by jboullion | Mar 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
Excerpts of a letter from PSC Chair Eric Callisto to the special legislative committees on clean energy jobs:
February 19, 2010
Assembly Special Committee on Clean Energy Jobs
Wisconsin State Assembly
Madison, WI 53702
Dear Committee Members:
I am writing in response to a letter dated February 9,2010 from Representatives Huebsch, Montgomery, and Gunderson requesting a Commission analysis of the expected costs to utilities and ratepayers of meeting a 25% by 2025 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) as proposed in the Clean Energy Jobs Act. As I have testified to both the Assembly and Senate Select Committees, the electric utility sector policies in the proposed legislation – namely, the enhanced RPS and energy efficiency provisions – represent sound energy policy for Wisconsin. The Commission’s analysis shows that if we continue with business as usual, if we decide to do nothing, we are taking on great financial risk in a changing world, and our ratepayers will be leaving substantial dollars on the table.
. . . [W]hat follows is a summary of preliminary PSC cost modeling of the RPS and energy efficiency components of the CEJA. PSC staff modeled the costs of the RPS and energy efficiency policies together, because the RPS requirements are expressed as a percentage of retail electricity sales. It would be unrealistic to estimate the costs of the RPS requirements in the proposed legislation while ignoring that the same legislation seeks to reduce the growth in demand for electricity. The two policies are inherently connected.
The modeling shows that in every case in which GHGs are monetized (i.e., there is a compliance cost associated with emitting GHGs), the cost of the CEJA is less than the cost of the status quo over the long run. That is, we will in all likelihood be spending more on electricity in the long run if we don’t act now and enact enhanced renewable portfolio standards and take more aggressive action on energy efficiency. . . . (emphasis in original letter)
by jboullion | Mar 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
An announcement from Wisconsin Environment, IBEW, Helios USA, Access Solar, Clean Wisconsin, Sierra Club, Milwaukee River Keeper:
Come join us Thursday, March 11th at 6:00 p.m. for a Clean Energy Town Hall Forum.
A panel of experts will discuss how the Clean Energy Jobs Bill will benefit the greater Milwaukee area with green jobs, lower energy bills and a cleaner, healthier environment.
Plus, talk with local installers about rebates and incentives to use energy efficiency or renewable energy for your home or business.
Speakers include: Dan Kohler, Director of Wisconsin Environment; Steve Ostrenga, CEO of Helios USA; Dave Boetcher, Government Affairs Coordinator for IBEW, Senator Jim Sullivan of the 5th District; Susan Stratton, Executive Director of Energy Center of Wisconsin and Matt Frank, DNR Secretary
Co-Sponsors: Wisconsin Environment, IBEW, Helios USA, Access Solar, Clean Wisconsin, Sierra Club, Milwaukee River Keeper
Any questions contact Lindsay North at (608) 287-0867. RSVP here!
West Allis Public Library
7421 W. National Ave
Constitution Room
West Allis, WI 53214
by jboullion | Mar 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nathaniel Shuda in the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune:
A Canadian energy producer’s latest effort to build a wind farm on the Great Lakes is one of several projects industry officials say is spurring interest in the concept.
The Great Lakes basin serves as a prime location for offshore power facilities because of high wind volumes and space, industry leaders said, which has some south Wood County business leaders poised to take advantage of what they call an invaluable resource.
“It costs a lot more to construct a tower in the water than it does on land, but when you put wind turbines on land, they’re set away from cities, so you need transmission lines,” said Jenny Heinzen, a wind-energy technology instructor at Lakeland Technical College. “What you’re spending in construction is far less than what you’d spend in transmission costs.”
Toronto-based Trillium Power Wind Corp. is gearing up for its planned 710-megawatt offshore wind facility in the middle of Lake Ontario that would power at least 300,000 homes a year in the Canadian province, according to a news release the company issued Thursday.
Its project, which also has connections to Denmark-based wind-energy component producer Vestas Wind Systems, is just one of many recent events the top executive of a Wisconsin Rapids-based manufacturer says further support the company’s plans to build what officials now say is a 535,000-square-foot $70 million wind turbine blade plant in the Rapids East Commerce Center.
“The market has validated our conversation,” said Sam Fairchild, chief executive officer of Energy Composites, which launched a Great Lakes Consortium in August to help promote the Great Lakes region within the wind-energy industry.
by jboullion | Mar 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Tom Daykin:
The decision by Spanish train maker Talgo to locate its first U.S. assembly plant at the former Tower Automotive site on Milwaukee’s north side will have a bigger payoff than the 125 jobs it will create, a company executive and public officials said Tuesday.
Talgo will expand and add jobs if the company sells more trains, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said Tuesday. Talgo already has orders for at least four trains from the states of Wisconsin and Oregon, and it hopes to sell several trains to other states with new high-speed rail lines, said Perez and Gov. Jim Doyle.
Also, while Talgo will import train car shells from Spain, it will buy other components from U.S. suppliers, Perez said. Those vendors could include Milwaukee-based Super Steel Products Corp. and Oak Creek-based Milwaukee Composites Inc. Such supplier contracts are expected to create around 450 jobs throughout the Midwest, Doyle said.
Finally, Talgo’s facility at the former Tower site boosts the city’s efforts to create a business park there, said city Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux. That business park, dubbed Century City, will eventually have an estimated 700 to 1,000 jobs, he said.
Much of this, however, depends on developing a national high-speed rail system – financed with an initial investment of $8 billion in federal stimulus tax funds – that critics believe will draw fewer passengers than expected.
Talgo said Tuesday it will soon begin assembling trains in Milwaukee. Perez said the company will begin work between June and September and is already recruiting employees. About 60 positions are needed to build trains and another 65 jobs for maintenance work, he said.
by jboullion | Mar 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Clean Wisconsin:
Madison, Wis – Despite big oil and coal spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to confuse and turn the public against the Clean Energy Jobs Act, Wisconsin residents and businesses demonstrated overwhelming support for the bill in recent legislative hearings, with supporters outnumbering opponents by more than a 2 to 1 ratio, according to data recently obtained from the Wisconsin State Legislature.
“Attendance at the hearings shows that Wisconsinites support the Clean Energy Jobs Act, despite the attempts of big oil and coal lobbyists to sour public perception with misinformation and deceptive advertising,” said Keith Reopelle, Senior Policy Director at Clean Wisconsin. “Energy independence may be bad for the big oil and coal companies, but it’s good for the hard-working people of Wisconsin.
Supporters of this bill realize that greater energy independence means higher profits for Wisconsin businesses, more jobs, and a cleaner, healthier environment.”
In an attempt to weaken the Clean Energy Jobs Act, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) and big oil and coal companies have flooded the capital with lobbyists and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisements and studies that use biased, outdated and discredited information to attack the bill.
Despite this misinformation campaign, individuals supported the bill 2 to 1 at recent legislative hearings, with actual businesses supporting the bill by a 3 to 1 margin.
