RENEW Wisconsin Newswire – September 10, 2002
S.O.U.L. Set to Host Citizens Energy Forum
WAUSAU – The organization Save Our Unique Lands (S.O.U.L.) is organizing a two-day citizens’ energy conference this weekend at the Westwood Center in Wausau. S.O.U.L. was formed in 1999 to fight the proposed 250-mile-long Arrowhead-Weston transmission project.
Noting the absence of institutions for planning and shaping long-term investments in Wisconsin’s electric infrastructure, event organizers aim to provide a forum where interested individuals, utilities, community leaders and decision-makers can discuss and craft a more inclusive and longer-range energy policy.
The event will begin 7:00 PM Friday night with a series of speakers representing a broad range of perspectives on utilities, energy and sustainability. Among these speakers will be Steve Hiniker of the Citizens’ Utility Board and David Jenkins of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives. Secretary of State Doug LaFollette will be Friday’s keynote speaker.
Saturday’s program, which will begin at 10:00 and end at 2:30, will consist of discussions on appropriate technologies, resources and delivery mechanisms. The registration fee is $10, which covers lunch on Saturday.
For more information about S.O.U.L.’s energy forum call 715.693.3143 or e-mail soul_wis@yahoo.com. The Westwood Center is located at 1800 Bridge St.
Byron Wind Turbines Open for Public Inspection
FOND DU LAC – Overlooking Highway 41 south of Fond du Lac, We Energies’ two wind turbines, one of Wisconsin’s most visually arresting roadside landmarks, will be opened to the public Saturday, September 21st. As part of the open house, tours of the turbines will be conducted every half hour starting at 10:00 AM and finishing at 2:00 PM. The final tour will begin at 1:30 PM.
The two turbines, rated at 660 kW apiece, are situated on the Niagara Escarpment, an ancient limestone ledge that rises several hundred feet above the Horicon area wetlands to the west. The turbines’ most prominent features of the turbines are the 215-foot tall towers, the 75-foot long blades, and the nacelles on top of the towers, which contain the rotor, the power train, and the generating equipment.
When fed into the grid, electricity generated by the Byron turbines displaces fossil generation on We Energies’ system, usually natural gas-fired peaking units or older coal-fired plants. Though wind generation is not the lowest-cost generation option for a Wisconsin utility, customers enrolled in We Energies’ Energy for Tomorrow help make the Byron turbines a cost-effective option through the modest premiums they pay each month.
Manufactured in Denmark, the Vestas V-47 turbines have been efficient and reliable performers, generators approximately 10 million kilowatt-hours since being energized in June 1999. The turbines are monitored from We Energies’ Port Washington power station and maintained by local crew from Vestas.
We Energies’ turbines are located on land owned by Doug and Cindy Decker, about nine miles south of Fond du Lac, situated along Highway F one-half mile east of Highway 175. The address is W5656 County Hwy F, one-half mile east of State Highway 175.
For more information contact: Amy Winkler at We Energies. Phone: 414.221.2541
Wind Cooperatives on the Horizon?
MADISON - Wind energy cooperatives, numerous in parts of Europe, may be only a year or two away from being introduced in the United States.
Wisconsin Focus on Energy’s Renewable Energy program will an initiative to develop workable business models for cooperative ownership of wind turbines in Wisconsin. Taking the lead on this project is Cooperative Development Services (CDS), a Madison-based nonprofit organization that develops cooperatively owned businesses in the Upper Midwest. Unlike a typical electric generating company, this cooperative would not be producing electricity per se but rather the attributes that go along with renewable electricity generation. These attributes, sometimes referred to as renewable electricity certificates or “green tags,” would be quantified and retained by the owner-members even if the electricity itself goes into the local grid.
One advantage of any producers’ cooperative is that its member-owners create a built-in market for their product. In this example, prospective member-owners would have to commit to purchasing renewable attributes generated over the life of the turbine. Membership in such a cooperative would be limited to the turbine’s capacity to produce these attributes.
