by jboullion | Nov 17, 2015 | Community Solar, Solar, Uncategorized
With the flip of a switch, Fall Creek-based Eau Claire Energy Cooperative (ECEC) now owns and operates Wisconsin’s newest and largest Community Solar project. Consisting of 2,816 panels with a rated capacity of 872 kilowatts (DC), the array will produce approximately 900,000 kilowatt-hours a year, roughly the equivalent of what 90 households would consume in a year.
For the moment at least, it is the third largest solar array in Wisconsin (see table below).
River Falls-based Able Energy Company constructed ECEC’s system. Later this year, Able will commence construction on a 250 kW solar array in Minnesota for People’s Energy Cooperative.
“Eau Claire Energy’s project makes a statement on solar energy that couldn’t be clearer,” said Tyler Huebner, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a renewable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison. “If you’re searching for a utility project that delivers clean energy and long-term savings to its subscribers while creating good-paying jobs with in-state businesses, you’ll find an excellent example in Fall Creek.”
“Solar energy is here to stay and we encourage other electric providers to embrace that reality,” Huebner said.
Under a typical community solar project, electricity customers help finance the building of a large project through an up-front subscription fee that is paid back in full (with a modest return) through monthly on-bill credits. A centralized solar array enables all utility customers, including those who rent or are lacking sufficient solar exposure, to support the expansion of solar generation in their community.
Since early 2014, six Wisconsin electric cooperatives have built and energized solar gardens totaling more than 1.5 MW (see table below). For information on community solar activity in Wisconsin, visit RENEW’s web page at http://renewwisconsin.org/action/CommunitySolar.htm.
by jboullion | May 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
|
Vernon Electric Cooperative’s
Community Solar Project in Westby, WI |
Xcel Energy’s Wisconsin affiliate, Northern States Power Company (NSPW), is seeking approval to launch a pilot solar garden program. This is the first formal proposal from a Wisconsin investor owned utility to offer solar subscriptions to its customers. Under the program, Xcel Energy would purchase up to three megawatts (3,000 kilowatts) of electricity from local community solar arrays in the company’s service area in western and northern Wisconsin. Customers would in turn subscribe for capacity to meet their desired solar energy needs up to their annual usage and receive a monthly credit for their subscription. If approved as is, the monthly credit would be 7.4 cents per kWh for residential customers and 6.9 cents per kWh for business customers. NSPW will set the subscription price based on the results of its solicitation.
Update: On a 3-0 vote, the Public Service Commission approved Xcel’s pilot program as proposed. Check our website for details about the program’s rollout.
RENEW submitted the comments below prior to the commission’s deliberation of NSPW’s solar garden proposal:
222 S. Hamilton, Madison, WI 53703
May 13, 2015
Ms. Sandra Paske
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin
610 N. Whitney Way
Madison, WI 53707-7854
RE: Application of Northern States Power Company, a Wisconsin corporation, for Approval to Implement a Community Solar Garden Pilot Program (Docket No. 4220-TE-101)
Dear Ms. Paske:
On behalf of RENEW Wisconsin, I would like to submit these brief comments on the above-mentioned application filed by Northern States Power Company (NSPW) on April 27, 2015. Our comments are as follows.
Items we support:
- According to a study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, about 75% of residential rooftop area is not suitable for installing solar panels, either because the roof is shaded or is not oriented properly, or because the customer doesn’t own their home or building. We commend NSPW for offering a pilot program to begin exploring how to meet the solar energy interests of such customers.
- This pilot program, if approved, will be useful in exploring how “community solar gardens” can be effectively designed and operated in Wisconsin by regulated electric providers.
- We commend NSPW for deciding to acquire solar capacity through a competitive request for proposal process. This will ensure all parties that NSPW will acquire the projects’ output at a competitive, market-based cost.
