RENEW Plans Honor for SC Johnson

Award Will Recognize Company’s Investment in Wind Energy

SC Johnson, the Racine-based consumer products manufacturer, will be one of several Wisconsin companies and organizations receiving awards from RENEW Wisconsin for their renewable energy investments in 2012. The award will recognize SC Johnson’s two utility-scale wind turbines that are now supplying electricity to its Waxdale production facility. The two turbines were formally commissioned at the plant in a ceremony this morning.

In recognition of forward-looking customer generators, like SC Johnson, and the businesses that serve them, RENEW will present awards at its January 11, 2013, Energy Policy Summit. The event will be held at the University of Wisconsin’s Pyle Center.

Called Powering Positive Action, RENEW’s summit will focus on strategies for expanding Wisconsin’s renewable energy marketplace for businesses and customers.

“Customer generators like SC Johnson have become the engines for clean energy development. The benefits of these investments don’t just flow to the installation owners, rather all of us gain from their contribution to a stronger economy and cleaner environment. For each of these reasons, they deserve recognition as well as our appreciation,” said Michael Vickerman, program and policy director for RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide renewable energy advocacy organization.

“Wisconsin is fortunate to have such innovative and conscientious employers setting examples for others to embrace,” said Vickerman.

“The Summit will help Wisconsin decision-makers decide on a productive mix of policies to sustain further growth in the clean energy marketplace.”
END
Read the news release from SC Johnson.

Read more »

Commentary: How Wisconsin regulators ‘tax’ renewable energy

Michael Vickerman's commentary in Midwest Energy News on the recent changes in WI renewable energy. Find the original post here.

Commentary: How Wisconsin regulators ‘tax’ renewable energy

RENEW Wisconsin's Michael Vickerman

Starting next January, the price of purchasing renewable energy voluntarily through monthly utility bills will spike to all-time highs, thanks to recent decisions rendered by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) on two popular “green pricing” programs.

The thousands of Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) customers participating in the utility’s Green Power Tomorrow program will see their premiums jump from 2.5 cents/kWh to 4 cents/kWh. That’s an increase of 60 percent. To translate this into dollars and cents, an average MGE customer consuming 500 kWh of electricity per month and subscribing at the 100 percent level will pay $90 more in 2013 for the same amount of renewable kWh sold this year.

Residential customers of Milwaukee-based We Energies (WE) will see an even larger percentage increase next year. In that utility’s rate case, the PSCW jacked up the premium paid by Energy for Tomorrow subscribers by nearly 73 percent, from 1.39 cents to 2.4 cents/kWh. Energy for Tomorrow has more than 20,000 subscribers.

Back in 1999, the year both programs were launched, MGE and WE customers paid an extra 3.33 cents and 2.04 cents/kWh, respectively, for the renewable energy they sponsored. Come January 1st, MGE and WE will likely share the dubious distinction of being the only utilities in the country offering renewable energy at a higher rate than they did in the 1990’s. So much for progress.

Adding insult to injury, renewable program subscribers will be subject to general rate increases approved by the PSCW this November. The utilities sought higher rates to recover the costs of retrofitting older coal-fired power stations with modern pollution controls. The fact that the renewable generators leveraged by program participants will never need pollution control retrofits is wholly disregarded in determining the size of the premium.

This is unquestionably a subsidy that flows from program participants to all ratepayers.

How did this happen?
Since 1999, renewable generation costs have tumbled, while productivity has improved.
A frustrated program subscriber might well ask: If base utility rates are going up, and the cost of renewable electricity is declining, why are premiums going up instead of down?

The short answer is that wholesale electricity prices have sagged in recent years, owing to a combination of unsustainably low natural gas prices, stagnant demand, and rapid expansion of wind power displacing higher-cost generation. In contrast, the price of renewable energy procured under long-term contracts held steady. When prices dropped in the wholesale market beginning in late 2008, the gap between system energy and renewable sources widened.

Though accurate, the above explanation is deeply unsatisfying, because the wholesale “market” is concerned about one thing only: the marginal cost of producing electricity into the grid. Nothing else matters, including the expenditures approved by the PSCW to reduce emissions from older generators. Even though retail customers wind up footing the bill for those upgrades, the wholesale market does not treat pollution control retrofits as marginal costs. Not one cent paid by ratepayers for these expenditures is reflected in the prices that renewable generators compete against.

The net effect of this disconnect is to artificially suppress the price of electricity from older and dirtier generators relative to newer and cleaner electricity producers. Real markets factor in the cost of upgrading and replacing capital equipment that manufacture the product bought by customers. What we have instead is an artificial contrivance that sacrifices long-term considerations like clean air, resource diversity and regulatory risk for the short-term reward of low prices.

Indeed, it would be difficult to design a more punitive market structure for renewables than the one we have at present.

‘Swimming up a waterfall’
Pricing renewable energy against a market operating in real time also undermines a valuable attribute of renewable energy, namely its inherent price stability. In this environment, the only way a customer can directly benefit from a fixed-price energy source like solar is to self-generate at his or her premises to reduce consumption of grid-supplied electricity.

