Wisconsin loses economic boost from Alliant's Bent Tree wind project

Statement by Michael Vickerman, Executive Director, RENEW Wisconsin, on Public Service Commission approval of the Bent Tree Windpower Plant:

The Public Service Commission today cleared the way for Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin utility to construct a 200 MW windpower plant project in southern Minnesota. Once operational, the Bent Tree project will be a productive source of renewable energy that will provide lasting benefits to Minnesota’s economy and environment. Since it will be Alliant’s Wisconsin customers who foot the bill, however, it is reasonable to inquire whether the current utility practice of outsourcing renewable energy production to other states is a good thing for Wisconsin’s economy.

It is true that windpower projects in Iowa and Minnesota are lower-cost sources of electricity than those in Wisconsin. However, when a Wisconsin utility locates a renewable energy project in another state, Wisconsin loses the economic boost from building and operating that project—construction and maintenance jobs, component manufacturing, tax receipts to local governments, landowner payments, etc.

In a weakening economy, we should question the wisdom of outsourcing renewable energy production to other states. A Bent Tree-sized facility in Wisconsin would generate $800,000 a year in local government revenues and about $700,000 a year in lease payments to landowners. It would also create hundreds of jobs for operating engineers, ironworkers, electricians, specialty haulers, and wind energy technicians. Is cheaper electricity from distant sources a reasonable trade-off for lost employment opportunities and revenues to state and local governments. RENEW does not believe so.

Legislative approval of state-wide uniform siting standards for wind energy projects would certainly help reduce the regulatory risks involved in utility development of projects in Wisconsin.

Midwestern green power transmission project gains new partner

From an article by Jordan Burke on Bloomberg.com:

July 7 (Bloomberg) -- MDU Resources Group Inc., the largest company in the Dakotas, said it will join with ITC Holdings Corp. in developing the Green Power Express, a transmission project that will link wind farms in the U.S. Plains to cities.

The transmission lines will run about 3,000 miles (4,827 kilometers) through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana, MDU said today in a statement. MDU, based in Bismarck, North Dakota, said the Green Power Express will carry as much as 12,000 megawatts. One megawatt can power about 800 average U.S. homes, according to the Energy Department in Washington.

The project will cost about $10 billion to $12 billion, and MDU will be the first of many partners involved, Novi, Michigan- based ITC said in a separate statement. The lines will carry power to major markets in the U.S. Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions, the company said.

AESP Brown Bag Seminar: Reaching out to low-income customers, July 19

From the AESP:
Reaching Out to Low and Limited Income Customers: Case Studies in Delivering Energy Efficiency Programs to Those Customers Who Need the Most Help

Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)

Description:
Learn about three different programs are working to reach out and provide programs and services to low and limited income customers in their service territories. Program designs, lessons learned and advice for how to best engage and serve this customer segment will be shared.

It's not just Buffett buying utilities

From an article by John Reese in Forbes:

When the global equity markets plunged last fall, just about everything was dragged down with them. In the U.S., even the best-performing sectors still lost close to 20% of their value, and almost every industry was in the red.

As the market has roared back this year, however, the rising tide hasn't lifted all ships. While some sectors are up close to 50% in 2009 and several others are up in the 20% to 30% range, a few are nowhere near those figures, according to Morningstar.

One of the laggards: the utilities sector, both in the U.S. and globally. The Dow Jones Utility Average is down about 5% this year, while the MSCI World Utility Index is down about 10%. That's been bad news for utility stockholders, but good news for value investors looking for bargains.

Many power producers are paying dividend yields of 5% and higher--among the highest yields from the utility group in the past two decades. Plus, these companies are selling at their lowest valuation levels in five year--and smart institutional money is starting to flow in to the sector.

Lake Erie likely to get wind turbines first

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The first wind turbine development on the Great Lakes could be built within three years or so, experts on offshore wind power said during a conference Wednesday in Milwaukee.

The first project is expected to consist of three to five turbines just off the shore of Cleveland in Lake Erie.

The project is being pushed by the Cuyahoga County government as an economic development strategy to help boost the development of a wind-power manufacturing industry in a state that's been hit hard by cutbacks in the auto industry, said Steve Dever of the Ohio Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force.

During the Great Lakes Wind Collaborative meeting at We Energies, experts on offshore wind in Wisconsin said they expect development to start slowly over the next few years. But the industry could grow rapidly from there, the experts said.

"In 2010-2013 you'll see pilot projects get started. Then I think we'll see incredible growth - really, really rapid growth," said Tom Stanton of the Michigan Public Service Commission. . . .

Experts believe wind speeds are much faster over large bodies of water than over land, with parts of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior having stronger winds than Iowa and Minnesota, two of the leading states in generation of wind power.

Wisconsin is looking into Great Lakes wind power as one option for the state to generate more renewable energy that would help reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions, said Deborah Erwin of the state Public Service Commission.

Sustainability Cruises

We're going out this Sunday, July 5th from 4-7 pm

The purpose of the cruises is to get career people and students in the environmental sciences together. We rig and sail for a while, then take a break while everbody shares what environmental sustainability interests they're pursuing as well as their take on a current hot topic.

See http://myhoofers.org/sustainability_cruise for more info and to reserve a place. Mulder reminds me to tell you that friends and and friendly dogs are welcome. We can take a total of 13, and it always fills up plus, it seems, a few stowaways.

If this time doesn't quite work for you, let me know. We can still adjust the time to go earlier or later, or longer, or pick you up or drop you off, etc...

This week's topic will be the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Now that the Waxman-Markey Bill has passed the House, what's left in it and how will it fare in the Senate? Does it really matter?

See you on the water...

Hugh Schmidt

Video celebrates 10th anniversary of Kewaunee County wind farm

From a news release issued by Madison Gas and Electric:

MADISON, Wis. - (Business Wire) Wisconsin's first large-scale wind farm began producing clean, renewable electric power 10 years ago today in Kewaunee County. The 17-turbine, 11.22-megawatt facility built and owned by Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) is located near Rosiere. Since 1999, the facility has produced over 215,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, enough power to supply 3,000 homes annually.

The facility was built in direct response to MGE customers who wanted to purchase green energy for their homes and businesses. The wind farm's generating capacity available for green energy sales was sold out in less than four months. Over the last 10 years, MGE has increased its wind energy portfolio by 12 times as strong customer support for renewable energy continues. MGE customers have one of the highest participation rates nationally in green energy programming offered by investor-owned utilities.

"We are grateful to the landowners and communities that support this project," said Lynn Hobbie, MGE senior vice president. "We also thank the customers who have made our green pricing program so successful."

"In 10 years, wind generation has completed the transition from boutique energy to a bulk power," said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin. "Early commitments to wind power from utilities like MGE helped make that happen and were instrumental to that industry's subsequent growth and maturation."

At the time, MGE's Rosiere facility was the largest wind farm in the Eastern United States. Today the wind farm is one of nine commercial facilities in Wisconsin. Wind-generating capacity in Wisconsin totals nearly 450 megawatts.