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RENEW Wisconsin Newswire - November 11, 2003
Wind Turbines Breeze into Fond du Lac Area
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director
Mount Calvary, WI – An unusual arrangement reached last week between a Fond du Lac County township and a Minneapolis company clears a path to construct 44 wind turbines on high ground between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan.
When completed in late 2004 or early 2005, Navitas Energy’s wind farm will have a capacity of 80 megawatts (MW). Annual production from these turbines should average 200,000 megawatt-hours (MWH), the equivalent of what 25,000 households consume in a year. By itself, the new installation in Fond du Lac County will nearly double the amount of wind-generated electricity currently produced in Wisconsin, now about 110,000 MWH from 53 MW of windpower capacity installed in Wisconsin..
At a November 3rd meeting, the Marshfield Town Board entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Navitas Energy that sets forth the ground rules under which host landowners can seek a building permit for each wind turbine they host on their property. Under this novel approach the developer need not seek a conditional use permit covering the entire project, which can be a risky proposition in Wisconsin. In exchange for imposing a set of siting and legal requirements on Navitas and its participating landowners, the Joint Development Agreement obligates the township to issue permits required to build and operate the wind farm.
Of the nearly 100 people who attended the Marshfield Town Board meeting, only a few questioned or criticized the project or the agreement with Navitas. The township board set the maximum height of the towers at 100 meters, or 330 feet. With the blades extending 132 feet from the hub, the turbines’ total height could be as high as 462 feet.
The Town of Marshfield project represents one of two installations that Navitas plans to construct in Fond du Lac County to generate power for sale to Milwaukee-based We Energies. The other project, to be situated in the neighboring township of Calumet, will also encompass 44 Gamesa 1.8 MW turbines, for a combined capacity of 160 MW. We Energies selected Navitas to build two of the three windpower installations that will add over 200 MW of renewable power to its system over the next 18 months.
“Not only does Wisconsin get cleaner, more reliable power,” said Gary Koster, a windpower manufacturing consultant, “the wind farm means new jobs and could bring a return of Wisconsin’s leadership in manufacturing power components.”
The Navitas projects grew out of a We Energies pledge to target at least 5% of its retail energy sales from renewable energy sources by 2011 (more than double the amount required by state law). Several organizations are working with We Energies to shape its acquisition strategies and to parlay this commitment into new jobs and business development, increased customer generation opportunities, and a greater awareness of what renewable energy can bring to Wisconsin and municipalities. In addition to RENEW Wisconsin, the collaborative group includes American Wind Energy Association, Citizens’ Utility Board, Customers First! Coalition, Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, and Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation.
The wind farm will also enable the host town and county to receive a substantial revenue stream during each full year of operation. Of the $320,000 a year that this wind farm would provide in local aids, Fond du Lac County can expect to receive $186,667, while the Town of Marshfield is entitled to $133,333. This allocation reflects a new statutory formula for distributing tax receipts to localities that host power plants built after 2003. In revising the utility local aids formula for new power plants, lawmakers added a special financial incentive that effectively doubles the revenue stream that a qualifying renewable power project would produce for towns and counties.
RENEW contact: Michael Vickerman.
Phone: (608) 255-4044; E-mail: mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
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