by jboullion | Mar 16, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a post by Tom Content on JSOnline:
Broadwind Energy Inc. will supply 70 wind towers for a wind farm Goldwind USA Inc. will build in Illinois later this year.
Broadwind Energy, based in Naperville, Ill., operates a wind tower manufacturing plant in Manitowoc formerly known as Tower Tech.
Goldwind is planning to build a 70-tower project for its Shady Oaks project in Lee County, Ill., set for installation in the second half of the year.
The company saw record production levels for wind turbine towers in the fourth quarter, Broadwind said today. Broadwind is currently building towers for the Glacier Hills Wind Park, which is being built northeast of Madison in Columbia County by We Energies.
The Glacier Hills project will be Wisconsin’s largest wind farm. Goldwind USA is a subsidiary of Chinese-based Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd., which is a leading global manufacturer of wind turbines.
“Our partnership on this project is an ideal example of how U.S. and Chinese companies can work together to make the wind industry stronger while creating economic opportunity locally,” Peter Duprey, Broadwind president and chief executive, said in a statement.
by jboullion | Mar 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Focus on Energy:
Completed proposals due April 30, 2011
MADISON, Wis. (March 11, 2011) – Today, Focus on Energy, Wisconsin utilities’ statewide program for energy efficiency and renewable energy, announced that businesses can compete for incentives for large renewable energy systems. The Large Renewable Energy System Competitive Incentives allow Wisconsin businesses and organizations to apply for funds to help implement large renewable energy systems.
Businesses can receive an incentive of up to 30 percent of the project costs to complete a renewable energy project that is well-researched, documented, and justified. Eligible, large-scale renewable energy systems may include: solar electric, solar hot-water, wind electric, biomass energy, and anaerobic digestion (biogas).
“Renewable energy technology offers businesses deeper energy cost savings after energy efficiency measures are implemented.” said Ken Williams, Focus on Energy’s business programs director. “Focus’ large renewable energy competitive incentives help businesses defray some of the upfront investment cost of a renewable energy system, resulting in a quicker payback.”
Any type of business, school, government entity, agribusiness, and apartments/condo facilities can apply for a Focus competitive incentive. The application and details are available online at focusonenergy.com/competitive_incentives. Applications are due by April 30, 2011.
by jboullion | Mar 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
by jboullion | Mar 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
by jboullion | Mar 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tony Walter in the Green Bay Press-Gazette:
GLENMORE — The Glenmore Town Board voted Monday to wait 60 days before voting on a permit request to have seven wind turbines built in the town.
In an emotion-filled meeting that at one point had Town Chairman Don Kittell call in police officers when residents began chanting and shouting, the board reversed an earlier vote to approve the permits.
Mark Dick of Cenergy, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based CG Power Solutions that is seeking to erect the turbines, said the board’s delay on a decision was based on emotion and opinion, not law.
“You’re asking the Town Board to violate law,” Dick told the more than 100 residents who crowded into the Glenmore Community Center. “You might as well as ask them to outlaw smoking.”
The board voted quickly at the meeting’s outset to approve the permits, with Kittell and Supervisor Kriss Schmidt supporting it and Supervisor Ron Nowak opposing it. Kittell argued that the board was simply following the law that required it to honor a conditional use permit that went into effect before the town changed its wind turbine ordinance last year.
But residents reacted angrily, chanting, “No permits,” then “change your vote,” prompting Kittell to call for police support.
“The people are trying to get out of hand,” Kittell said on his cell phone. One Wisconsin State Patrol officer and two Brown County Sheriff’s Department officers showed up 15 minutes later.
And from a story on Green Bay Fox 11 News: :
TOWN OF GLENMORE – An emotional outburst from some Brown County residents causes a town board to go against an original vote on a wind project.
The town of Glenmore board met Monday night and voted on the building permit proposed by CG Power Solutions to build seven turbines.
The board initially voted 2 to 1 in favor of the permits.
About 75 residents were at the meeting and then voiced their opinion.
After the outcry, the board chairman called for police assistance and briefly closed the meeting.
He later reopened it, and held an open forum.
Glenmore residents and officials from the wind turbine company spoke.
The board then voted to delay the vote on the permits for 60 days until it can be further reviewed by the state.
by jboullion | Mar 7, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Even if you never use a bus and would never think of getting on a commuter train, the current bleak prospects for mass transit systems in Wisconsin should matter to you.
Transit moves people to jobs, it eases congestion on city streets and freeways and it gives people another transportation option. That’s important, especially now as drivers are faced with rising gasoline prices and roadwork that is shutting down lanes on freeways and major highways.
The Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker need to rethink their approach to transit and make sure that Wisconsin’s systems remain healthy, especially for those who need it for work, school and shopping. Businesses such as Bucyrus International and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. rely on transit. New businesses and young professionals look to modern transit as the sign of a healthy and vibrant community.
What’s in the works moves Wisconsin in the opposite direction and could damage transit systems across the state beyond repair.
Consider:
• Walker’s budget would slice transit aids in the first year of the biennium and provide no alternative dedicated local funding source to help meet already financially troubled systems.
• The budget shifts transit aids from the segregated and protected transportation fund to the general fund, where transit systems would have to compete with myriad services for scarce dollars. Walker argues that the gasoline tax that largely supplies the transportation fund is a user fee paid for by drivers and should be used only on those roads that drivers use.
But mass transit helps ease pressure on those roads and gives drivers other choices, as Steve Hiniker of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, points out. Buses are a vital form of transportation.
• Because Walker’s budget-repair bill would eliminate most collective bargaining with public employees, federal aid, which is dependent on workers being able to bargain, would be jeopardized for mid-size transit systems such as Appleton’s.
• A separate bill in the Legislature would kill regional transit authorities that were created in recent years to help regions strengthen and support local transit systems. Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), a co-sponsor of the bill, told us the RTAs were put together badly and he’d like to repeal them and start over with an honest policy debate. We’d prefer leaving them in place and making adjustments where needed so that regions can start now to build what they need.
• Walker’s budget bill freezes local tax levy increases, meaning that even if a community wanted to spend more on transit, it couldn’t.