- As proposed, this program would operate outside of NSPW’s rate base, like its voluntary green pricing program. The proposed bill credit has been set to compensate customers based on NSPW’s costs. Customers should instead be compensated based on what their investment in solar is actually worth. Robust empirical studies have been conducted in multiple states which conclude that there are additional financial benefits of solar over the lifetime of the project. A more complete analysis of these benefits should be conducted, with NSPW and stakeholders, to improve the bill credit level.
- We commend NSPW on offering a program that enables the participants to directly contribute to increased renewable generation capacity. New participants in some utility green pricing programs do not necessarily lead to additional renewable energy capacity; that would not be the case here.
- We believe success of this pilot, if approved, will be determined initially by two factors: (1) interest from solar developers under the proposed parameters, and (2) customer interest, which will be driven by the perceived value of the offer based on the final subscription price and bill credit level. Both of these factors would be enhanced if NSPW works with stakeholders to improve the formula for calculating bill credits, as suggested above.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments.
Sincerely,
Tyler Huebner
Executive Director
by jboullion | Apr 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
For immediate release
April 27, 2015
More Information
Tyler Huebner, Executive Director
608.255.4044
tyler.huebner@renewwisconsin.org
One month after activating a 100-kilowatt rooftop solar electric system, Madison-based Ale Asylum became the first brewery in Wisconsin to sign onto the Brewery Climate Declaration, a national campaign calling attention to the specific risks and opportunities of climate change on the $246 billion industry.
Launched this spring by Boston-based Ceres, a nonprofit advocacy organization, the Brewery Climate Declaration has attracted endorsements from more than 50 beer producers across the nation, ranging from local craft breweries like Ale Asylum to major international brands like Guinness and Sierra Nevada.
According to Ceres, these breweries “are showing their leadership and commitment to brewing with the climate in mind. They are already reducing greenhouse gas emissions, using less energy, choosing clean energy, and investing in new technologies.” The declaration states: “Leading is what we’ve always done. And by working together, regardless of politics, we’ll do it again.”
On Earth Day 2015 (April 22nd), Ale Asylum hosted a celebration of their solar-powered beer along with SunPeak, a Madison-based company who developed the rooftop system, and RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide renewable energy advocacy organization.
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Overhead view of Ale Asylum’s solar
installation, courtesy of SunPeak |
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| SunPeak installer at work on Ale Asylum’s new array |
“When we built our new facility, one of our goals was to increase our sustainability efforts,” said Ale Asylum brewmaster Dean Coffey. “These measures include recycling spent
grain to local area farmers, utilizing energy given off in the brewing
process for our tasting room, and harnessing the cold winter air to help
keep our large walk-in cooler
at the proper temperature.”
“The solar panel installation came at a time where we were about to experience a huge spike in production needs,” Coffey added. “To be able to crank out beer while reducing
greenhouse emissions is a great thing!”
Ale Asylum’s array is the newest of a quartet of recent installations in Dane County equaling or surpassing 100 kilowatts (kW). The other three systems serve the City of Monona (156 kW), Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton (146 kW), and Dane County Airport’s new maintenance facility (100 kW).
Consisting of 480 panels facing east and west, Ale Asylum’s installation should generate about 150,000 kilowatt-hours per year, the most productive of any solar system
operating in Madison today. That is equivalent to the electricity needs
of about 16 average Wisconsin homes.“SunPeak’s niche is in dovetailing
international experience, where solar is far more mature and
established, with the U.S. market to uncover unique value creation and
proposition to larger customers like Ale Asylum,” said company president
Chad Sorenson.
“Ale Asylum’s solar installation and participation in this declaration demonstrate its committed corporate leadership. Going solar saves money, and Ale Asylum is just the latest example of this growing trend in Wisconsin,” said Tyler Huebner, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin.
