by jboullion | Sep 12, 2012 | Uncategorized
An editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
No, Mr. Grothman, wind energy is not tearing the state apart, and in fact, most of the state’s utilities are well-positioned to meet the state’s renewable standard requirement in 2015. Increasing the use of renewable energy in Wisconsin is needed to reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels and to thus meet the challenges posed by climate change. The state needs more wind farms and solar panels and other renewable sources – for energy reasons and for the jobs these industries can produce.
But Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) wants to take the state backward, perhaps largely because he’s heard from constituents upset over a proposed small wind farm in his district. He said he will introduce legislation to freeze the state’s renewable energy portfolio at the 2012 level, despite the fact that most utilities are already prepared to meet the 2015 level of 10%. He said the 10% was a mistake, and that wind farm proposals tear “at the fabric of Wisconsin communities.”
Grothman has a penchant for the overdramatic, but he’s wrong on this. Where has he been? Has he missed the wind farms that have been going up all around the state? All he needs to do is take a trip from West Bend to Fond du Lac on US 45 to get an eyeful. They don’t despoil the landscape and they haven’t caused major problems for most neighbors. And they’ve certainly enhanced the state’s energy portfolio.
Given the success of these efforts, the rising concerns over climate change and the potential jobs that are at stake, Grothman should pull back on his threat to take Wisconsin backward.
by jboullion | Sep 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
More information
Don Wichert
Executive Director
608.255.4044, ext. 1
dwichert@renewwisconsin.org
Utilities Get C on Renewable Energy Report Card
No Wisconsin utility graded higher than a B/C on a report card issued by a renewable energy advocacy group, and C was the overall average for the state’s five major utilities.
We Energies, headquartered in Milwaukee, earned a C (2.4 out of 5) on the report card for its renewable energy efforts in 2011 and had the lowest score of all utilities graded. The state’s other major utilities received similar or slightly higher grades: Alliant (aka Wisconsin Power and Light), C (2.6); Madison Gas & Electric, B/C (3.0); Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, C (2.7); and Xcel Energy, B/C (3.0).
“2011 was a year in which Wisconsin’s investor owned utilities cut back on their previous good performance supporting renewable energy,” said Don Wichert, RENEW Wisconsin’s executive director and the report card director. “At this point in 2012, it appears that this poor performance trend continues.”
“It’s surprising because recent opinion surveys indicate that the vast majority of Wisconsin’s population, including utilities ratepayers and stockholders, prefer renewable energy,” according to Wichert.
RENEW graded utilities on six criteria: amount of renewable electricity sold; green energy purchasing programs; ease of connecting to the utility system; prices paid for renewable electricity; legislative activities; and other programs offered voluntarily to customers.
Wisconsin utilities performed best in meeting the state’s renewable electricity standard, the amount of renewable electricity sold to its customers. All of the utilities already meet or expect to meet the 10% standard by 2015, although some have the majority of the power coming from out of Wisconsin.
We Energies scored at the bottom, because it had “agreed with RENEW and other groups to spend $6 million/year over 10 years to encourage the use of renewable energy in its service area. As part of the program, over 100 nonprofit organizations installed renewable energy systems. In 2011, however, WE simply announced the end of the program after only five years,” said Wichert at a news conference in from of a Milwaukee church that had a solar electric system installed as party of We Energies now-discontinued program.
RENEW gave the state’s investor owned utilities the following grades: C Alliant, Madison; B/C Madison Gas & Electric, Madison; C We Energies, Milwaukee; C Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, Green Bay; B/C Xcel Energy, Eau Claire.
This was the first time RENEW conducted a grading system, but RENEW plans to continue the process in the future because people are interested in how well their utilities support renewable energy.
“The annual survey can be used by Wisconsin utilities and others to see which areas are lacking and how they can improve their grades. Adoption of renewable energy supports local jobs, lower emissions of pollutants, and energy security. These are attributes everybody wants. There is no reason that Wisconsin has to lag the rest of the country in clean energy,” said Wichert.
-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.
by jboullion | Sep 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? Two important news pieces for today:
The bad news comes from a press release from Grothman this morning who wishes to introduce a bill freezing the Renewable Portfolio Standard at 2012 levels. Certainly a step backwards.
The good news for renewable energy comes from an article in the Harold Times Reporter Charlie Matthews.
“MANITOWOC — Richard Heyroth, 82, doesn’t have a “NIMBY” — Not In My Back Yard — attitude when it comes to erecting 499-foot wind towers on his dairy farm on Benzinger Road in the town of Mishicot.
Quite the opposite.
“I believe in alternative energy and wind turbines do not pollute,” said Heyroth, who has signed a lease with Hubertus, Wis.-based EE Services that may lead to the erection of four giant turbines on his land by the end of 2013.”
This article still notes the controversies surrounding the project, but it’s looking hopeful.
by jboullion | Aug 31, 2012 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Journal Sentinel, read the whole article here.
Study seeks data on mid-water winds
The notion is intoxicating: Capture the wind that has buffeted boaters on the Great Lakes for centuries and convert it into clean, renewable energy. But one important piece of data has been missing: We don’t know exactly how windy it is out there.
Soon, we will.
A floating research platform launched to collect data on wind speeds high above the water in the middle of Lake Michigan has begun feeding the information to researchers involved in a $3 million project.
“We’re capturing some of the very first data,” said Arnold “Arn” Boezaart, director of the Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center at Grand Valley State University in Muskegon, which is leading the research. “The wind data that we’re bringing on shore – when I brought the first data cards on shore, I felt like I was bringing gold bullion.”
The WindSentinel research platform, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Michigan, We Energies and the Sierra Club, uses laser-pulse radar technology to gather information about wind speeds at heights in excess of 500 feet above water.
A partnership of Axys Technologies in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a Virginia company called Catch the Wind incorporated the laser and radar technology into a wind-measuring platform that is powered with renewable energy sources – primarily wind and solar, but also biodiesel. The platform was the first one deployed in North America and the only one on the Great Lakes. Another was deployed recently in the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey.
Previous Great Lakes studies have indicated there are strong winds midlake, but wind monitors in the lake today measure wind speeds at only 10 to 12 feet off the water, well below the height that would be used to generate electricity from wind. There has been no hard data documenting wind speeds at the height where a turbine’s blades would turn.
Preliminary results from the new project look promising: Data from June showed an average wind speed of 22 mph 410 feet above the water.
“Based on our early assessments of the average data that we’re gathering, there clearly is a very robust wind resource out over Lake Michigan,” Boezaart said. Wind speeds over 15 to 20 mph are considered commercially viable for wind generation, he said.
Read more…
by jboullion | Dec 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
The 2010 Green Energy Summit will take place at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, March 24-26, 2010. Topics include Renewables, Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, Green Business, Social Responsibility, Urban Green Career Pathways, and Water.
See website for more details.
