Montana - Geothermal energy state?

Geothermal energy projects, as well as the renewable energy projects in general, are lately getting lot more attention that they used to do, and many areas across the U.S. want to fully utilize their natural advantages by developing different renewable energy projects to not only satisfy ever-growing energy demand but also to work on ecologically acceptable fuels, especially now when climate

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Glacier Hills Wind Park hearing, Nov. 4

The Public Service Commission will take public testimony on We Energies' proposed Glacier Hills Wind Park.

Wednesday, November 4
3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Randolph Town Hall
109 S. Madison St. – Friesland

Those opposed to wind projects will likely make arguments like the one below from letter-to-the-editor of the Manitowoc Times Herald. The writere offered this outrageous explanation for why the Legislature passed and the govenor signed the bill on wind siting reform:

Blinded by a feel-good solution for a problem that never existed [global warming], legislators are being misled into a belief that something like wind turbines will not have a negative effect on those who are left to live around them . . .

To understand the problem you needed to be at the hearing in Mandison on May 12, held by the Senate and Assembly Energy Committee. . . .

It was obvious that the pro-wind lobby, paid with your tax money from RENEW Wisconsin, had the minds of legislators on their side long before the hearing.

Read more wild assertions from the letter.

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Milwaukee, Madison awarded $1 million for solar expansion

From a blog post by Tom Content on JSonline:

Milwaukee will receive $650,000 and Madison will receive $370,000 from the federal stimulus package to advance their programs to develop solar energy. Milwaukee established the Milwaukee Shines program several years ago after it won funding for

The city will use the grant to establish a Solar Hot Water Business Council, with an eye toward linking its own solar initiative with the work of the Milwaukee 7 Water Council.

The Milwaukee Shines’ goal is to increase the number of solar installers and install more than 100 solar-electric and 50 solar thermal systems by 2012.

“What’s going to happen is we are going to be able to use less energy, at a time that that’s very, very important,” said Barrett during a news conference at the Milwaukee Public Library. The central library building is incorporating solar into a green roof that is now under construction.

The aim of the council is educate and enable local water technology manufacturers to shift into the growing solar industry, leading to the creation of a solar manufacturing cluster in the region.

Milwaukee Shines is particularly interested in helping manufacturers re-tool their facilities to start producing solar energy components, said Erick Shambarger of the city’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. “We believe this could become a niche market for Milwaukee.”

The proposed business council helped set Milwaukee’s application apart from others received by the Department of Energy. DOE received applications for funding from 25 different cities but granted funding to 16 cities, said Steve Palmeri, project officer with the U.D. Department of Energy in Golden, Colo.

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Planners seek input on Racine County transit needs

From the Southeastern Wisconsin Regionial Planning Commission:

The public is invited to attend one of three upcoming public informational meetings for the Racine County Public Transit Plan. At the meetings, you can learn more about the plan, discuss it with Commission staff, and comment on the work performed to date. The meetings will be in an “open house” format, allowing you to attend at any time during the two-hour timeframe:

+ Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Racine Railroad Depot
1409 State Street
Racine

+Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Burlington Town Hall
32288 Bushnell Road
Burlington

+Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Ives Grove Office Complex
14200 Washington Avenue
Sturtevant

More details here.

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Experts rip anti-wind claims

Even though the quotes below from pre-filed statements take the form of rebuttal testimony in the PSC proceedings on We Energies' Glacier Hills Wind Park, they can stand on their own. You need not read the filings they rebut in order to make sense out of what they're saying.

The pre-filed testimony stands among the strongest redupiation of anti-wind arguments.

These filings will be formally entered into the record when the technical hearings begin on November 2nd, but they (and all other filings) are available online at the Web site of the Public Service Commission and link directlyi to case 6630-CE-302.

Richard Larkin, a state certified real estate appraiser, rebuts a “study” of property values paid for by the Coaliton for Wisconsin Environmental Stewardship (CWESt), a group opposing the Glacier Hills project:

I am responding to testimony submitted by Kurt Kielisch on behalf of CWESt, in 1 which he claims that paired sales analyses at the Blue Sky Green Field and Forward wind projects shows that proximity to wind turbines results in a significant negative impact on residential real estate values. There are significant (and probably fatal) problems with his analysis, which I will explain in my testimony. . . .

. . .it is my opinion that Appraisal One’s Wind Turbine Impact Study is significantly flawed, and in my opinion, likely meaningless.

Read all of Larkin’s testimony here.

