by jboullion | Nov 4, 2013 | Uncategorized
One of two Solar America Cities in Wisconsin, Madison has attracted a cluster of businesses, consultants and supporters working to light up the local economy with the power of the sun. InBusiness Greater Madison Editorial Director Joe Vander Plas interviews the people that are leading the solar power shift in Madison, including Full Spectrum Solar Director Burke O’Neal, American Family Insurance Facilities Director Mark Pauls, City of Madison Facilities and Sustainability Director Jeanne Hoffman, RENEW Wisconsin Program and Policy Director Michael Vickerman, Sustain Dane Interim Executive Director Jessie Lerner, Willy Street Co-op Operations Director Wynston Estis and Kate Schachter of Union Cab.
“Despite fewer incentives for installing solar energy systems, advocates say it’s still a good bet for businesses- and getting better all the time.” – InBusiness Greater Madison
by jboullion | Oct 24, 2013 | Uncategorized
On distributed generation, how does Wisconsin stack up against neighboring states?
Among Midwestern states, Wisconsin trails its neighbors in a ranking of solar policies and practices according to “Freeing the Grid”, a report by the Vote Solar Initiative and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc.(IREC).
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State
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Net metering grade
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Interconnection grade
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Illinois
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B
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B
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Iowa
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B
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B
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Michigan
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B
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C
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Minnesota
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B
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C
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|
Wisconsin
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C
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D
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Read the press release announcing the report for an overview or view the report on the IREC website.
by RENEW Wisconsin | Oct 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
For the second time in three years, state of Wisconsin incentives for customer-sited solar and small wind systems has been suspended, a result of recent Public Service Commission (PSC) decisions affecting Focus on Energy’s renewable energy budget. Incentives for biogas and biomass installations are not affected by the PSC’s decisions.
The cut-off of solar and wind incentives follows an across-the-board suspension of renewable energy incentives that lasted one year before being lifted in July 2012. RENEW Wisconsin has issued a press release concerning the PSC’s decision below.
UPDATE: Check out Tom Content’s article on JSOnline for more information.
For Immediate Release
August 1, 2013
PSC Pulls Plug on Solar and Wind Incentives Again
PSC Vote a “Dark Day for Solar Energy in Wisconsin”
Focus on Energy has suspended incentives for solar and small wind energy systems for the remainder of 2013, as a result of a Public Service Commission (PSC) order approved last week. The funding suspension takes effect even though Focus on Energy has spent only $1.2 million of the $10 million budgeted this year for all renewable energy technologies.
The PSC split 2-1 on the vote stopping the flow of incentives for solar and small wind energy systems. Commissioners Phil Montgomery and Ellen Nowak approved the suspension order, while Commissioner Eric Callisto voted against the motion.
“In approving this funding stoppage, the PSC ignored the public comments of over 630 citizens and businesses who urged the agency to provide a consistent, stable program to promote solar and wind energy,” said Executive Director Tyler Huebner. “This will go down as a dark day for solar energy in Wisconsin.”
The funding suspension was triggered by a slowdown in demand for incentives for biogas and biomass energy systems. Though up to $7,500,000 in incentives is set aside for bioenergy projects, only $384,448 in incentives have been paid out to date in that category. Under an order adopted by the PSC in 2012, Focus on Energy must maintain a 75/25 percent funding split between the bioenergy category and the solar/small wind category.
“Prices for solar projects have dropped steeply in recent years and these projects are as cost-effective for residential and business customers as biogas is for farmers and food processors,” said Huebner. “In addition, the timelines for biogas projects are unrelated to those of wind and solar projects. Add these together, and there is no reason financial incentives for solar and wind should be contingent on the health of bioenergy market.”
“This decision further ‘boxes in’ the Focus on Energy administrator regarding these incentives. The stipulations added by the Commission appear to make the calculations mathematically unworkable. We can envision the program’s administrator resorting to a Ouija Board to figure out how much funding is available for solar and wind projects going forward.”