In setting the premium size, the PSCW relied on pricing data at a time when the regional wholesale market was near its cyclical bottom. Electricity prices are now edging upward as forward prices of natural gas have rebounded from historic lows earlier this year. It’s a safe bet that wholesale electricity prices will continue to increase in 2013.

This sets up the very real possibility that WE and MGE will collect more revenue than is necessary to cover the cost spread between system energy and the renewable energy supplies servicing their customers. Unfortunately, the next time the base premium for each utility can be adjusted is January 1, 2015.

For at least a century now, fossil fuels have been the default resource option for most utilities. Against this institutional bias, switching to renewable energy is akin to swimming upstream. But given how far backward the PSCW bent to accommodate utilities’ continued reliance on coal and natural gas, quite a few renewable energy subscribers may balk at the prospect of swimming up a waterfall.

In fairness to MGE and WE, the price hikes approved by the PSCW went well beyond the incremental increases proposed by the two utilities. That’s because the agency relies solely on the wholesale “market” metric described above that filters out all societal benefits from the equation. To the agency, renewables are another source of electrons that deserve no special consideration. And, in reaching its decision, the PSCW disregarded the potential impact that abrupt price hikes might have on customer participation.

Programs outliving their usefulness?
A significant loss in subscribership would be a regrettable outcome if the programs were still viable vehicles for leveraging new sources of renewable energy. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

Earlier this decade, WE and MGE pulled the plug on a popular feature of their programs, specifically the special solar energy buyback rates that were funded with participant dollars. This innovation, which spurred the installation of hundreds of solar electric systems in their territories, succeeded in elevating MGE and WE’s stature while achieving the aims of their participating customers. However, when the utilities eliminated their solar incentives, they also removed the principal rationale for subscribing to their programs.

It seems quite clear that the current crop of voluntary renewable energy programs have outlived their usefulness. They are stagnating under a market structure that distorts and amplifies their true costs as well as a regulatory climate that greatly discounts their benefits to ratepayers. What were once dynamic vehicles for increasing supplies of renewable energy are now little more than feel-good marketing exercises running on autopilot. The value proposition to customers just isn’t there anymore.

There is nothing out there to prevent utilities from revitalizing their green pricing programs and making them useful once again. Such an undertaking, however, would require them to do something they haven’t done before: present an affirmative case for adding more renewables into their energy mix.

To do that effectively, utilities would need to recognize that the fossil energy path leads to a dead-end and that renewables ought to be the default resource option going forward. From that starting point, designing a program in which modest customer premiums actually result in additional supplies of renewable energy should be a simple and straightforward exercise.

It’s the very least a responsible utility should do to reduce the impact of generating electricity on the one planet we are privileged to call home.

Michael Vickerman is program and policy director of RENEW Wisconsin, a sustainable energy advocacy organization. RENEW Wisconsin is a member of RE-AMP, which also publishes Midwest Energy News.

Find the original article post here.

Read more »

The sickening truth about wind farm syndrome

Hilltop turbines are being blamed for myriad maladies. What is the truth behind these outlandish claims? Simon Chapman debunks these claims in this article from the New Scientist.


NEW technology has long attracted "modern health worries". Microwave ovens, television and computer screens and even early telephony all caused anxiety in their time. More recently, cellphones and towers, Wi-Fi and smart electricity meters have followed suit.

Another is gathering attention; the very modern malaise known as wind turbine syndrome. I set out to collect the conditions attributed to wind farm exposure. Within hours, I'd found 50 often florid assertions about different illnesses. Today my total sits at 198, with a range redolent of Old Testament plagues.

The list includes "deaths, yes, many deaths", none of which have ever come to the attention of a coroner, cancers, congenital malformations, and every manner of psychiatric problem. But mostly, it includes common health problems found in all communities, with wind turbines or not. These include greying hair, energy loss, concentration lapses, weight gain and all the problems of ageing. Sleep problems are mentioned most, but insomnia is incredibly common. Animals get a look in. Chickens won't lay; earthworms vanish; hundreds of cattle and goats die horrible deaths from "stray electricity".

In a 35-year career in public health, I have never encountered anything quite so apocalyptic. I've visited wind farms and compared their gentle swoosh to the noises that all city dwellers live with daily. Quickly, this phenomenon began to tick psychogenic boxes.

There are several reasons to suspect that the unrecognised entity of wind turbine syndrome is psychogenic: a "communicated" disease spread by anti-wind interest groups, sometimes with connections to fossil fuel interests. People can worry themselves sick.

Firstly, there are the temporal problems. Wind farms appeared some 20 years ago in the US. There are now just shy of 200,000 turbines globally. But the first recorded claims that they caused disease came a decade later. Two rural doctors, one in the UK and the other in Australia, made claims repeated widely in newspapers but never published in any journal. Turbines have come to be blamed for chronic conditions like (amazingly) lung and skin cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and stroke. But importantly also acute symptoms, that according to Australia's high priestess of wind turbine syndrome, Sarah Laurie, an unregistered doctor, can commence within 20 minutes of exposure. If true, what happened in the early complaint-free years?

