Vickerman responds to anonymous "Greenie"

by | Sep 9, 2008 | Uncategorized

RENEW’s Executive Director wrote the following response to a post by “Greenie” in a forum of the Wisconsin State Journal:

Forumite Greenie writes: “The biggest problem with the federal production tax credit for renewable energy is that it only covers wind and solar. In the state of Wisconsin where our wind resource is low, the production tax credit is what’s driving wind developers to put turbines where they don’t belong.”

Inaccuracies abound in that statement. One, the federal production tax credit covers wind and closed-loop biomass and biogas from livestock manure. Two, it does not cover solar. There is a 30% investment tax credit specific to most solar energy systems (not solar pool heaters). Three, the wind resource in Wisconsin is pretty good in certain locations, like along the Niagara Escarpment. At the two recently completed wind projects—Blue Sky Green Field and Forward—capacity factors should average 30%. The same should be true of the two wind projects under construction, Cedar Ridge and Butler Ridge. Fourth, the tax credit is based on output. The greater the amount of kilowatt-hours produced at a particular site, the greater the value of the tax credits. Furthermore, the tax credits are good for 10 years. After that, the turbines on their own, Since they are built to last 25 to 30 years, there had better be a decent resource where they are located, which is the case with every wind turbine operating in Wisconsin

Greenie continues: “They [manure digesters] would take nitrates out of the water, help farmers with their high electrical bills and provide power to the surrounding community. The Crave Brothers who produce excellent cheese on their farm put in a manure digester that not only took care of their $6,000 a month electrical bill, but also supplies electricity to the 126 homes around them. The nitrates no longer go into the ground water. They’re left with very clean compost material which can be used for many things. So why won’t they get any production tax credit money?”

Not only are manure digesters eligible for the federal production tax credit, they are also eligible for State of Wisconsin financial incentives through the Focus on Energy program. A manure-to-methane electric generation system can receive up to $250,000 in financial support from Wisconsin utility ratepayers. Generally, these incentives account for 10% to 25% of the installed cost of these systems, depending on their size.

RENEW Wisconsin strongly supports generating electricity or renewable natural gas from livestock manure. In several rate cases, RENEW argued that the utility should provide a higher buyback rate for manure-to-methane electric generation system. Several utilities have raised their buyback rates, though they still fall short of what is needed to cover installation costs. Having said that, Wisconsin has more livestock biogas generation systems than any other state. And several companies that are active in this market, including Clear Horizons, the company that installed the system at the Crave Brothers farm, are RENEW members,

More from Greenie: “For Wisconsin, industrial scale wind farms will always depend on coal burning power plants to operate.”

This is simply false. As any utility grid operator can confirm, a new wind farm does not need new baseload capacity to back it up. There is an abundant amount of reserve generating capacity in Wisconsin to absorb many new windpower installations.

Greenie again: “The production tax credit makes it so developers turn profit on inefficient and inappropriately sited turbines which are destroying so many Wisconsin communities.”

Name one Wisconsin community that has been “destroyed” by wind turbines.

We Energies, which owns the 88-turbine Blue Sky Green Field installation, is hosting an open house this Saturday. At the open house you’ll have the opportunity to see and hear the turbines with your own sensory apparatus. While you’re in that part of Fond du Lac County, ask the locals for their opinion of the installation. You’ll discover that the project is quite popular with Marshfield and Calumet township residents.

Greenie’s on a roll: “ If you feel like looking deeper into this if you follow the roots of the wind industry, state mandates for renewable energy standards (almost all of it going to WIND) the production tax credit (almost all of it going to wind) and the green credits (Wind again) you’ll end up at ENRON — once one of the biggest wind developers in the country.”