Burke O’Neal, co-owner of Full Spectrum Solar in Madison, discussed the impact on businesses. He said, “It’s really bad for business in Wisconsin to have a program that appears and then with very little notice disappears. It’s really hard to build a business and a stable industry when programs aren’t consistent.”
In his dissent, Commissioner Eric Callisto stated that Commission’s goal in its 2012 ruling “was to create market certainty, foster fiscal sustainability and program cost-effectiveness, and ultimately allow the funding of more biogas and biomass projects. The Commission’s decision today helps to advance none of those goals, but rather reintroduces substantial uncertainty into the renewables marketplace.” Callisto added, “If the Commission’s 75/25 split was meant to emphasize biomass and biogas resources, it isn’t working, and today’s decision won’t help.”
RENEW Wisconsin’s Tyler Huebner added, “In Wisconsin we send $12.5 billion out of the state each year to buy coal, oil, and natural gas. We don’t have any of those energy resources within our state. The Focus on Energy incentives for solar and wind should be available to help residents, businesses, and farmers take control of their energy bills and produce electricity in a self-sustaining manner. For a decade, the success of this program helped Wisconsin build a thriving small business market to deliver these alternative energy solutions to customers. With this latest suspension, that once-thriving market of businesses will take yet another hit, and sadly, the credibility of the entire Focus program certainly takes a hit too.”
—-END—-
by RENEW Wisconsin | Sep 20, 2013 | Solar, Utility Scale
Some excellent news out of Jefferson today. A new solar project totaling 1 megawatt of power generated over a seven-acre site. Read the article in the Daily Union below:
JEFFERSON — The City of Jefferson Common Council got a glimpse of a bright future Tuesday as developers took a first glimpse at the soon-to-be-completed solar farm on the city’s north side.
Representatives of Half Moon Ventures, a Chicago-based company that recently purchased the development, presented plans to the council for a renewable energy production facility slated to begin construction three years after talk of a solar field first got under way.
Green States Energy, a Florida-based company, approached the city in summer 2010 with plans to build a 100-acre solar energy farm on city-owned property that would produce 20 megawatts of electricity. That project was slated to be completed by late 2011 or early 2012.
Although construction on that project never moved forward, earlier this summer, Half Moon Ventures, which maintains a Milwaukee office, purchased a 100-percent interest in the project, gaining complete control over the future development. It intends to construct a seven-acre solar park housing 3,600 solar panels to produce 1 megawatt of electricity.
It is scheduled to open in December.
“We have entered into a supplemental agreement with Half Moon Ventures, and that supplemental agreement … also established the lease commencement date as today, Sept. 17,” said City Administrator Tim Freitag. “Earlier this evening, Kevin (Hirsch, Half Moon Ventures chief financial officer) provided a check in the amount of about $123,000 to the City of Jefferson for a 20-year prepaid lease.”
Hirsch said Half Moon, which bills itself as a “pioneer in renewable energy project development,” will approach the project from a financial angle rather than as a construction or engineering challenge.
“Renewable large projects today are chiefly a financing project to produce energy at the lowest possible cost with a renewable resource,” he said. “We were very excited to see this project come in front of us, and we only wish it were 20 Megawatts, as we told Tim countless times. But we still think this can be a wonderful project for the city and I hope you guys will see that, as well.”…
[READ MORE]
by jboullion | Sep 9, 2013 | Uncategorized
The state’s Libertarians have endorsed a proposal led by RENEW Wisconsin — a local clean energy group — to allow Wisconsin electricity customers to lease solar panels for their energy needs.
”Most of us don’t trust the environmental movement because they’ve cried wolf forever and ever,” Wisconsin Libertarian Party chair Paul Ehlers told a surprised local media over the weekend. ”There are all kinds of philosophical disagreements, but at the end of the day this was pretty much a no-brainer.”
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