Then there's the issue of clustering. The European wind industry sees the phenomenon as largely anglophone, and even then, only in particular regions and around certain farms. Many sites have run for years without complaint. Others, legendary for their vocal opponents even before start up, are hot beds of disease claims. So if turbines were inherently noxious, why do they cut such a selective path? Why do citizens of community-owned turbines in Germany and Denmark rarely complain? Why are complaints rare in western Australia, but rife in several eastern Australian communities?

Opponents readily concede that only a minority of those exposed report being ill but explain this via the analogy of motion sickness: it only happens to those who are susceptible. How then to explain that whole regions and indeed nations, have no susceptible people? The key factor seems to be the presence or absence of anti-wind activists, generally from outside the area.

It is clear the presence of these anti-wind "vectors" is required. Communities which have for years accepted the farms can erupt when activists arrive, spreading alarm and listing health problems. Prominent among these in Australia are wealthy conservative landowners appalled by the very visible presence of the tall green-energy totems, a constant reminder of bucolic decay and the "upstairs-downstairs" disdain they have for those needing income from their often hilly, poorer quality land.

The fact that money seems to be a magic antidote to these ailments further undermines the claims. Health complaints are as rare as rocking horse excrement among turbine hosts. Complaints are rare from those financially benefitting from communal ownership arrangements. It tends to be neighbours of those hosting turbines who make the link with illness. They see the turbines, dislike them and dwell on their misfortune. The perceived injustice can eat away at some, fomented by organised groups.

Wind companies also report residents approaching them with extensive renovation wish lists. One told me of a request for a house to be moved to a lake shore. In rural Australia, residential buy-outs by mining companies are common. Word spreads about shack owners who got lucky. So when a cashed-up company appears, it is understandable that some may see their ticket out via protracted complaints.

Opponents also claim that confidentiality clauses are used to gag hosts, so they can't speak up about illnesses. I've seen several contracts and, predictably, none involve signing away common law rights to claims of negligence.

Finally, there are the apocryphal tales about many families having to abandon their homes. Mysteriously, address lists are never produced. Abandoning unsaleable properties is a sad part of rural decay, a fact which seems to escape fly-in, fly-out climate change denialists.

Previous modern health worries dissipated when the predicted health mayhem never emerged and the feared exotic agents became thoroughly familiar. Hysteria about cellphone towers had its heyday in the late 1990s, at least in Australia, but is rare today. With 17 reviews of the evidence on harm caused by wind farms consistent in their assessment of insignificant risk, how long can this one last?

Simon Chapman is professor in public health at the University of Sydney, Australia. Find the original article here.

Read more »

Company and Local Officials Team Up to Advance “Epic” Wind Project

Immediate release

October 15, 2012

More information

Michael Vickerman

608.255.4044, ext. 2

State’s largest customer-owned renewable energy system breaks ground in Dane County

(Madison) – Within a day after receiving the go-ahead from the Springfield town board, heavy construction equipment broke ground on Epic Systems’ Galactic Wind Farm, a six-turbine facility along U.S. Highway 12 in western Dane County.  The 10- megawatt project should begin producing power by year’s end.

Epic Systems’ project, the third customer-owned windpower installation to go forward this year, will be larger than the two-turbine Cashton Greens project in Monroe County and the two-turbine Waxdale project in Racine County.  Organic Valley and Gundersen Lutheran completed their Cashton project earlier this year, while S. C. Johnson is building its Waxdale project, which should be operational in December of this year.

“Epic’s project came together because of four factors: a company committed to long-term sustainability, a spirit of cooperation among town and county officials, strong local support, and a favorable tax climate,” said Michael Vickerman, program and policy director for RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit advocacy organization promoting renewable energy use in Wisconsin.

Epic also owns and operates Wisconsin’s largest solar electricity facility on its Verona campus, which it completed this summer.

The Springfield town board approved Epic’s project on a 5 to zero vote.  No one at the board meeting expressed any objections to the project.

“I can easily foresee other sustainability-minded Wisconsin companies pursuing wind turbines to produce electricity for their own operations, as long as Congress acts quickly to extend the federal Production Tax Credit, which levels the playing field between wind energy and fossil-fuel generation,” said Vickerman.

           

END

RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) that leads and represents businesses, and individuals who seek more clean, renewable energy in Wisconsin.  More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.

Read more »

Wind project proposed for Dane County

Check out this article from Steven Verburg in the Wisconsin State Journal:

Epic Systems plans six wind turbines northwest of Madison

Dane County's first array of commercial wind turbines will rise hundreds of feet above the rolling hills along Highway 12 northwest of Madison under plans Epic Systems of Verona hatched over the last four weeks.

The plan had to move quickly so that Epic can take advantage of federal tax credits that expire Dec. 31, said Bruce Richards, the medical software manufacturer's director of facilities and engineering.

