renewable Energy Standard;
2) Eliminating a source of coal-fired power from its system;
3) Using a locally available renewable energy resource;
4) Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other gaseous pollutants;
5) Maintaining a strong generation source in northern Wisconsin; and
6) Investing Wisconsin capital in a renewable energy generating facility power plant within its borders.
