School wind initiative clears legislature
On a 31-0 vote, the State Senate overwhelmingly passed the School Wind Initiative (Assembly Bill 625), and the bill will now be available for the governor’s signature.
The bill authorizes a school board to construct or acquire a renewable resource facility and to use the energy generated by the facility or sell it at wholesale, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau.
In a post from a story on WEAU (Wausau)
School Districts all over Western Wisconsin are thinking about owning and operating a wind farm to help the bottom line.
Its all through the CESA 10 agency. The project calls for eight to 12 turbines that cost about $3 million dollars each. Each district would get what is called Clean Renewable Energy Bonds through the IRS to fund the project. The turbines are expected to produce enough energy to pay for itself for the first 15 years.
“School districts would sell the bonds and then we pay the bonds over 15 years. And after the 15 years the school district would get all of the revenue that is generated by the selling of electricity,” said Project Manager Charlie Schneider.
