by jboullion | Jun 3, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Betsy Bloom in the La Crosse Tribune:
It is “the most gorgeous landfill in the state of Wisconsin,” La Crosse County Solid Waste Director Hank Koch says. He could be considered a bit biased.
But state Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp didn’t disagree after seeing the site Wednesday.
“I never imagined I could be so impressed with a landfill operation,” Stepp later said.
With wind ruffling the tall grass on the surrounding hillsides, Stepp on Wednesday recognized the 300-acre complex as the first publicly owned landfill admitted to the state’s Green Tier program.
The ceremony also included a groundbreaking on the estimated $4 million gas-to-energy partnership that will pipe landfill methane about 1.6 miles to provide virtually all the heat and electrical needs at Gundersen Lutheran’s Onalaska clinic.
Contractor McHugh Excavating and Plumbing of Onalaska is expected to begin work next week, and the gas could begin flowing as early as October, officials said Wednesday.
“The happiest day is going to be when they turn that flare off,” Koch said, referring to the flame now burning off the landfill gas.
While the gas-to-energy arrangement isn’t unique, the partnership with a health care system is, said Jeff Rich, Gundersen’s executive director of efficiency improvements.
“This is just a win-win-win for everybody,” the entire community included, Rich said.
by jboullion | Jun 2, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Judy Newman in the Wisconsin State Journal:
About 40,000 homes and businesses from Middleton to north of La Crosse are getting letters this week from American Transmission Co. telling them a powerful electrical transmission line could be built within 3,000 feet — or about half a mile — and inviting them to public meetings later this month.
Plans for the so-called Badger Coulee line, introduced in 2010, are moving into phase 2. ATC has taken the broad swath from south-central to western Wisconsin and identified dozens of corridors to consider for the project, which will carry 345 kilovolts of electricity over 150 miles and will cost about $425 million.
• In Dane County, the line could run north from the town of Middleton or it could skirt the west edge of Waunakee and go through DeForest’s north side, then head up Highway 12, Interstate 39 or Highway 51.
• It could run along the edge of communities such as Prairie du Sac, Lodi, Poynette, Portage, West Baraboo, Elroy or Viroqua. It also could travel through Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells or Mauston.
• Richland County will be spared.
The area being studied has been expanded north into Trempealeau and Jackson counties. That’s because the Badger Coulee line might meet up with CapX2020, a 700-mile series of mostly 345-kilovolt lines stretching from the Dakotas. CapX2020 proposes to cross into Wisconsin at Alma, in Buffalo County.
by jboullion | May 17, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Don Huagen in Midwest Energy News:
One of the larger reviews of renewable portfolio standards was a 2008 report (PDF) from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The study looked at data on a dozen state renewable policies enacted before 2007. The estimated impact on electricity rates varied by state, but it was a fraction of a percent in most cases and just over 1 percent in two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts. “There is little evidence of a sizable impact on average retail electricity rates so far,” the report concluded.
One of the report’s co-authors, Galen Barbose, said in an interview that they are collecting data for an updated version of the report. So far he said he hasn’t seen any new information to suggest their conclusion about rate impacts will change significantly in the next edition.
A 2009 study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration modeled the potential impact of a 25 percent nationwide renewable electricity standard. It, too, noted that rate impacts would vary by state, with renewable-rich regions like the Great Plains and Northwest meeting the targets more easily. Overall, though, it projected no impact on rates through 2020, followed by a less than 3 percent increase by 2025. By 2030, however, it projected little difference in rates with or without a national renewable mandate.
The Minnesota Free Market Institute and American Tradition Institute reached a very different conclusion in an April 2011 report (PDF), which claims Minnesota’s renewable electricity standard is going to cause rates in the state to skyrocket by as much as 37 percent by 2025.
Utilities’ experiences vary
Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility, has come up with a much smaller number: $0.003. That’s the difference Xcel forecasts between its projected per-kilowatt-hour energy price in 2025 under its proposed wind expansion plan compared to a hypothetical scenario in which it stopped adding new wind capacity after 2012.
Asked to comment on the Free Market Institute’s study, Xcel Energy spokesman Steve Roalstad said, “It doesn’t seem to be moving in that direction.” The cost of adding renewable energy sources, especially wind, continues to fall and has become very competitive with traditional generating sources, he said.
by jboullion | May 11, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Mike Ivey in the La Crosse Tribune:
VIROQUA – Fifth Season Cooperative of Viroqua could serve as a model for business development in rural Wisconsin.
Ready to open for this spring’s growing season, Fifth Season connects small farmers and processors with large institutional customers such as schools, universities or hospitals. The idea is to directly tie producers to markets, eliminating the middleman, to keep prices affordable for local meats, produce and dairy.
“We’re one of just a handful of multi-stakeholder cooperatives in the United States,” says Nicole Penick, coordinator for the co-op.
Members so far include organic and conventional farmers; processors Organic Valley, Westby Co-op Creamery and Premier Meats; and purchasers Gundersen Lutheran, Vernon Memorial Healthcare, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Western Technical College and Viroqua Area School District.
After nearly two years of planning, Fifth Season was launched last August as a for-profit venture. It was helped with a $40,000 business development grant, the largest issued in 2010, through the state’s Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin program.
The Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grant program was part of former Gov. Jim Doyle’s 2008 budget and was designed to connect local food producers with local buyers. It has awarded about $220,000 annually in development grants over the past three years. Recipients in 2010 included the Bayfield Apple Co., Perfect Pasture in Ashland, the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition and Green & Green Distribution in Mineral Point.
But the grant program is on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget chopping block and was not included in his proposed 2011-13 budget – a development some call short-sighted and contrary to Walker’s goal of growing the private-sector economy.
by jboullion | May 10, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Steve Cahalan in the La Crosse Tribune:
A Massachusetts company hopes to develop hydroelectric projects at nine upper Mississippi River lock and dam sites by 2017, officials said Monday.
Free Flow Power Corp., a 3-year-old Boston firm, plans to apply for federal licenses for hydropower projects that in this area include Lock and Dam 4 at Alma, Lock and Dam 6 at Trempealeau, Lock and Dam 7 near Dresbach, Minn., and Lock and Dam 9 near Lynxville.
The nine projects could meet the electricity needs of 65,000 homes, company officials told about 40 people at a public informational meeting at the Radisson Hotel in La Crosse.
Each project would have one of three designs — a traditional hydroelectric powerhouse that would be built on the end of the dam and contain turbines; a “gate bay installation” alternative with turbines installed in front of or behind existing dam gates; or a system with turbines installed at the bottom of the auxiliary lock. Studies would determine which design would be best for a particular lock and dam.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Agency will accept written comments in the next 60 days on what studies should be required during Free Flow Power’s licensing process.
Officials of various state and federal agencies accounted for most of the people at Monday’s 2½-hour session. But a few members of the public also spoke, including retired boat captain Byron Clements of Genoa, who questioned the feasibility of hydroelectric power on the Mississippi.
“I don’t think they can make it work and make money at it,” Clements said after the meeting. Clements, who with his wife operates Captain Hook’s Bait & Tackle shop in Genoa, said he also is concerned about fish being killed by the turbines.
The proposed turbines would turn much slower than those traditionally used in major hydroelectric projects in the western United States, said Jack Batchelder, a Free Flow Power environmental scientist.
