by jboullion | Aug 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
A story by Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio and posted on KQDS-TV:
MADISON (WPR) A state senate panel is scheduled to vote Tuesday (8/4) on a plan that would establish statewide standards for siting wind farms in Wisconsin.
One of the most sensitive questions this plan would ultimately address is how close to peoples homes wind turbines can be built. The plan would leave it up to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to decide that setback. In the past, the PSC has settled on a 1,000-ft. barrier.
But some rural residents who live near the turbines say that’s too close. Lynda Barry, head of the group “Better Plan, Wisconsin” says when turbines are only a thousand feet from a home, the noise they create keeps people from sleeping and the strobing shadow they cast drive people away from their windows. She says it would be wrong to ignore the health and safety aspects in the plan.
Barry cites a Minnesota Department of Public Health report, that suggests noise and shadow issues generally go away when turbines are a half mile from homes.
But the bill has widespread support from business, farm, labor groups, and several environmental groups as well. Ed Blume with Renew Wisconsin says it’s a necessary step to end the “hodge podge” of local regulations that have restricted wind development. He says in the long-term, it’ll mean cleaner air and economic development for the state. Blume says noise issues have been overblown by wind farm opponents, and the shadow flicker cast by these turbines can be solved by closing blinds or planting trees in front of windows.
On Tuesday, August 4, the senate committee voted 6 to 1 to recommend passage of the bill.
by jboullion | Aug 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From Carol Gruba:
Prairie winds were in full force when a Next Step Wisconsin group visited the Montfort Wind farm on July 25. Carol Gruba gathered the fourteen wind watchers who hailed from Dodgeville, Chicago, UW Madison, The Natural Step Monona, MATC Madison, and the Madison Area Permaculture Guild.
The enthusiastic wind tourists peppered their guide Carol Anderson with questions about the wind plant, and Carol readily answered. She owns the land that is underneath 4 of the GE turbines owned by NextEra, and she has compiled information and photographs on the wind farm since its construction. She hosts about 55 tours a year for elementary, high school, college, and community groups. Carol told the Next Step Wisconsin group that the wind installation was the largest wind farm in the U.S. upon its commission in summer of 2001.
Other facts about the wind farm include:
*Montfort Wind Farm turbines begin to generate electricity at a wind speed of 8.9 mph and their computer-monitored blades ensure they safely cease operation at 56 mph
*Each 1.5 mW turbine generates enough electricity to power 350 homes
*The 20 wind turbines operate optimally at a speed of 26.8 mph.
*6 land owners lease land to NextEra for the 20 wind farm turbines
Carol Anderson rotates her family’s 550 acre Montfort-area farm through soybeans and corn with the help of her brother. She is a retired Cornell professor of human development and former Associate Director of Cornell’s Cooperative Extension.
To register your interest in future green road trips or find more information on the trip’s sponsor, The Next Step Wisconsin, visit
thenextstepwisconsin.wordpress.com
by jboullion | Jul 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on WEAU.com:
A power company says its customers can now choose to have their residential or commercial energy generated by wind farms.
Xcel Energy’s Windsource program started in Wisconsin last month. Since then, Xcel says 200 customers have signed up. The wind farms that generate the power for the program are in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. Customers end up paying a $1.15 per 100-kilowatt hour block above the current electricity rate.
by jboullion | Jul 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are trying to figure out ways to make power from wind keep flowing even when the wind isn’t blowing.
One phase of that research received a $422,266 grant Thursday from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project that could boost the efficiency of wind turbines by relieving some of the wear and tear on turbine gear boxes.
The engineering school research is taking place in phases – with the final leg studying the use of batteries to capture wind power generated when demand for electricity is low, storing it and then sending it to the grid when demand for power rises.
“What happens is that the wind speed is very high and we have very good wind speed after midnight, and very early morning when there is not much load (demand) on the grid,” said Adel Nasiri, an assistant professor in the electrical engineering department. “In the afternoon when there is high demand, there is no wind.”
The UWM research is another example of efforts under way in the Milwaukee area to create an economic-development cluster centered on energy storage and advanced batteries. Others include partnerships between Eaton Corp. and ZBB Corp. of Menomonee Falls, and work by Johnson Controls Inc. in Glendale and its joint venture partner, Saft, to develop lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid cars.
by jboullion | Jul 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Paul Snyder in The Daily Reporter:
Wisconsin utilities have a track record of building, operating and maintaining their own wind farms, leaving independent producers little reason to build in the state.
But when those same utilities build wind farms in other states, Wisconsin’s economy and construction work force suffer, said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin.
“There’s quite a lot of construction going on in places like Illinois and Iowa where wind producers can sell their product to utilities,” he said. “But here, the market is controlled by utilities.”
And that keeps independent developers from considering Wisconsin, said Timothy Polz, senior project developer with Chicago-based Midwest Wind Energy.
“If utilities prefer to own the projects, it takes away some of the benefits developers can get from constructing or maintaining the farms while selling the power,” he said.
But more troubling, Vickerman said, is that even though utilities have the power to push new developments, they are building beyond state borders. The only major wind farm under development in Wisconsin is We Energies’ Glacier Hill Wind Farm in Columbia County, which will have about 90 turbines and produce 162 megawatts of electricity.