For more information about Ceres’ Brewery Climate Declaration, see link below.
http://www.ceres.org/declaration/about/climate-declaration-campaigns/brewery
RENEW Wisconsin leads and accelerates the transformation to Wisconsin’s renewable energy future through advocacy, education, and collaboration. More information on RENEW’s web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.
by jboullion | Jan 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
The Alliance for Solar Choice and RENEW Wisconsin ask courts to rule on the legality of controversial rate case decision
Contacts:
Amy Heart Tyler Huebner
The Alliance for Solar Choice RENEW Wisconsin
414-510-8965 (m) 608-575-2201 (m)
MADISON, WI – January 22, 2015 – The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) and RENEW Wisconsin today filed an appeal of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s December decision to impose discriminatory charges against solar customers in We Energies territory. The appeal challenges 1) the total lack of support in the public record for the charges and 2) the discrimination against solar and low usage customers.
“The Public Service Commission’s own staff expert testified that there was not enough evidence in the record to approve the discriminatory solar charges,” said Amy Heart, spokesperson for The Alliance for Solar Choice. “That will be difficult to deny in the courts.”
Over 500 Wisconsin residents attended a public hearing in October to oppose We Energies’ proposal, and their outcry garnered national media attention.
“The Public Service Commission has essentially permitted a private company, We Energies, to institute a new tax on some of its customers,” said Tyler Huebner, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin. “The record doesn’t support this decision, and we look forward to an impartial review of the facts behind this case.”
“We Energies commissioned a confidential internal study of solar in Wisconsin and found that solar customers provide a net financial benefit to all ratepayers,” said Heart. “That will be difficult for the Commission to deny in the courts.”
About The Alliance for Solar Choice: The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) leads the rooftop solar advocacy across the country. Founded by the largest rooftop companies in the nation, TASC represents the vast majority of the market. Its members include: Demeter Power, Silevo, SolarCity, Solar Universe, Sunrun, Verengo, ZEP.
About RENEW Wisconsin: RENEW Wisconsin leads and accelerates the transformation to Wisconsin’s renewable energy future through advocacy, education, and collaboration. RENEW represents over 50 companies in the Wisconsin renewable energy industry.
by jboullion | Jan 6, 2015 | Uncategorized
(Madison) – At its fourth annual Energy Policy Summit, RENEW Wisconsin will present awards to businesses and individuals whose achievements and vision helped lift Wisconsin’s renewable energy marketplace to new heights in 2014.
Titled “Unlocking the Clean Energy Transition,” RENEW’s summit is set for January 9, 2015, and will take place at UW-Madison’s Union South.
“The people and companies we will recognize this Friday are making a lasting impression on Wisconsin’s renewable energy landscape,” said RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director Tyler Huebner. “As Wisconsin’s preeminent clean energy organization, RENEW benefits greatly from their pioneering innovations and hard work, which help prepare the ground for broader policy advances.”
“We at RENEW are honored to have the opportunity to work closely with these award winners and take inspiration from their ongoing commitment to advancing clean energy here,” Huebner said.
A list of award categories and recipients appears below.
Energy Independent Enterprise of the Year – Gundersen Health System, La Crosse – For becoming the first large health care network in the nation to offset 100% of its electricity usage with its own sources of clean energy.
Renewable Energy Business of the Year – Eland Electric Corporation, Green Bay – For planning and building in 2014 nearly one megawatt of rooftop solar generation in the Fox Valley/Northeast Wisconsin region.
Renewable Energy Champion of the Year – Matt Neumann, SunVest Solar, Pewaukee – For outstanding public advocacy on behalf of regulatory policies and reforms that would allow renewable energy contractors to provide mainstream financing options for their customers.
Renewable Energy Grassroots Activists of the Year – Steve and Ellen Terwilliger, Eau Claire – For organizing and co-hosting, along with Chippewa Valley Technical College, the Solar Power Wisconsin Affordable Energy Conference, a new outreach event that attracted nearly 200 people to Eau Claire in November 2014 to learn more about solar energy.
For more information on the 2015 program agenda, speakers, and registration, please visit: http://www.renewwisconsin.org/2015_Summit/
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RENEW Wisconsin leads and accelerates the transformation to Wisconsin’s renewable energy future through advocacy, education, and collaboration. More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.
