Newsletter Siting Council Seventh Gen Cascade Wind And More

RENEW Wisconisn's summer newsletter includes these articles:

COUNCIL BACKS COMPROMISE ON SITING STANDARDS

After four months of intensive review and debate, the 15-member Wind Siting Council presented to the Public Service Commission (PSC) its final recommendations on the statewide permitting rule under development. The Council's report comes at a critical juncture; the PSC will issue a fi nal rule on this proceeding before the end of August.

COMMUNITY WIND ON MOVE IN CASHTON

What may become Wisconsin's first example of a Community Wind project cleared a significant hurdle in June when the Village of Cashton in Monroe County issued a permit to allow the construction of two Vestas V90 turbines, totaling 3.6 megawatts (MW), inside its business park.

SEVENTH GENERATION PIONEERS WIND

Unusual from its start as a not-for- profit in the business of renewable energy, Seventh Generation Energy Systems (commonly called Seventh Gen) continues to pioneer organizationally and technically with the addition of Jim Yockey, executive director, and Ry Thompson, project manager. Alicia Leinberger, one of the founders of Seventh Gen, oversees marketing and business development for the eight-year-old organization.

MAKING SENSE OF THE GULF DISASTER

About 100 people gathered in downtown Madison in early July to take part in "Hands Across the hands," an internationally organized protest against continued oil drilling in and along the world's coastal waters. Against the backdrop of the weed-choked waters of Lake Monona, they joined hands for 15 minutes to express their fervent desire to see a cleaner, less destructive energy future emerge from the liquid melanoma spreading across the Gulf of Mexico.

No doubt the protestors would like to do more, much more, than simply engage in a ritualized protest in front of a few camera crews. But we live in a society that is organized around the expectation of a limitless supply of nonrenewable hydrocarbons feeding concentrated energy into our economic bloodstream. Most of us have not bothered to comprehend the yawning gulf that lies between our best intentions and our abject dependence on the wealth-producing properties of petroleum.

TURBINES POWER CASCADE WASTEWATER

With the start-up of two 100-kilowatt (kW) wind turbines, the Village of Cascade became the first Wisconsin community to power its municipal wastewater treatment plant with 100 percent locally produced wind energy.

The impetus behind Cascade's embrace of wind power was the avoided utility expenditures associated with operating a wastewater treatment plant. In the first year of operation, Cascade

stands to save 30,000.

CALENDAR

Sept. 29 -- Solar Decade Conference, Milwaukee, WI. A comprehensive solar energy educational opportunity for your home, business, and career. Sponsored by Focus on Energy, We Energies, and others. For details see www.solardecade.com.

Sept. 30 - Oct. 1 -- 2010Solar Thermal '10, Milwaukee, WI. A national solar heating and cooling conference and expo for solar thermal professionals. For details see www.the-mrea.org.

October 2, 2010 -- Solar Tour of Homes and Businesses. All across Wisconsin. Owners open their doors to let people see how renewable energy is practical, reliable, and affordable in today's economy. The homes and businesses often include other energy effi ciency and renewable technologies. For details see www.the-mrea.org.

October 13, 2010 -- Wisconsin Wind Energy Supply Chain Workshop, Milwaukee, WI. Learn how to join the wind energy supply chain from fi rst tier and aftermarket manufacturers. For details see www.thenewnorth.com.

Mar. 9 - 12, 2011 -- Green Energy Summit: The Green Frontier, Milwaukee, WI. An acclaimed professional/academic conference featuring keynote speakers, workshops, demonstrations, and exhibits. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Technical College System Foundation and others. For details see www.greenenergysummit.us.

Business Associations Clash Over Wind Siting Rules

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

The state Legislature moved with remarkable speed during its special session to enact proposals advocated by Gov. Scott Walker.

The single great exception: a bill to restrict development of wind farms.

Of 10 bills considered by the Legislature in the special session that began Jan. 4, the wind siting bill is the only one that didn't clear the state Assembly.

Legislative leaders last week decided to stop consideration of the Walker bill, saying they would move to address wind siting in a different way. The move came one week after Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobby, announced its opposition to the wind siting bill. It's the only plank of Walker's special session platform that WMC opposed.

The energy proposal runs counter to Walker's jobs agenda because it threatens to block several large wind power projects, with an investment valued at 500 million, this year and next, wind power advocates say. But Walker is concerned about the cost of wind power and says the state needs to have a better balance between wind development and property rights....

The Wisconsin Realtors Association said it worked with Walker's transition team to craft a proposal that would effectively block the PSC's standard, which was established after eight months of study. The Concerned Realtors Committee was a key backer of Walker's gubernatorial campaign, donating more than 43,000 in 2010, campaign finance records show.

The governor's bill was backed by the Wisconsin Builders Association and Wisconsin Towns Association as well as local community groups that have organized to block wind farms, such as the one Chicago-based Invenergy has proposed in Brown County....

The focus on the issue now shifts to a public hearing Wednesday before a legislative committee that reviews rules like the one forwarded by the PSC.

"There are still members of our caucus who have an interest in making a change," said Andrew Welhouse, spokesman for state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). "The final discussions on what that change is and what route that change is going to take through the Legislature is not determined. It's still a work in progress."

"There are lots of discussions going on on how to come up with a compromise," state Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) said.

He considers the 1,250-foot setback insufficient. But Cowles, who was the author of a bill that resulted in more renewable energy springing up across the state, doesn't want to see wind development halted.

The Walker bill was met with a barrage of criticism, not only from WMC but also from wind energy developers, advocacy groups and wind energy manufacturer Tower Tech Systems in Manitowoc, which President Barack Obama visited last month. Tower Tech joined other suppliers in raising concerns about the chilling effect the bill would have on jobs and investment.

Talk of a compromise doesn't please Jeff Anthony, a former We Energies renewable energy strategist who is now director of business development at the American Wind Energy Association.

"From our perspective, the compromise is what we've been working on the past two years," Anthony said. "The compromise went through the legislative process and the regulatory process."

Wind developers initially sought a setback of 1,000 feet from homes before the PSC adopted a 1,250-foot setback.