There is a simple reason why wind has become the dominant resource among renewable resources—it’s the only one that can produce power in bulk. Let’s compare the scalability of wind with dairy cattle manure. A Vestas V-82 turbine at Blue Sky Green Field has a capacity of 1.65 MW and will average about 4 million kWh/year (probably more), which is 28% of its rated capacity. How many cows does it take to produce the same amount of energy? Biogas producers agree that the energy value of dairy cow manure equates to 0.2 kW. It takes five cows to constitute one kW of generating capacity, 5,000 cows to constitute 1 MW. If you take the manure from one cow and put it into a digester/generation system that operates 90% of the time, it will produce an average of 1,577 kWh/year. Divide four million into that number and you’ll see that it takes 2,536 dairy cows to produce the same amount of energy as one commercial wind turbine. There are perhaps a dozen dairy operations in Wisconsin that have 2,500 cows, as compared with the 88 wind turbines at the 10,000-acre Blue Sky Green Field project, which should produce about 350,000,000 kWh/year. By my calculations, one would need 223,168 dairy cows to produce enough livestock manure to equal the output from Blue Sky Green Field. To put number that in perspective, we’re talking about nearly 20% of the state’s entire population of dairy cows (currently estimated at 1,252,000, according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board [[www.wisdairy.com]), all located in specialized dairy operations where their manure is captured and fed into anaerobic digesters.

How many residential solar electric systems is needed to produce 4,000,000 kWh. About 1,700.

By the way, Enron’s wind division was one of the few divisions in the company that generated a profit, which is why GE bought it after Enron filed for bankruptcy.

Greenie closes with this gem: “Why do lobbying groups like Renew Wisconsin carry the flag for wind and almost nothing else? Where is their money coming from?”

In addition to the wind industry, RENEW Wisconsin advocates on behalf of solar energy (electric and hot water), hydro, biomass, and biogas. We do this in many forums: at the Public Service Commission, at the State Legislature, in schools and at numerous county board and town hall meetings. We count among our members such companies as North American Hydro, H&H Solar, Full Spectrum Solar, GHD, Inc., Pieper Power, Lake Michigan Wind and Sun, and Lake Breeze Dairy. Our 330 members contribute about 20% of our revenues in a typical year. The other 80% of our funding comes from foundation grants and Focus on Energy work.

Allow me to ask a question of you, Greenie: Where do you get your misinformation from?

Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin

Can Milwaukee become a solar city?

by | Sep 5, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article by Ken Reibel in the Sheperd Express:

Can the red-hot market for solar panels generate green jobs for Milwaukee? Some city officials are hoping so. “We’ll be looking into whether we can build them locally,” says Ann Beier, director of environmental sustainability for the city of Milwaukee.

Beier and others want to use part of a $200,000 federal Solar City grant to fund a feasibility study. “It’s worth exploring,” she says.

The numbers are enticing. The U.S. solar market grew 57% in 2007, and worldwide demand has grown 20%-25% per year over the past 20 years. But barriers to entry are steep, and investment risky. Four manufacturing behemoths currently produce 50% of the solar energy products, or photovoltaics, sold on the planet, and the pace of innovation could leave some investors out in the cold.

“Not the U.S.A., but Germany, Japan and China are the major manufacturers,” says Niels Wolter, solar electric program manager for the Madison-based Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program. “But solar electric technology has significant room for innovation, so there are opportunities for new businesses to enter the market.”

Urge Congress to extend credit for renewable energy

by | Sep 4, 2008 | Uncategorized

An editorial from the Wisconsin State Journal:

America’s effort to develop cleaner, more sustainable energy sources is threatened by the looming expiration of federal tax credits that boost renewable energy production and use.

Congress should respond this month by extending and enhancing the credits, which encourage investment in solar, wind, biomass and other renewable power sources.

A significant risk exists that at the end of this year Congress will let credits worth $500 million a year lapse, as it did three previous times. In those cases, investment in renewables fell dramatically before Congress revived the credits. Investment in wind power production, for example, fell 93 percent following the expiration of tax credits in 2000.

This year the vast majority in Congress supports extending the credits, available to homeowners, businesses and investors for buying equipment to use or produce renewable energy. But legislation extending and improving the credits is stalled by a dispute over what to do about the impact on the federal budget deficit.