Six turbines — each with three 135-foot blades spinning atop a 262-foot tower — will be visible from the tall buildings in Downtown Madison, including the Capitol, and the electricity they generate will help Epic offset most of its energy needs on its sprawling Verona campus.

. . .

A geothermal system heats and cools the Verona campus, and solar panels already generate electricity. The addition of the turbines will mean the company can provide about 85 percent of its own energy needs by 2014, Richards said.

"What sticks out to me is Epic's incredible commitment to renewable energy," said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, whose administration has expedited permits for the company.

Morse Group president Lou Rotello said his company will serve as engineering, procurement and construction contractor on the project, which will employ about 75 construction workers.

The site is a good one in part because almost all of the homes that could be affected by noise or flickering shadows from the turbine blades are occupied by family members of the landowners who are leasing their land for the towers, Rotello said.

The ridge isn't the windiest spot in the county, but studies indicate it will be gusty enough to spin the blades at 27 percent of their full-speed capacity each year, Rotello said.

The turbines have a capacity of 9.9 megawatts, which will qualify them as one of 10 "major" wind power generators in Wisconsin, said Deborah Irwin, the state Public Service Commission's renewable energy specialist.

Read the full article here.

Read more »

Grothman would take state backward

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.

Read more »

Lake Michigan Gets Look from Wind Researchers

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...

Read more »

Town of Sherman wind farm good for community

A letter to the editor of the Sheboygan Press written by Maureen Faller, a member of the board of directors of RENEW and co-owner of Kettle View Renewable Energy:

It is not surprising that the proposed Windy Acres Wind Farm project in the Town of Sherman has become a highly emotional debate. However, as a citizen, tax payer and small business owner in the Town of Sherman, I am concerned about the vast amount of misleading information that is being circulated throughout our community.

We’ve been barraged with flyers of burning wind turbines, yet the likelihood of this occurring is less than .001% based on 165,000 wind turbines installed worldwide. By comparison, our local fire department was dispatched to two car fires this month alone.

We’ve heard about the wind turbines affecting our property values, however an independent study conducted by the firm Poletti and Associates recently concluded otherwise. In Kewaunee County, which hosts two of the oldest commercial wind projects in the United States, their report suggests no statistically significant effect on the sale of homes or construction of new homes. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence that existing wind development in Wisconsin has depressed property values statewide. In fact, according to data compiled by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance on property values and levies, in Fond du Lac County, equalized valuation actually increased by 1.2% during that time, while Dodge and Kewaunee counties managed smaller declines than the statewide average during that period.

We’ve been told of the ensuing health effects that will plague our families and animals. However, thorough studies by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Australian Government National Health & Medical Research Council, the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario, Canada and the United Kingdom have each concluded that wind turbines do not pose a health threat. More recently, Kitty Rhoades, the Deputy Secretary of the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Governor Walker appointee, could not have been more clear when she affirmed Wisconsin’s stance that the “levels of noise, flicker and infrasound measured from wind turbines at current setback distances do not reach those that have been associated with objective physical health effects.”

Senator Grothman recently insinuated that a wind farm was not welcome in the Town of Sherman. Considering that the July 24 town meeting was attended by more people from Brown County, Manitowoc County and other areas outside our township, I find the senator’s assessment quite presumptive. He may be interested in knowing that recent polling shows that 85% of his fellow Wisconsinites support an increased use of wind power to meet our energy needs, because wind power provides safe, homegrown energy and creates family-supporting jobs across the state.

It is important that we recognize the benefits of the proposed wind farm in the Town of Sherman and do not allow a vocal minority to control this important debate. This is precisely what the anti-wind groups hope to achieve. Deceptive propaganda is their only weapon, because the benefits of sustainable, clean energy and local job creation are irrefutable. Questioning their allegations, asking them for independent third-party data and educating ourselves is our greatest defense. There is truth in education. As quoted by the Dalai Lama “Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.”

Read more »

Wisconsin Energy to buy Monfort wind energy center

From a story on WTAQ radio, Green Bay:

GRANT COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - Wisconsin’s largest electric utility will spend $27 million to buy an existing wind farm in the southwest part of the state.

Wisconsin Energy, the parent of We Energies, has agreed to buy the Montfort Energy Center near Montfort in Grant County. NextEra Energy Resources of Florida currently owns the facility.

It opened 11 years ago, and it now has 20 turbines that provide enough power for about 9,000 homes. We Energies’ CEO Gale Klappa says the wind farm will deliver positive benefits for both customers and shareholders. It will also help the utility meet its state-mandated requirement to produce 8.25 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2015.

Read more »

U.S. wind group: No evidence to support for Sen. Lasee's anti-wind claims

From a commentary in the Fond du Lac Reporter by John Anderson, director of siting policy for the American Wind Energy Association:

Wisconsin State Sen. Frank Lasee’s recent statements regarding the potential health effects of wind turbines are not supported by numerous government and peer-reviewed studies in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently published the “Wind Turbine Health Impact Study: Report of Independent Expert Panel.” Most notably, the authors of this report concluded:

• There is no evidence for a set of health effects from exposure to wind turbines that could be characterized as “Wind Turbine Syndrome.”

