by jboullion | Apr 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on WKOW-TV:
To celebrate Earth Day and help meet the biomass demand created by the new Charter Street Power Plant, UW Extension and other agencies released a guide to Establishing and Managing Switchgrass.
Mark Renz, University of Wisconsin Extension Weed Specialist, and lead author of the guide said, “Growing switchgrass can improve farm profits by producing a good feed, produce biomass for heat and power, create habitat for people and wildlife, and reduce flooding. We wanted to summarize the best information available for Wisconsin landowners in an easy to use guide.”
The guide benefited from six field tests done last year near Platteville by Southwest Badger RC&D, UW Extension and Alliant Energy.
“Southwest Wisconsin has the potential to become a huge reservoir of biomass fuel such as switchgrass. This guide gives landowners the best information we have on how to establish and grow switchgrass, a key native prairie grass,” said Steve Bertjens, NRCS Southwest Badger RC&D Coordinator.
by jboullion | Apr 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Clean, Responsible Energy for Wisconsin’s Economy (CREWE):
MADISON, Wis.— CREWE supports the current legislative proposal recommending uniform standards for the siting of large and small wind energy systems to be set by the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The bill proposed by State Sen. Jeff Plale (D- South Milwaukee), chair of the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee advocates that the Public Service Commission develop uniform siting standards for wind power projects across the state. The bill is circulating in the legislature but has not yet been introduced.
The current siting rules are just not fair says Curt Pawlisch, attorney for Wind for Wisconsin, a member of CREWE. Recent disputes over municipal ordinances have had a negative impact on developing energy alternatives and a greener economy.
Wind power is a growing and maturing industry that can play a significant role in Wisconsin. Perhaps the single greatest barrier to the development of this sector of energy policy is a lack of consistent and stable policy.
“Adopting a consistent and uniform siting policy will signal to land owners, wind developers, wind turbine manufacturers and in essence, to the rest of the nation, that Wisconsin is open for business in terms of wind development and growth.” Supporters of this legislation also contend that the single biggest constraint to increasing wind generation in Wisconsin is the current permitting environment which is far more problematic in Wisconsin than other states in the region. . . .
CREWE members include Wisconsin Energy Corp., Alliant Energy, Xcel Energy, EcoEnergy LLC MillerCoors, Johnson Controls, the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe, Madison Gas & Electric, Orion Energy Systems, C5•6 Technologies, American Transmission Co., Wind for Wisconsin, WPPI Energy and Emerging Energies of Wisconsin.
by jboullion | Apr 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Alliant Energy:
MADISON, WI – April 17, 2009 – In the middle of 2008, Reedsburg Hardwoods decided it wanted to reduce its energy cost by taking advantage of a plentiful by-product of its own manufacturing process: wood waste. At the time, the company was using two natural gas-fired boilers and one wood waste boiler to process steam for its kilns, steamers and dryers. While the lumber mill was already powering about two-thirds of its processing operation with the wood waste boiler, it had more wood waste available to do more and wanted to effectively eliminate the use of natural gas for its wood processing energy demands.
“We really saw a great opportunity for our company to move toward completely using a renewable resource to power our lumber mill process,” said Doug Hilber, Reedsburg Hardwoods Facility Manager. “With the excess wood waste we generate and had available on and off-site, it made sense to look at purchasing a larger capacity wood waste boiler that could handle processing steam for all of our lumber mill process now and into the future.”
As with any business, cash is important and paying for the new wood waste boiler and the other upgrades needed to support it, would take upfront dollars before the long-term energy-efficiency gains could be realized. That’s where Wisconsin Power and Light’s (WPL’s) Shared Savings program stepped in to assist the company.
The Shared Savings program is an initiative that assists industrial, commercial and agricultural customers with identification and implementation of energy efficiency projects – and invests the capital to finance them. The program’s low-interest financing, and ability to repay the loan using the energy savings, is attractive to many businesses.
by jboullion | Apr 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
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by jboullion | Apr 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Alliant Energy:
MADISON, WI – April 17, 2009 – In the middle of 2008, Reedsburg Hardwoods decided it wanted to reduce its energy cost by taking advantage of a plentiful by-product of its own manufacturing process: wood waste. At the time, the company was using two natural gas-fired boilers and one wood waste boiler to process steam for its kilns, steamers and dryers. While the lumber mill was already powering about two-thirds of its processing operation with the wood waste boiler, it had more wood waste available to do more and wanted to effectively eliminate the use of natural gas for its wood processing energy demands.
“We really saw a great opportunity for our company to move toward completely using a renewable resource to power our lumber mill process,” said Doug Hilber, Reedsburg Hardwoods Facility Manager. “With the excess wood waste we generate and had available on and off-site, it made sense to look at purchasing a larger capacity wood waste boiler that could handle processing steam for all of our lumber mill process now and into the future.”
As with any business, cash is important and paying for the new wood waste boiler and the other upgrades needed to support it, would take upfront dollars before the long-term energy-efficiency gains could be realized. That’s where Wisconsin Power and Light’s (WPL’s) Shared Savings program stepped in to assist the company.
The Shared Savings program is an initiative that assists industrial, commercial and agricultural customers with identification and implementation of energy efficiency projects – and invests the capital to finance them. The program’s low-interest financing, and ability to repay the loan using the energy savings, is attractive to many businesses.
“I met with Doug several times and we looked at what type of boiler and other equipment would be needed to improve the natural gas energy efficiency of their lumber mill process,” said Mary Eiler-Radl, Alliant Energy Strategic Account Manager. “It turned out that the purchase of a new, higher-capacity wood waste boiler and other related equipment could accomplish that goal. The project was a perfect fit for our Shared Savings program and we were able to quickly pull the financing together.”
