by jboullion | Dec 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in the BizTimes Daily:
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced today that three Milwaukee area companies have been granted a total of $3.1 million in federal funding to help them invest in manufacturing equipment and create 276 new green jobs.
“Wisconsin has a tremendous opportunity to be a leader in clean energy,” Doyle said. “With these funds, we will help these companies not only create hundreds of new green jobs in Milwaukee, but also manufacture renewable energy and energy efficient products.”
The companies receiving the federal funding are:
+ Helios USA – $1 million. The Milwaukee start-up is a manufacturer that will produce solar panels for residential and commercial applications. It is leasing 40,000 square feet in an existing facility and will invest more than $8 million for equipment and working capital. Helios expects to create 54 new clean energy jobs.
+ Nature Tech LLC – $800,000. The company is a Milwaukee start-up manufacturer of energy efficient cellulose insulation manufactured from recycled newsprint. It is leasing a vacant facility and will invest more than $3 million in the project. The company plans to create 47 new clean energy jobs.
+ ZBB Energy Corp. – $1.3 million. ZBB of Menomonee Falls is investing $4.5 million in equipment and working capital to expand its advanced battery products manufacturing. The company will retain 26 jobs and plans to create 175 additional jobs.
Doyle has launched a plan calling for the state to achieve energy independence by generating 25 percent of its electricity and 25 percent of its transportation fuels from renewable resources by 2025.
by jboullion | Dec 1, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a guest column my Keith Reopelle in the Wausau Daily Herald:
As our elected leaders in Madison draft the details of a clean energy jobs bill and legislators in Washington debate climate change legislation, it is important to note that strong legislation pushing the transition toward clean energy will not only protect north central Wisconsin’s environment but also help bolster its economy.
With its abundance of natural resources, strong workforce and entrepreneurial spirit, the Wausau area could help lead the transition to a clean energy economy, creating new businesses and much-needed jobs for area residents.
One need look no further than We Energies’ proposed biomass-fueled power plant at the Domtar Corporation’s paper mill in Rothschild to see how climate legislation can have a positive economic impact in north-central Wisconsin. We Energies predicts that this proposed plant will create approximately 400 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs. This single project would be a long-lasting boon for the local community, and represents merely one of hundreds of projects in north-central Wisconsin that could help strengthen our economy.
Without a current state law that requires utilities to produce 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015, it is unlikely that this job-creating project ever would have been proposed.
Passing a state clean energy jobs bill and passing a strong federal climate change bill would help spark more economic growth in the Wausau area by producing even greater demand for clean, renewable energy. Residents of north central Wisconsin could go to work installing solar panels on homes, erecting residential wind turbines, making homes and businesses more energy efficient and manufacturing the parts needed to construct renewable energy systems.
by jboullion | Nov 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
From RENEW Wisconsin’s brief filed with the Public Service Commission in support of the Glacier Hills Wind Park:
The design of the proposed Project is in the public interest first and foremost because it will be powered by wind rather than fossil fuels. Wind energy is a locally available, self-replenishing, emission-free electricity source. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, must be imported, are available in limited quantities, and emit pollutants. Moreover, using wind energy furthers the State’s policy goal that all new installed capacity for electric generation be based on renewable energy resources to the extent cost-effective and technically feasible. Wis. Stat. § 1.12(3)(b).
In his direct testimony, RENEW Wisconsin witness Michael Vickerman outlined a number of other public policy objectives that would be advanced by the construction of Glacier Hills. These include:
1. Helping Wisconsin Electric Power Company (“WEPCO”) meet its renewable energy requirements under Wis. Stat. § 196.378(2)(a)(2)d;
2. Securing adequate supplies of energy from sustainable sources;
3. Protecting ratepayers from rising fossil fuel prices;
4. Reducing air and water emissions from generation sources;
5. Preserving working farms and pasture land;
6. Generating additional revenues for host towns and counties;
7. Reducing the flow of capital out of Wisconsin for energy purchases; and
8. Investing Wisconsin capital in a wealth-producing energy generating facility within its borders.
by jboullion | Nov 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Joel Costanza in the News of the North:
RHINELANDER – Hoping for bipartisan support and action by next April, a group of northern Wisconsin Republican lawmakers outlined plans on Monday (Nov. 16) to make or save jobs in the state, and promote the growth of biofuels as an alternative energy source.
Rep. Dan Meyer (R-Eagle River), Rep. Don Friske (R-Merrill) and Rep. Jeff Mursau (R-Crivitz) were joined by business and education officials at an hour-long news conference Monday afternoon held at Ponsse North America headquarters in Rhinelander.
Aimed mainly to help agribusiness and the forest products industry – “the two largest engines of the state’s economy” in Friske’s words – Meyer and his colleagues said they would sponsor nine bills and a resolution over the coming months to provide tax breaks and other incentives to spur economic growth.
The lawmakers said the tax relief would be modeled after $1.3 million in dairy modernization tax credits passed earlier this year.
“We’re looking to do the same thing for loggers and sawmills, for example, to help them upgrade their equipment and expand their facilities to create new jobs,” Meyer said.
Mursau said, “The same great idea for agriculture will work for our aging sawmills around Wisconsin by providing tax incentives.”
Friske conceded that the job creation plan faces an uphill fight in the Democratically-controlled legislature, but said he’s optimistic that the effort will garner support from both sides of the aisle.
“We have a common enemy, which is the slumping economy,” Friske said.
In addition to tax exemptions for businesses, the proposals are aimed at streamlining government permitting, helping educators spread the word about bio-energy, and easing worker compensation costs, which officials said put Wisconsin at a competitive disadvantage in luring new industry compared to neighboring states such as Michigan, Minnesota and many others where the business climate is friendlier.
by jboullion | Nov 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a post by Tom Content on his blog at JSOnline:
Milwaukee and one other city are in the running for a Spanish wind energy supplier as it considers its first manufacturing plant in the United States.
The name of the firm and the name of the city competing against Milwaukee haven’t been disclosed, but Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said the company was in the alternative energy business.
State and city economic development leaders were in Spain this week for meetings with the Spanish firm. Brian Manthey, a spokesman for We Energies, said the team that headed to Spain brought along a representative of the utility who has expertise about wind energy.
The company would be expected to create 100 to 200 jobs here, Sheehy said.
Milwaukee is a finalist for the investment, after earlier competing against more than a dozen cities that the firm was considering.
Representatives of the company have been to the city twice to evaluate potential suppliers and the availability of skilled manufacturing workers, he said.
Representatives of the state at the meeting this week were state Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel, city development director Rocky Marcoux, and Pat O’Brien and Jim Paetsch from the Milwaukee 7 economic development group.
“It’s fair to call this a significant investment,” Sheehy said. “We’ve got a lot of manpower on the ground over there – not that we’re not going to chase every possible job out there – but I think the manpower is appropriate to the potential in this deal.”