• Claims that infrasound from wind turbines directly impacts the vestibular system have not been demonstrated scientifically. Available evidence shows that the infrasound levels near wind turbines cannot impact the vestibular system.

• The strongest epidemiological study suggests that there is not an association between noise from wind turbines and measures of psychological distress or mental health.

• None of the limited epidemiological evidence reviewed suggests an association between noise from wind turbines and pain and stiffness, diabetes, high blood pressure, tinnitus, hearing impairment, cardiovascular disease, and headache/migraine.

• Scientific evidence suggests that shadow flicker does not pose a risk for eliciting seizures.

Read more »

From the above letter written by Kitty Rhoades, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services:

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has reviewed the scientific literature on the issue of wind turbines and health, and we will continue to do so as new studies are published. Our review of current scientific knowledge indicates that levels of noise, flicker and infrasound measured from wind turbines at current setback distances do not reach those that have been associated with objective physical health effects. The Department has considered previous requests to conduct formal epidemiologic studies in Wisconsin, and Division of Public Health staff have discussed this issue with colleagues at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, other state health departments, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, we have been unable to identify a study design or methodology that could provide a constructive conclusion to the individual concerns that have been raised. If such a study were performed, we would review its methodology and findings. . . . [Emphasis added]

Read more »

Cashton Greens Community Wind Project Plows New Ground

Immediate release: July 18, 2012

More information:
Michael Vickerman Director, Program and Policy
608.255.4044, ext. 2, mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org

Two-turbine project sets a number of firsts for Wisconsin

 
 A vision of Wisconsin’s renewable energy future came to life with the dedication today of the two-turbine Cashton Greens Wind Farm, Wisconsin‘s first community wind development. This five megawatt project rises alongside Organic Valley Cooperative’s distribution center in this village 40 miles southeast of La Crosse.

Owned by La Farge-based Organic Valley Cooperative and Gunderson Lutheran Health System, La Crosse, Cashton Greens will generate enough electricity to offset the energy use for Organic Valley’s corporate headquarters and distribution center, as well as 5% of Gundersen Lutheran’s energy needs.

“This ground-breaking community wind project represents a number of firsts for Wisconsin,” said Michael Vickerman, director of programs and policies for RENEW Wisconsin, a renewable energy advocacy organization.

“Cashton Greens is both Wisconsin’s largest customer-owned renewable energy installation and the largest ever to receive a grant from Focus on Energy, the state’s energy efficiency and renewable energy program,” Vickerman said. It is also the first wind project permitted following the enactment of Wisconsin’s three-year-old wind siting law (2009 Act 40).The Village of Cashton approved the project in June 2010.

“RENEW and all of our members salute the team of Organic Valley, Gundersen Lutheran, and the village of Cashton for their audacious commitment to energy independence,” said Vickerman. “They are plowing ground that will result in new renewable energy systems supporting Wisconsin’s economic vitality while protecting its environmental health.”

“This project clearly shows that Wisconsin energy customers are eager to move forward to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Rather than wait for their utilities to act, many of them are now taking the initiative and installing systems to supply their own businesses and residences with clean renewable energy produced,” he said.

Organic Valley is America’s largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation’s leading organic brands. Gundersen Health System provides health services to its patients at is hospital and clinics throughout west Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, and northeast Iowa.

-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.

Read more »

Business group asks senator to end "unsubstantiated attacks on wind"

From a news release issued by the Wisconsin Energy Business Association:

Wisconsin Businesses Call on Sen. Lasee to End His War on Wind 

Unsubstantiated attacks on wind industry are preventing economic growth across Wisconsin 

In another attempt to hinder wind development and economic growth in Wisconsin, state Senator Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) is demanding that the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin revisit the state’s uniform wind siting rule, PSC 128—a rule that is the product of years of work by the Commission, a citizen advisory council, and industry experts. His most recent attacks are based on the demonstrably false claim that wind energy facilities cause adverse health impacts.

“Senator Lasee’s ongoing hostility towards Wisconsin’s wind industry is preventing real economic growth,” said Chris Kunkle of the Wisconsin Energy Business Association. “National companies looking to invest in Wisconsin’s economy see these unwarranted and baseless attacks and continue to stay out of Wisconsin.”

Medical professionals are unwavering in their repeated analysis that there is no discernible correlation between wind energy generation and negative health impacts. This was stated most recently in a report to the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health that definitively concluded there is “no foundation for a set of symptoms that is called Wind Turbine Syndrome” and was also recently affirmed by Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS). . . .

Read more »

RENEW responds to Sen. Lasee's latest, meaningless anti-wind joust

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.

