by jboullion | Jul 16, 2012 | Uncategorized
In his latest anti-wind publicity stunt, State Senator Frank Lassee (R-De Pere) brought a few of his constituents to Madison to ask the PSC for relief from the supposed impact of the Shirley Wind Farm on their lives.
In response to Lasee on Madison’s WKOW-TV, RENEW’s Michael Vickerman said:
“Sen. Lasee has been waging an ideological war against wind power for a long time,” said Michael Vickerman of the green energy group Renew Wisconsin.
Vickerman believes that is what is really behind Sen. Lasee’s crusade, adding that no credible studies have found what the people from Shirley are claiming.
“The one prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health specifically says ‘we cannot find any foundation for a set of symptoms that is called Wind Turbine Syndrome,'” said Vickerman.
Additionally, Vickerman made the following rebuttals during the entire interview:
1. The Shirley project was approved five years ago by the Glenmore Town Board. The PSC had nothing to do with that project. The PSC has no jurisdiction over this facility. The statewide siting rule took effect after the Shirley project was placed in service. This is political grandstanding, pure and simple.
2. Sen. Frank Lasee has been conducting an ideologically driven war against windpower for years. Supporters of his anti-wind crusade include the WI Realtors Association (WRA) and several wealthy landowners living in Brown and Calumet County.
3. The adverse health effects claimed by Sen. Lasee were scrutinized by a group of independent health experts under the aegis of the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health. The experts concluded that there is no scientific basis for concluding that wind generation impairs public health.
4. There is absolutely zero evidence substantiating WRA’s contention that wind generation has reduced property values in Wisconsin.
5. Sen. Lasee has two other wind projects in his district, both in Kewaunee County. These two installations, placed in service in 1999 and totaling 31 turbines, are the oldest continuously operating windpower projects in the state. No one in Kewaunee County has reported any kind of health effects from these turbines. Yet Sen. Lasee refuses to acknowledge that fact. Nor does he acknowledge the degree of community acceptance there that has evolved over the projects’ 13 year-lives.
6. I characterized the wind opposition as a small but vocal minority that either does not exist in neighboring states or is less well organized there.
7. Lasee’s tireless advocacy on behalf of forces opposed to windpower has caused nationally prominent wind developers to leave the state in search of greener pastures.
by jboullion | Jul 13, 2012 | Uncategorized
From a presentation on July 11, 2012, at a Capitol news conference in the state Capitol:
Pathways to Increase Renewable Energy
1. Allow private companies to sell renewable energy to home and building occupants if the renewable system is on private property;
2. Allow fair and uniform net energy billing and interconnection policies;
3. Increase Focus on Energy funding for renewables;
4. Reinstate utility renewable energy commitments;
5. Increase renewable energy requirements.
by jboullion | Jul 6, 2012 | Uncategorized
Click to enlarge image.
by jboullion | Jun 18, 2012 | Uncategorized
From a story by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A report from the state Public Service Commission tallies the cost of complying with the state’s renewable power standard, concluding that it sent power rates up about 1% through 2010.
The report found that Wisconsin’s renewable projects accounted for more than 7% of sales in 2010, or nearly twice the level of 2006, when the state’s renewable standard was adopted by the state Legislature.
Since 2007, the commission has endorsed proposals to build $1.7 billion for utility-owned renewable projects, primarily wind farms built in Wisconsin and nearby states.
The report doesn’t account for about $500 million worth of projects, which were not completed as of 2010.
Large projects like new power plants are paid off over time, so the cost of adding those to the state’s fleet of generation was about $200 million, or an increase of 1% of utility sales, the report estimated. The estimate is based on a comparison of the cost of the projects with the average market price of power sold on the wholesale Midwest energy market during the period.
Wisconsin’s standard requires increases in the amount of renewable energy that utilities buy or build, so that 10% of utility sales in 2015 will come from renewables such as wind, solar and biomass projects.
The standard was enacted in 2006 with bipartisan and near-unanimous support. The state Assembly co-author of the bill, Republican Phil Montgomery, chairs the state Public Service Commission. . . .
Commissioner Eric Callisto, who was chair of the commission under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, said the PSC staff’s analysis “confirms that balancing the state’s generation portfolio with clean, renewable energy facilities comes at a reasonable cost to consumers.”
While providing balance for a fleet that relies on fossil fuels for a majority of Wisconsin’s power generation. Callisto said the renewable projects also “act as important risk mitigation tools in a future of increasing air regulation, and provide opportunities for economic development within the four corners of the state.”
by jboullion | May 4, 2012 | Uncategorized
Ten-month delay harmed renewable energy businesses
RENEW Wisconsin (RENEW) praised the state’s energy regulators for responding to pleas from renewable businesses and potential customers to make a decision and get people working again.
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) released an April 26 decision on funding for renewable energy incentives to homeowners and businesses in the next three years.
The PSC decided to allocate $10 million per year in incentives for renewable energy installations in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Beginning in 2013, three-quarters of the funds will be reserved for energy systems using biogas, biomass combustion, and geothermal heat pumps. The remaining 25% will fund incentives for solar and small wind installations.
Ten million dollars per year for renewable energy incentives is a reasonable starting place and is consistent with previous funding for incentives provided by Focus on Energy (Focus), the utility-ratepayer-supported energy efficiency and renewable energy program in Wisconsin, according to Don Wichert, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit advocacy organization that leads and represents businesses, organizations, and individuals who seek more clean, renewable energy in Wisconsin.
“After nearly 10 months of needless uncertainty and delay, renewable energy activity has now nearly come to a complete halt in Wisconsin,” Wichert said.
“Many Wisconsin renewable energy companies told the PSC that the delay in the decision and lack of transparency have been a nightmare, forcing some renewable installers to lay off workers and move their business activity to other states, especially when the Focus program administrator, Shaw Environmental, ended all incentives for renewable technologies at the beginning of 2012,” Wichert said.
“RENEW hopes that the PSC’s response to renewable energy businesses means that it will resume collaboration between Focus and Wisconsin’s renewable energy community,” he said.
“In a time of decreased resources and increased demand, RENEW believes it is imperative for Focus decision makers to involve people who know the industry best,” said Wichert.
“Without a collaborative process, the industry and customers will always be second guessing the decisions and the assumptions behind them. It doesn’t have to be a one-way, top-down approach. The renewable energy industry is just trying to make a living and should be involved.”
END
RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that leads and represents businesses, organizations, and individuals who seek more clean renewable energy in Wisconsin. More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.