William Roberts, PhD in Epidemiology, former faculty member with the Medical College of Wisconsin (Dept. of Preventative Medicine), former Oklahoma State Epidemiologist dissects Dr. Nina Pierpont's "research" and rebuts CWESt's acoustical consultant. He summarized his testimony as follows:

+ “Wind Turbine Syndrome” is not a medical diagnosis supported by peer reviewed, published, scientific literature;
+ The materials presented to support “Wind Turbine Syndrome” are not of sufficient scientific quality nor have they received the rigorous scientific review and vetting that is customarily part of the peer review and publishing process;
+ The tried and true scientific method of developing a hypothesis, testing that hypothesis, publishing the results and having others attempt to repeat the research has not been done to test the existence of a health condition called “Wind Turbine Syndrome;”
+ An accumulation of anecdotal interviews with self-selected persons living near a wind turbine does not constitute an epidemiological study and is not sufficient to determine causation;
+ The bases for claimed adverse health effects due to wind turbines cited by Mr. James either cannot withstand scientific scrutiny or have nothing to do with wind turbines; and
+ Siting a wind turbine within view of a residence and the operation of that turbine could be a source of annoyance to those living in the residence.

Read all of Roberts’ testimony here.

Geoff Leventhall, acoustical consultant, PhD in acoustics, presented testimony to rebut CWESt's acoustical consultant.

Based on my experience of infrasound and low frequency noise, it is my belief that the infrasound from wind turbines is of no consequence. Attempts to claim that illnesses result from inaudible wind turbine noise do not stand up to simple analyses of the very low forces and pressures produced by the sound from wind turbines. Additionally, the body is full of sound and vibration at infrasonic and low frequencies, originating in natural body processes. As an example, the beating heart is an obvious source of infrasound within the body. Other sources of background low frequency noise and vibration are blood flows, muscle vibrations, breathing, fluids in the gut and so on. The result is that any effect from wind turbine noise, or any other low level of noise, which might be produced within the body is “lost” in the existing background noise and vibration. This is considered in more detail in my Appraisal of Wind Turbine Syndrome, which is submitted as Exhibit 18.

More broadly, my testimony establishes that the claims of health effects from the low levels of infrasound and low frequency noise from wind turbines, as described in the Wind Turbine Syndrome and Vibroacoustic Disease hypotheses, fail. However, higher frequency noise from wind turbines, if it is audible, can cause disturbance to some residents, but this effect is no different from that of noise from another source.

Read all of Leventhall’s testimony here.

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Solar outlook set to dim in 2010

A news release issued by RENEW Wisconsin:

Utilities’ voluntary incentives hit limits

(Madison, WI – October 23, 2009) In contrast to the rapid growth experienced in the last three years, a leading state renewable energy advocacy group expects a sharp decline in installed solar electric capacity in 2010.

In statements directed to the Public Service Commission (PSC), three utilities – Wisconsin Electric Power (WE), Wisconsin Power and Light (WPL), and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) – acknowledged yesterday that their voluntary solar incentive programs will be discontinued for new customers. All three had offered, on a limited basis, a special buyback rate for the generated electricity, which effectively cut in half the payback period for the systems.

“These three incentive programs spurred homeowners and businesses to install nearly 2.5 megawatts of solar electric capacity,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin. “But for those incentives, we wouldn’t not have reached the milestone that PSC Chair Eric Callisto recently celebrated at the installation of a system serving the Town of Menasha.”

“Though voluntary initiatives are certainly welcome, they cannot by themselves sustain a vibrant solar marketplace. By far the most effective way to maintain solar’s momentum is for the Legislature to require utilities to purchase a set amount of renewable energy from their own customers at a reasonable price,” said Vickerman.

Going into 2010, the only investor-owned utility that has a special buyback rate is Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E), which pays its customers 25 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated from their solar systems. MG&E’s voluntary program still has room for another 600 kilowatts of customer-owned solar.

Until their voluntary initiatives had reached capacity, both WPS and WPL had been paying the same rate as MG&E, while WE had offered a 22.5 cents for each kilowatt-hour generated.

“If renewable energy is to drive job growth in Wisconsin, lawmakers must create favorable marketplace conditions to support new installations going forward. No policy will accomplish that goal more effectively than a state initiative to establish higher buyback rates,” Vickerman said.

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Magnetek receives order for large wind power inverters

From a news release issued by Magnetek:

Menomonee Falls, Wis. - Magnetek, Inc. (NYSE: MAG) today announced that it has received a follow-on production order for wind power inverters valued at $11 million. Magnetek's modular utility-scale wind power inverters regulate and transform DC power generated by wind turbines into utility-grade AC power, which is distributed to the power transmission grid. Magnetek’s E-Force Wind Inverters are to be delivered to its customer beginning in December 2009 through November 2010.

Wind power has been one of the fastest growing sources of power generation globally. In the United States, which has surpassed Germany as the largest wind power market, the five-year average (2004-2008) annual growth rate for wind power installations was 32%, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). With an installed base of 25,369 MW in operation at the end of 2008, the U. S. was also the 2008 world leader in new wind installations. While AWEA estimates a slower growth rate in 2009, wind power installations are still projected to grow by 5,000 MW (20%) or more this year. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 extended the production tax credit for the wind industry to 2012, with an alternate option to secure a grant from the Treasury Department in the amount of a 30% investment tax credit.

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