Read more »

SC Johnson to Install Two Wind Turbines at Largest Manufacturing Facility

From a news release issued by S.C. Johnson:

Racine, Wis., (June 21, 2012) – SC Johnson continues to build its legacy as an environmental champion with the announcement that it will build two wind turbines at its largest global manufacturing plant, Waxdale, located in Mt. Pleasant, Wis. The company received clearance to begin construction on the turbines, which will put wind power behind trusted brands such as Windex®, Glade®, Pledge®, Raid® and Scrubbing Bubbles®. The turbines are expected to be operational by the end of 2012. . . .

Waxdale, the size of 36 football fields, is SC Johnson’s largest global manufacturing facility. The wind turbines will generate approximately eight million KWH of electricity per year, the equivalent of powering more than 700 homes annually, and reduce carbon emissions associated with powering Waxdale by six thousand metric tons annually. The turbines are expected to be approximately 415 feet high.

The wind turbines are the latest in a series of renewable energy production investments at Waxdale. In addition to the practical energy and sustainability benefits, the investment in the company’s Waxdale facility continues SC Johnson’s commitment to manufacturing in the Racine community.

Wind Turbines – The Facts, Benefits

A few facts about the wind turbines at Waxdale include:

• The company expects the wind turbines will produce approximately 15 percent of the electrical energy used at Waxdale.

• The remaining approximately 85 percent of Waxdale’s electrical energy requirements can be produced by two co-generation units installed during the last decade that produce electrical energy and steam. Approximately 27 million KWH per year or 45 percent will be renewable energy from landfill gases used by co-generation unit one; on average, the remaining 23 million KWH or 40 percent will be from methane/clean energy used by co-generation unit two.

• The electricity generated will be the energy equivalent of more than 600,000 gallons of gasoline every year, equal to an average amount of gas used by more than 1,100 cars annually.

• This effort will reduce annual carbon emissions associated with powering the Waxdale plant by six thousand metric tons.

Reducing Resource Use

Sustainability has been a focus for SC Johnson for decades. In late 2011, the company was recognized with a Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their commitment and contribution to the advancement of the nation’s voluntary green power market.

Read more »

Manufacturing the future TODAY

A welcome video from AWEA to those attending WindPower2012 in Atlanta.

Read more »

Catching Wind updates Wisconsin wind news

Catching Wind, a newsletter from RENEW Wisconsin, includes the following updates on wind in Wisconsin:

Siting rule survives challenge, takes effect
Capping a bitter four-year struggle, the Legislature cleared the path for wind energy development to resume in Wisconsin under clear and consistent rules.

By adjourning without passage of bills restricting wind development, the Legislature allowed a statewide permitting rule developed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to take effect.

Community wind sweeps into western Wisconsin
Two privately owned utility-scale wind turbines are set to rise this spring near Organic Valley Cooperative’s distribution center in Cashton, home of Wisconsin’s first Community Wind project. Called Cashton Greens, the wind project is a joint venture of LaFarge-based Organic Valley and La Crosse-based Gundersen Lutheran Health System.

St. Croix County Wind Project seeks PSC approval
In a first for the Badger State, western Wisconsin, specifically, St. Croix County will provide the backdrop for a high-profile permitting battle over a utility-scale wind energy project. The 41-turbine project would be located in the towns of Forest and Cylon, about 30 miles northeast of Hudson.

Read more »

Wisconsin lawmakers weary of wind setback issue

From an article by Dan Haugen on Midwest Energy News:

Wisconsin’s politically contested wind-turbine siting rules would quietly go back on the books if the state’s legislature doesn’t take up the issue this session.

While it’s premature for wind energy supporters to declare victory, the rules’ opponents appear to have little appetite for reopening the controversy, according to observers.

“This is an issue they don’t want to have anything to do with right now,” says Michael Vickerman, director of Renew Wisconsin, a renewable energy advocacy group. “It’s kind of reached the radioactive phase.”
The first-in-the-nation rules were aimed at streamlining the messy, often shifting patchwork of local setback rules, which govern the distance wind developers need to leave between turbines and adjacent homes. A 2009 law instructed regulators to comes up with a statewide setback policy. After two years of hearings and debate, they issued rules restricting turbines from within 1,250 feet of neighboring residences.

On the day the rules were to take effect last March, however, a Republican-controlled legislative committee voted along party lines to suspend the statewide rules. Gov. Scott Walker instead proposed an 1,800-foot setback from the nearest property line, which the American Wind Energy Association said would essentially shut down the state’s wind industry.

Since then, wind developers have cited regulatory uncertainty in suspending or canceling five major developments totaling $1.6 billion in economic investment. Vickerman says wind energy supporters have successfully highlighted the economic consequences of Walker’s action, which is why party leadership seems to have lost interest in the fight.

“These guys are afraid because the issue has boomeranged on them,” says Vickerman. “Scott Walker does not really want to be known as someone who has killed jobs by basically shutting down the commercial wind industry in Wisconsin, and neither do the legislative leaders.”

Read more »

PSC must establish wind energy rules

From an editorial in the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

A committee wants Brown County to ask the state to pay medical bills for anyone becoming sick because of wind turbines, but we don't think it's the county's place to make such a move.

