by jboullion | Feb 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
A Commentary
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin
February 15, 2010
In the next six weeks the Legislature will make a truly momentous decision on the state’s energy future. Either it can embrace an ambitious 15-year commitment to invigorate the state’s economy through sustained investments in clean energy or decide to coast along on current energy policies until they lapse and lose their force and effect.
Arguably the most innovative feature in the Clean Energy Jobs Act, as it’s now called, is a proposed requirement on larger electric providers to acquire locally produced renewable electricity with Advanced Renewable Tariffs (ARTs). These are technology-specific buyback rates that provide a fixed purchase price for the electricity produced over a period of 10 to 20 years, set at levels sufficient to recover installation costs along with a modest profit. Now available in more than a dozen nations in Europe as well as the Province of Ontario, ARTs have proven to be singularly effective in stimulating considerable growth in small-scale production of distributed renewable electricity.
From what we’ve observed, Focus on Energy and federal incentives (the current mix of financial support) are not sufficient to drive significant installation activity when utility buyback rates are pegged to the cost of operating 40-year-old coal plants. It’s unrealistic to assume that a brand-new farm-sized renewable energy system, regardless of the resource used, can compete head-to-head with central station power plants that have been fully amortized.
However, when existing incentives and tax credits are supplemented with an additional source of financial support, such as higher buyback rates, installation activity picks up noticeably.
Consider the much-vaunted Dane County Cow Power Project, which should be operational before the end of the year. Using anaerobic digestion technology, this Waunakee-area installation will treat manure from three nearby dairy farms and produce biogas that will fuel a two-megawatt generator. This community digester project, the first of its kind in Wisconsin, will be built with private capital and a State of Wisconsin award to support a technology that reduces the flow of phosphorus into the Yahara Lakes. A second digester project is also planned for Dane County.
The key element that makes the financing of this project work is the special biogas buyback rate that Alliant Energy, the local utility, voluntarily put in place a year ago. With the higher rate, the project’s return on investment was sufficient to interest outside investors.
Unfortunately, once this initiative reached its predetermined capacity limit, Alliant discontinued the special biogas rate. This complicates matters for future digester installations, in that the other utilities that serve Dane County, including Madison Gas & Electric, do not offer special buyback rates to customers who generate electricity from biogas.
While voluntary initiatives are laudable, they are too small and sporadic in nature to make much of a dent in converting Wisconsin’s organic wastes into energy. Indeed, unless a policy is adopted statewide that requires utilities to increase their purchases of locally generated renewable electricity, there is no guarantee that Dane County will see a second digester project built.
If we are serious about neutralizing the algae blooms that turn the Yahara lakes green each year, we’ll need to adopt a clean energy policy, including ARTs, that facilitates the development of biodigesters in farm country.
Please communicate your support for this bill by writing letters to your state legislators and to your local newspaper. But time is of the essence — we have only a few more weeks left in this legislative session.
Michael Vickerman is the executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a sustainable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison.
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 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 a news release issued by Governor Doyle:
MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle today awarded $500,000 in Recovery Act funds to communities moving toward a clean energy future. The Governor announced 11 grants totaling $500,000 to help 24 communities develop plans to reach his “25 by 25” energy independence goals.
“These grants will help Wisconsin communities across the state seize the opportunity to save money through energy efficiency and grow a strong new part of our economy in clean energy,” Governor Doyle said. “Through the Recovery Act, our communities will lead as the world moves rapidly in the direction of clean energy and energy efficiency. We spend $16 billion on fossil fuel energy every year in Wisconsin, and all those dollars are lost to our economy. By working toward these ambitious renewable energy goals, we will create good jobs and continue our state’s clean energy leadership.”
The grant program is funded through the Recovery Act’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program. The 24 communities will create “25×25” plans to meet the Governor’s goal of generating 25 percent of the state’s electricity and transportation fuels from renewable resources by the year 2025.
The 2010 Wisconsin Energy Independent Community Partnership Pilots are: City of Altoona, Crawford County, City of Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, City of Fennimore, Village of Ferryville, Green Lake County, City of Gays Mills, City of Jefferson, City of Kaukauna, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Village of La Farge, City of Monona, Polk County, City of Prairie du Chien, Shawano County, Village of Soldiers Grove, Vernon County, Village of Viola, City of Viroqua, Waukesha County, and City of Whitewater.
The 25×25 plan process begins this month and will be completed by December 2010. During the process, opportunities will be available for other communities to learn from the experiences of the pilot communities. Open meetings on the topic will be held by the Office of Energy Independence during the months of April, August and December.
The program builds on Governor Doyle’s work to make Wisconsin a clean energy leader. Last month, Governor Doyle launched the Clean Energy Jobs Act, a landmark legislative package to accelerate the state’s green economy and create jobs.
by jboullion | Feb 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
Josh Stolzenburg (center), owner of North Wind Renewable Energy, LLC, Stevens Point, joined Michael Vickerman (left) and Dave Miller, Wave Wind, LLC, Sun Prairie, in testifying in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Act bill before the Special Assembly Committee on Climate Change. Vickerman leans forward to show the committee members a map of renewable energy installations.
From a summary of Michael Vickerman’s (RENEW Wisconsin)
testimony before the Assembly Special Committee on Clean Energy
February 2, 2010:
RENEW Wisconsin strongly supports the provisions in SB450/AB649 to expand the state’s Renewable Energy Standard to 25% by 2025, which includes a 10% in-state renewable energy set-aside. RENEW has evaluated the availability of specific resources to reach that standard and has concluded that meeting such a target is technically feasible. If adopted, the in-state set-aside will become the most powerful engine for job development and capital investment over the next 15 years.
We expect such a requirement to be achieved through a combination of utility-scale power plants and smaller-scale generating units dispersed throughout Wisconsin. With respect to distributed renewable generation, we note the following:
1. The vast majority of the distributed renewable generating units installed in Wisconsin serve schools, dairy farms and other small businesses, churches and local governments.
2. Utilities are not in the business of installing these systems themselves.
3. In many cases the renewable energy installation went forward because there was a special buyback rate available to accelerate the recovery of the original investment made by the customer. Last week, I gave the example of the Dane County community anaerobic digester project that, once operational, will treat manure taken from several nearby dairy farms in the Waunakee area and produce two megawatts of electricity with it. The electricity will be purchased by Alliant Energy through a voluntary biogas tariff worth 9.3 cents/kWh. Unfortunately, Alliant’s biogas program is fully subscribed and is no longer available to other dairy farmers, food processing companies and wastewater treatment facilities served by Alliant.
4. Companies that install solar, wind and biogas energy systems are quintessentially small businesses, many of them family-owned. Renewable energy contractors and affiliated service providers constitute one of the few market sectors where young adults who have acquired the necessary skills to do the job well can find meaningful work at decent pay.
5. By its very nature, distributed renewable energy delivers nearly 100% of its economic punch to the local economy.
