by jboullion | May 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Orlando Business Journal:
The Orange County Convention Center’s $8.8 million solar project that will turn sunlight into electricity is ready to go on line.
The photovoltaic array, the largest in the Southeast, uses solar panels on the center’s roof to generate 1.1 megawatts of power, enough to provide electricity for 80 to 100 residential houses. The array is expected to considerably reduce the center’s energy demand.
The panels cover about 200,000 square feet of the north/south building’s rooftop. Visitors to the center will be able monitor the system’s output at an on-site education center. The education center also promotes the environmental and economic benefits of solar and other renewable-energy technologies.
by jboullion | May 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
A view of the Blue Sky Green Fields wind farm from the project’s operations center.
An announcement from We Energies:
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Blue Sky Green Field Office
N9470 County Highway W
Malone, WI 53049
Tours will be given approximately every 30 minutes. Please stop by at your convenience during the tour hours listed above. No reservations required. The turbine is located a short walking distance from the parking area. Please wear sturdy shoes suitable for walking on a graveled surface.
The Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center, located in the towns of Calumet and Marshfield in northeast Fond du Lac County, is designed to generate 145 megawatts (MW) of electricity, and is capable of powering approximately 36,000 average residential homes. The site consists of 88 wind turbines.
Construction of the project began in June 2007. On May 19, 2008, Blue Sky Green Field was placed into commercial operation. We invite you to visit our facility and learn more about wind energy.
If you have any questions, call 920-980-3224.
by jboullion | May 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
From “Helgesen wants to fill space with jobs for Janesville” by Jim Leute posted on GazetteXtra.com:
JANESVILLE — Jeffrey Helgesen’s life is all about challenges.
His two sons from a first marriage are Navy SEALs. One just returned from his third tour in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the other remains in Iraq.
His father, with whom he’s had a rocky relationship, suffers from dementia.
And the developer’s largest Janesville tenant has flown the coop, leaving Helgesen with a massive hole in his commercial real estate portfolio.
One challenge after the next, he worries about them all.
But before you start feeling bad for Helgesen, don’t, he says.
He’s happily remarried and spends a lot of time at his summer home in Menomonee, Mich., a perfect port to launch his 52-foot “Gaudior” on extended sailing trips across the Great Lakes.
His relationship with his father, legendary Janesville businessman Don Helgesen, is better than it’s been in decades.
And that empty 700,000-square-foot building on Janesville’s south side?
It’s been cleaned, repainted, outfitted with energy-efficient lighting and heating fixtures and stands ready for tenants that Helgesen hopes will build alternative energy components and provide good jobs to the local economy.
LSI, a just-in-time supplier to the Janesville General Motors plant, ended its lease of the 10-year-old building on Venture Drive in December.
With LSI supplying a struggling auto industry, Helgesen knew he was on shaky ground with just one tenant in the huge building. Not enough eggs in one really large basket, he says.
The LSI building accounts for nearly 58 percent of the 1.2 million square feet Helgesen leases in Janesville. . . .
Helgesen, a frequent player in the city’s tax increment finance districts, would like to lease the space to alternative energy manufacturers. He’d also accommodate distribution or warehousing operations.
“The reality is that we’ve lost so many manufacturing jobs because of the North American Free Trade Agreement,” he says. “High fuel costs brought some of them back, but unfortunately our wage rates and health care have priced us out of the market.
“What’s left for us is everyone else’s crumbs; we’re a distributor of other people’s products.”
Janesville’s future, Helgesen believes, rests largely on companies that will manufacture components for renewable energy markets.
He’s watched cities like Newton, Iowa, and Wisconsin Rapids land companies and jobs in the alternative energy industries.
“I’m always pushing our people and the economic development people on this,” he says. “Why can’t we get those contracts? Those communities got over the idea that they were somehow going to maintain a dynasty industry forever.
“It’s just not going to happen, and that’s why I’m hammering the solar and wind thing.”
by jboullion | May 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Daykin in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A housing development proposed for Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood would produce the same amount of energy as it consumes, if the project goes forward.
The city Housing Authority is proposing the $40 million development, dubbed Eco-Bay, for the former Army Reserve site at 2372 S. Logan Ave.
Eco-Bay would feature 20 single-family homes and townhomes, which would be sold at market rates. It also would have 110 to 120 below-market rental units: 75 to 80 independent living senior apartments, and 35 to 40 assisted living senior apartments, the Department of City Development announced Thursday.
The Housing Authority would finance Eco-Bay with private investments, funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and federal tax credits given to developers of affordable housing, said Bobbi Marsells, the authority’s assistant secretary. Local developers that receive the credits agree to provide apartments at below-market rates to people earning no more than 60% of the Milwaukee area’s median income – $32,520 for a two-person household.
The authority is in the preliminary stages of obtaining financing, and it hopes to begin building the development in spring 2010.
It would be a showcase for sustainable construction.
The housing would include solar energy panels, geothermal heat pumps, and a plan to contain all storm water on the 5.6-acre site, according to the Department of City Development.
by jboullion | May 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
State Senator Jeff Plale (right) of Milwaukee testifies in support of identical companion bills (Senate Bill 185 and Assembly Bill 256) that he co-authored with State Rep. James Soletski (left). The bills direct the Public Service Commission to begin a process to set state-wide uniform standards for wind project permitting.
From an article by Paul Snyder in The Daily Reporter:
In addition to missing out on an estimated $3.5 million of economic opportunity for each wind turbine not built in Wisconsin, the state also is missing out on new energy without uniform standards.
“We’re looking at about 600 megawatts of stalled energy right now,” said R.J. Pirlot, director of legislative relations for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
State Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, author of the statewide wind farm siting bill and chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Utilities, Energy and Rail said the inactivity is disappointing.
“That’s a lot of missed opportunity,” he said. “And it’s a sad commentary for this state when we’re out there saying we want more renewable energy.”
RENEW Wisconsin’s executive director Michael Vickerman also testified.