The human services committee voted last week to seek emergency aid for families near the Shirley Wind Farm in the town of Glenmore, blaming the state for allowing what supervisors said was "irresponsible placement" of wind turbines. Several people testified to the committee that they or their neighbors have experienced conditions such as anxiety, depression and weight loss and fear they have been exposed to a greater cancer risk.

We feel for local residents who believe their health has been compromised by wind turbines. But until the state establishes setback rules and other regulations governing wind turbines, the county's effort in this case is futile. . . .

If county supervisors want to make recommendations on setback limits or other issues involving wind turbines, they should do that and forward their opinions to the state. But a resolution seeking compensation for medical bills comes with the assumption that the wind turbines caused the problems in Glenmore. That's a conclusion that hasn't been determined.

Brown County has been a focus area for wind energy companies in recent years. The landscape is conducive to the placement of turbines because the topography helps produce a steady wind flow. An advocacy group — Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy — has lobbied for greater setback distances, saying turbines too close to residences and schools pose potential health problems.

The opposition led Illinois-based Invenergy Inc. to withdraw its plans to build a 100-turbine wind farm in the towns of Morrison and Glenmore.

The wind energy industry cites, with good reason, the fact that wind turbines provide a useful and necessary energy source. They also provide financial compensation for land owners who agree to have wind turbines erected on their property.

Still, some opponents say the negatives outweigh the benefits. Some have also claimed the turbines lower property values.

The responsibility for establishing wind energy rules rests with the Public Service Commission. A legislative committee suspended the PSC's proposed turbine siting rules 11 months ago and instructed the state agency to work on a compromise that would be acceptable to both sides. PSC spokeswoman Kristin Ruesch told the Green Bay Press-Gazette Monday that no such compromise has been reached. She also said she doesn't think the issue of medical bill payments has been part of the discussions.

