by jboullion | Jan 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article Kevin Lee in The Chippewa Herald:
MADISON — Wind energy developers are the latest businesses to be subject to the interstate struggle between Wisconsin and Illinois for jobs and economic development.
Last week, Gov. Scott Walker introduced a special session proposal that would tighten restrictions on where wind energy sites could be constructed.
Wisconsin wind energy supporters say the legislation could stall or even disrupt many of the 21 proposed wind projects that are at various stages of bidding and construction, said Michael Vicekrman with alternative energy advocacy group RENEW Wisconsin.
Vickerman warned that some of the companies running those projects could decide to move resources to neighboring states.
“The nexus shifts to Iowa and Minnesota and nothing happens here. Basically Wisconsin becomes a development-free zone,” he said.
Illinois Wind Association Executive Director Kevin Borgia has invited wind energy businesses to “Escape to Illinois,” a play on the “Escape to Wisconsin” appeal that Walker used earlier this month toward Illinois businesses.
“For all his attacks on Illinois being an unfriendly business climate, Gov. Walker goes out and proposes something that makes Wisconsin a wholly unfriendly business climate for (the wind energy) business,” Borgia said.
by jboullion | Jan 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
A news release issued by RENEW Wisconsin:
Owners of Wisconsin’s four largest wind energy projects will pay out approximately $2.8 million in rent to landowners hosting turbines and payments in lieu of taxes to local governments for 2010, according to figures compiled by RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide renewable energy advocacy organization.
Wind energy developers negotiate lease agreements with landowners to host turbines on their property. Payments can be as high as $7,000 per turbine per year. Estimated rental payments to all Fond du Lac and Dodge county landowners will total slightly more than $1.2 million in 2010.
Towns and counties do not collect property taxes from wind turbines but instead receive payments based on the generating capacity of each turbine, allocated under a formula adopted by the Legislature in 2003. Payments to those local governments will reach almost $1.6 million for 2010.
“These revenues help support farm families and rural Wisconsin communities.” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin. “It’s a much better deal for the state than sending dollars go Wyoming and West Virginia for the coal imported to Wisconsin to generate electricity.”
Gary Haltaufderheide, an employee of Madison-based Land Services Company, which negotiates land leases for large projects, like pipelines and wind turbines, says, “Farmers are smart business people and they’re very satisfied with the payments. One farmer saw the lease as a way to cover tuition payments for a child entering college.”
Four wind projects – Forward, Blue Sky Green Field, Cedar Ridge, and Butler Ridge – account for the payments to host landowners and local governments. Together these projects comprise nearly 90 percent of Wisconsin’s wind generation fleet.
When calculated over a 20-year contract period, total revenues should exceed $60 million, taking inflation into account.
Shirley Wind, the state’s newest wind power installation, will contributed another $80,000 a year, divided equally between Brown County, Town of Glenmore, local landowners, and neighbors within one-third of a mile of a turbine. The eight-turbine, 20-megawatt project began producing electricity in 2010.
Click tables to enlarge.
by jboullion | Jan 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Stills in Wisconsin Technology News:
MADISON – Unless someone strikes oil in Oshkosh, discovers natural gas in Necedah or mines coal in Colfax, the state of Wisconsin is destined to remain largely dependent – perhaps for decades – on outside sources of energy that power its homes, businesses and vehicles.
That economic dependency can be slowly but steadily reduced, however, if Wisconsin builds on its emerging expertise around development of new sources of energy.
Two recent news events sounded alarm bells for those who believe Wisconsin has the right combination of natural resources, research capacity and private sector know-how to begin charting a new energy future. In rapid order, Gov. Scott Walker introduced regulations that would make it harder to build wind-power projects in some parts of Wisconsin and he cancelled plans to convert a UW-Madison power plant from coal to biomass.
There may be logical reasons for the new administration’s specific actions. Some people have complained that current state rules allow wind generators to be built too close to private property, and the conversion of the UW-Madison’s Charter Street plant to burn switchgrass pellets was estimated to be $75 million more expensive than burning natural gas.
The larger danger is that Wisconsin could lose momentum around the development of much-needed energy technologies – advanced wind, next-generation biofuels, energy storage systems and much more – if the message is sent that energy and conservation innovation isn’t welcome or valued.
by jboullion | Jan 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in the Sheboygan Press:
If Gov. Scott Walker is all about creating jobs for Wisconsin residents, he will back off his support for new rules on wind farms.
Last year, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, in response to inconsistent siting rules adopted by individual communities, held hearings, reviewed scientific information and heard from health experts in an effort to come up with uniform standards sitting rules.
The PSC said the wind turbines, which generate electricity — and are responsible for hundreds of new jobs in Wisconsin already — must be located 1,250 feet from any residence and about 450 feet from property boundaries.
The PSC siting rules take into account the concerns of homeowners and are based on about 150 reports on medical and safety issues.
But new rules, which Walker backs, would put the setback from a residence at 1,800 feet — a distance that wind farm developers contend would drive them out of business and shut the door to this emerging technology and clean-energy process.
Keith Reopelle, the policy director for Clean Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy group, said the rules Walker is backing will jeopardize nearly a dozen wind farm plans in the works.
by jboullion | Jan 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Jake Miller in the Wausau Daily Herald:
A California-based energy company is interested in building a manufacturing plant in the Wausau area, adding about 600 jobs in a part of the economy that was especially hit hard by the recession.
W Solar Group, which will move its headquarters to Dane County this year, has narrowed its search for where to build its plant to several Wisconsin cities. A company spokesman said Wausau has several factors that make it appealing.
“It’s a very good spot as it relates to a supply chain, geography, transportation,” said Evan Zeppos, spokesman for W Solar Group. “It has a well-known reputation for having a good work force, and it’s certainly very high on the quality-of-life scale.”
W Solar has not finalized where it will build the manufacturing plant, and Zeppos declined to provide a list of cities Wausau is up against. Local officials, however, said Eau Claire is Wausau’s biggest competition.
W Solar, founded in 2009 in Chatsworth, Calif., has an efficient technology that lets it produce solar panels on a large scale at a lower cost than its competitors.
If W Solar ultimately selects the Wausau area, the jobs could provide a huge boost to Marathon County’s manufacturing sector, which has lost about 2,500 of its 17,700 jobs since December 2007, according to state data.