The credits are part of a larger package of tax breaks scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Extending the breaks would cost the treasury $50 billion over 10 years.

Plans call for Congress to offset the lost revenue by raising fees or taxes or by cutting other programs.

Many senators and representatives are balking at the offsets.

Congress deserves praise for making sure the credits do not exacerbate the already-enormous budget deficits. But its members should also recognize the value the renewable energy tax credits have to an economy weighed down by the high cost of fossil fuels and to an environment threatened by pollution from burning fossil fuels.

With Congress scheduled to adjourn for the year at the end of this month, it’s time for its members to compromise on a package of tax credits that can be offset with reasonable fee or tax increases and program cuts.

Wisconsin has much at stake. The state has great potential to become a national leader in renewable energy.

Tax credits spur the industry by making it more cost-effective to invest in equipment to use renewable energy in homes or businesses. The credits also make it more cost-effective to invest in starting or expanding renewable energy production plants.

Allowing the credits to expire would be a setback with costly consequences.

Wisconsin’s congressional delegation should help engineer a resolution that extends the credits without enlarging the budget deficit.

The American Wind Energy Association makes it easy to contact your U.S. representatives and senators, through a page dedicated to urging members of Congress to act.

Two Rivers may erect wind turbine

by | Sep 3, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article by Cindy Hodgson in the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter:

TWO RIVERS — Two Rivers Water & Light is considering erecting a wind turbine near the high school on Highway 42. It would be a joint project of the utility, the school and Wisconsin Public Power Inc., according to electric utility director Tom Bushman.

“We’re in very preliminary talks at this point,” Bushman said.

He said he has been in contact with the school regarding the idea for a couple of years, but “price has always been the issue.”

Now Wisconsin Public Power Inc., which is owned by 49 utilities including Two Rivers Water & Light, has indicated it is willing to provide funding, perhaps as much as 75 percent, according to Bushman.

WPPI would like to see at least one alternative energy demonstration project in each of its member cities, he said. Solar projects have been undertaken, and WPPI wants to see some wind projects implemented.

Two Rivers is a suitable location for a wind project, Bushman said, because it has open spaces and offshore winds from Lake Michigan in the afternoon.

If a wind turbine is set up near the high school, the power it generates will offset a small portion of the school’s electric bill, Bushman said.

Eggers Industries, on the other side of Highway 42, also has expressed interested in having a wind turbine, and the company has some vacant land to its south, he said.

MATC, MSOE have sunny outlooks

by | Sep 2, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article by Thomas Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The largest solar power project in downtown Milwaukee is up and running at Milwaukee School of Engineering.

144 solar panels sit on the roof of the school’s student union building and are visible to office workers in nearby downtown buildings. That’s by design, said Chris Damm, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MSOE.

“It’s a statement to show that MSOE is leading the way in terms of sustainability and engineering, to attract students who are interested in emerging energy technologies and sustainable engineering,” he said.

But the project is more than just a showcase for the university. It’s part of a training ground for students to engage in research in the growing fields of renewable energy and more efficient energy use.

Already, students did research to help determine the best spot on the downtown campus to place the solar panels – to ensure they wouldn’t be blocked by shadows from nearby buildings and generate too little power.

The solar project is the largest in downtown Milwaukee and one of the biggest at the state, though larger projects may be in the works.

The state’s largest solar systems are at GE Healthcare in Waukesha and Kohl’s Corp. in Menomonee Falls.

The downtown Milwaukee project, with a price tag of $235,000, was paid for through a combination of internal funding, a $100,000 grant from We Energies and a $35,000 grant from the state energy efficiency and renewable program, Focus on Energy.

A side note to the story says:

The future of solar power will be discussed during a conference next month at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee. The Solar Decade conference is planned for Oct. 23-24. For more, go to www.solardecade.com or call (800) 762-7077.