We urge the PSC to accelerate the discussions to reach a compromise that will be acceptable to both sides and the state Legislature. Sincerely, Jeff Anthony American Wind Energy Association Milwaukee, WI Peter Bakken, Public Policy Coordinator Wisconsin Council of Churches Sun Prairie, WI Rich Bannen, Owner Prairie Solar Power & Light Prairie du Chien, WI Barb Basaj SunSpec, LLC Milwaukee, WI Thomas Brown, Architect Stevens Point, WI Brent Brucker, General Manager Helios Solar Works Milwaukee, WI Justin Castleman Castleman & Sons Plumbing Franklin, WI Chris Collins, Marketing Director H&H Solar Energy Services Madison, WI Lisa Conley, President Town and Country RC&D Jefferson, WI Lisa Daniels, Executive Director Windustry Minneapolis, MN Mark Dawson Sand Creek Solar Amherst, WI Susan De Vos Madison Area Bus Advocates Madison, WI Tom DeBates, Owner Habi-Tek Geneva, IL Michael Dearing, Owner Driftless Solar Spring Green, WI Trang Donovan Unlimited Renewable Energies Prairie du Sac, WI Jeff Ehlers, President Renewegy, LLC Oshkosh, WI Jim Erdman Solar Electric and Small Wind Certified Site Assessor Menomonie, WI James Erickson, Owner Antech Properties Janesville, WI Brian Evans, Production Manager Associated Housewrights Madison, WI Randy Faller, Owner Kettle View Renewable Energy Random Lake, WI Pete Flesch, Chair, Crawford County Board of Supervisors Prairie du Chien, WI Scott Freier Freiers Electric and Heating Ellsworth, WI Greg Fritsch, CEO Clean Energy North America Glendale, WI Jim Funk, Owner Energize, LLC Winneconne, WI Mark Furst Grading Spaces, LLC Fort Atkinson, WI David Goepfert, President Thermal Design, Inc. Stoughton, WI David Hansen, Proprietor Lake Country Energy Oconomowoc, WI Daniel Harkins, Manager Trantow Properties, LLC Stoughton, WI Ryan Harkins, Project Manager Synergy Renewable Systems, LLC Stoughton, WI Michael Harvey Able Electric Co. River Falls, WI Charlie Higley, Executive Director Citizens Utility Board Madison, WI John Hippensteel, President Lake Michigan Wind and Sun Sturgeon Bay, WI John Imes, Executive Director Wisconsin Environmental Initiative Madison, WI Micah James, General Manager Energycraft Synergy Systems, LLC Stoughton, WI Andrea Kaminski League of Women Voters Wisconsin Education Network Madison, WI James Kerbel Photovoltaic Systems, LLC Amherst, WI Joe Klein Applied Plastics Oak Creek, WI Richard Klemme, Dean and Director UW-Extension, Cooperative Extension Madison, WI Randy Knox System Owner Whitewater, WI Jeff Knutson A-A Exteriors, com Waupaca, WI Fritz Kreiss Community Green Energy, LLC, Lake Geneva, WI Eco-Vision Sustainable Learning Center, Inc., Lake Geneva, WI Green Leaf Inn, LLC, Delavan, WI Larry Krom L&S Technical Associates Spring Green, WI Alicia Leinberger, Marketing and Development Manager Seventh Generation Energy Systems Madison, WI Vicki Lipinski Marketing and Sales Coordinator Procorp Enterprises Milwaukee, WI Randy Mader Faith Technologies Sun Prairie, WI Tom Martin, CEO Convergence Energy Lake Geneva, WI Neil Matthes Duck Creek Engineering, Inc. Helenville, WI Heather McCombs Wisconsin Green Building Association Milwaukee, WI Natalie McIntire enMac Energy Consulting Viroqua, WI Christine Merritt, Ph.D TAPCO – Traffic and Parking Control, Inc. Brown Deer, WI Eric Meyer Werner Electric Wisconsin Neenah, WI Randy Moberg Werner Electric Minnesota Cottage Grove, MN Ingrid Nahm Appleton Solar Appleton, WI Andy Olsen Environmental Law & Policy Center Madison, WI Jim Olson E3Coalition Viroqua, WI Burke O’Neal, Director Full Spectrum Solar Madison, WI Robert H. Owen, Jr. Consulting Engineer/Meteorologist Middleton, WI George Penn Global Energy Options Madison, WI Katie Peterman, Manager, Cooperative Affairs Organic Valley Family of Farms LaFarge, WI Ted Petith Greenlink Projects, LLC Madison, WI Greg Phillips American Power, Inc. Electrical Contractors Janesville, WI Eric Pipkin Pipkin Electric, Inc. Sparta, WI John Price Access Solar, LLC Waukesha, WI Bob Ramlow Artha Sustainable Energy Center Amherst, WI Alex Rein Verona, WI Kurt Reinhold Solar Connections, LLC Madison, WI Ed Ritger Ritger Law Office Random Lake, WI Cathy Robinson Chippewa Valley Alternative Energy Chippewa Falls, WI Rik Rosenlund Midwest Solar Power Madison, WI Mick Sagrillo Sagrillo Power & Light Forestville, WI Kris Schmid Legacy Solar, LLC Frederic, WI Brian Schwaller, Owner EcoManity, LLC (owner) The Sustainable Living Group (president) Elkhart Lake, WI Al Schulz, Owner/CEO Safe Work La Crosse, WI Roy Settgas, Owner Sunrise Energy Services Washburn, WI Carl Siegrist Carl Siegrist Consulting Whitefish Bay, WI Wes Slaymaker WES Engineering Madison, WI Judy Spring Sustain Sauk County Baraboo, WI Zeus Stark, Owner Next Step Energy Eau Claire, WI Doug Stingle, Development Director Midwest Renewable Energy Association Custer, WI Josh Stolzenburg North Wind Renewable Energy, LLC Stevens Point, WI Amy Taivalkoski, Principal ALT Energy Sussex, WI Craig Tarr, President Energy Concepts Hudson, WI Todd Timmerman Timmerman’s Talents Platteville, WI Melissa Van Ornum DVO, Inc. Chilton, WI Michael Vickerman, Policy Director RENEW Wisconsin Madison, WI Larry Walker Walker Energy Systems Madison, WI Ray Walter, Ph.D, President MyEnergy, LLC Pewaukee, WI Michael Ward E & W Heating and Air Conditioning Middleton, WI David Washebek Lemberg Electric Company Brookfield, WI Robert Weier, Vice President ELEXCO, Inc. Seymour, WI Laura West West Winds Renewable Resources, LLC Plover, WI Tom Wilson HOME REMEDIES Residential Energy Services, Viroqua, WI Northern Thunder, Eau Claire, WI Dona Wininsky American Lung Association (Wisconsin) Milwaukee, WI Niels Wolter, Owner Madison Solar Consulting Madison, WI Mark Yeager Sun & Daughters Solar, LLC Rhinelander, WI Jim Yockey, CEO Seventh Generation Systems Integration Madison, WI John Young Resource Solar Madison, WI Michael Zander, CEO Biogas Direct Sauk City, WI Ed Zinthefer Arch Electric, LLC Plymouth, WI

Read more »

Why Scott Walker Killed Wind Energy Jobs in Wisconsin

From an article by Louis Weisberg in the Wisconsin Gazette:

When Wisconsin voters elected Scott Walker governor and handed Republicans control of the Legislature, about 1,000 new jobs in the emerging wind energy sector stood waiting on the state's horizon, according to industry proponents.

But Walker, who received at least $1.5 million in campaign cash directly from interests opposed to wind energy and much more indirectly, quickly quashed the rules that would have allowed those jobs - and the state's energy independence - to move forward.

Walker's move reportedly startled wind-energy supporters on both sides of the political aisle, since the so-called "wind siting" rules were ironed out during a year of negotiations with all the major stakeholders and approved by a two-thirds, bipartisan majority of lawmakers during the legislative session immediately preceding the state's GOP takeover.

Read more »