by jboullion | Jun 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Tower Tech Systems of Manitowoc will build 90 steel towers for Wisconsin’s largest wind farm, as We Energies adds a “buy-local” flavor to its renewable energy project near Madison.
The Manitowoc maker of wind turbine towers will build the 262-foot tall towers for turbine maker Vestas. The turbines will be erected next year in Columbia County at the $367 million Glacier Hills Wind Park.
The move comes as European companies like Vestas and Ingeteam look to expand their domestic production of wind power components.
Ingeteam last week broke ground on a $15 million wind power generator factory in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley.
For its part, Vestas is ramping up production of turbines, blades and towers at factories in Colorado.
But for this project, Vestas opted to work with Tower Tech Systems, a Manitowoc company that’s part of the wind component firm Broadwind Energy Inc. Including factories in Texas and South Dakota, Tower Tech is the third largest producer of wind towers in North America.
The value of the contract hasn’t been disclosed, but Chief Operating Officer Paul Smith said it will mean job security for employees at the sprawling Tower Tech complex near Lake Michigan.
As wind project development slowed because of the recession, Tower Tech laid off workers. But this contract and other orders placed by Vestas will enable Tower Tech, now employing 160, to bring back about 60 to 80 workers from layoff in the coming months, Smith said.
by jboullion | Jun 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
From Madison Gas Electric:
“Many of us have seen giant wind turbines from the road… but very few people get a chance to go inside. In this story, see what’s in the core and climb with us to the very top of the turbine!
It’s a 26 story vertical climb in a very tight space. See how it’s done and find out how energy is transferred from the blades, into the nacell and down the core of the turbine”
by jboullion | Jun 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
With three turbines set, crews raise a fourth one beside the SCA Tissue office building in the Town of Menasha.
From an article by Michael King in the Appleton Post-Crescent:
TOWN OF MENASHA — SCA Tissue is at the forefront of renewable energy applications and looking for more opportunities.
On Monday, the papermaker installed the first of four 100-foot-tall, 20-kilowatt wind turbines outside the SCA Tissue Service Excellence Center offices at 1451 McMahon Drive as part of a $300,000 project. The turbines with the 15-foot blades tower over the building, which has rooftop solar panels that were installed a few years ago.
“This is the first commercial wind (turbine project) in the town,” said Mike Dillon, SCA Tissue manager of environmental and risk management. He said SCA once again turned to local firms to aid its latest renewable, or “green” initiative.
“The turbines are the first commercial units built by a new Oshkosh company called Renewegy,” he said. “Faith Technologies in Menasha is doing the electrical work and the foundation work for the towers was done by our neighbor, Miron Construction.”
Once in place, the four turbines will produce 100 to 125 megawatt-hours annually, enough to power 10 to 12 homes each year, but the electricity is being used exclusively in the office building, Dillon said.
“We’re actually going to consume every bit of (electricity) in the building,” Dillon said. “This is a continuation of our work with renewable energy, looking at new technologies and improved technologies. It’s another piece of a (renewable) portfolio we’re trying to develop.”
SCA Tissue already is looking at solar and wind power options for its converting facility on Ehlers Road in the Town of Menasha and for its Menasha paper mill, along with SCA facilities in Arizona, New York and Alabama.
by jboullion | Jun 23, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Paul Ryan in The Daily Reporter:
Deadline pressure and 100 amendments are cracking the unity of the state‘s Wind Siting Council as it strives to agree on turbine placement standards.
Even the definition of agreement is a point of contention among the 15 members. The state law that formed the council requires only that the panel make recommendations that will go to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and, ultimately, the state Legislature.
But some council members insist they will testify against recommendations not based on a consensus vote.
“I told them they can come in with studies and articles and hearsay,” said Larry Wunsch, a Brownsville resident and council member. “I come in with experience. I live in a wind farm, and I can tell you what it looks like and how it sounds.”
“But if they’re going to go with majority rule, then, yeah, I would argue against it at future hearings.”
The council is designed to establish turbine placement standards for wind farms that generate less than 100 megawatts of electricity. The PSC already reviews wind farms that generate more than 100 megawatts.
The PSC intends to finalize rules based on the council’s recommendations by Sept. 1, PSC spokeswoman Teresa Weidemann-Smith said.
Public hearings on draft rules begin next week, and the public comment period for recommendations ends July 7.
That puts the council on a tight timeline to finish its work, said Michael Vickerman, a member of the council and executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization focused on clean energy. . . .
Vickerman said he doubts there will be consensus. But, he said, the council represents a wide array of experience and interest, and the PSC and Legislature must take that into account when approving rules for wind turbine placement.
“Those who oppose wind have already made their minds up,” Vickerman said. “We can have a dialogue with them, but I don’t think we can have a meeting of the minds.”
by jboullion | Jun 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Ilissa Gilmore in the Sheboygan Press:
ASHWAUBENON — An advocacy group said Wednesday that the high-speed rail system that will connect several Midwest cities will benefit the environment and provide more than 9,000 jobs in Wisconsin.
Members of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group student chapters came to the National Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon to promote the $823 million project that will connect Green Bay, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, among other cities.
WISPIRG — which works on economic, environmental, and social concerns — is conducting its second annual tour for the system. The group also has visited Eau Claire, La Crosse and Madison and will hit Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Racine.
States need to invest in railways instead of more roads and highways, said WISPIRG student leader Sarah Seibold.
“The Midwest is behind the East Coast and Europe and Asia in railway travel,” said Patricia Terry, a science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. “Rails are needed to maintain our economic competitiveness.”
An expanded rail system in Wisconsin would produce 9,000 new, permanent jobs, and it would reduce dependency on oil because railroads are 23 percent more fuel efficient than airplanes and 40 percent more efficient than single-passenger cars, Seibold said.
The rail system will use diesel gas before eventually moving to electricity, she said, but it would still be more efficient than standard modes of transportation. With oil dependency and gas prices on the rise, rail travel is a favorable alternative, Terry said.
