RENEW Wisconsin (RENEW) praised the state’s energy regulators for responding to pleas from renewable businesses and potential customers to make a decision and get people working again.

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) released an April 26 decision on funding for renewable energy incentives to homeowners and businesses in the next three years.

The PSC decided to allocate $10 million per year in incentives for renewable energy installations in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Beginning in 2013, three-quarters of the funds will be reserved for energy systems using biogas, biomass combustion, and geothermal heat pumps. The remaining 25% will fund incentives for solar and small wind installations.

Ten million dollars per year for renewable energy incentives is a reasonable starting place and is consistent with previous funding for incentives provided by Focus on Energy (Focus), the utility-ratepayer-supported energy efficiency and renewable energy program in Wisconsin, according to Don Wichert, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit advocacy organization that leads and represents businesses, organizations, and individuals who seek more clean, renewable energy in Wisconsin.

“After nearly 10 months of needless uncertainty and delay, renewable energy activity has now nearly come to a complete halt in Wisconsin,” Wichert said.

“Many Wisconsin renewable energy companies told the PSC that the delay in the decision and lack of transparency have been a nightmare, forcing some renewable installers to lay off workers and move their business activity to other states, especially when the Focus program administrator, Shaw Environmental, ended all incentives for renewable technologies at the beginning of 2012,” Wichert said.

“RENEW hopes that the PSC’s response to renewable energy businesses means that it will resume collaboration between Focus and Wisconsin’s renewable energy community,” he said.

“In a time of decreased resources and increased demand, RENEW believes it is imperative for Focus decision makers to involve people who know the industry best,” said Wichert.

“Without a collaborative process, the industry and customers will always be second guessing the decisions and the assumptions behind them. It doesn’t have to be a one-way, top-down approach. The renewable energy industry is just trying to make a living and should be involved.”

END

RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that leads and represents businesses, organizations, and individuals who seek more clean renewable energy in Wisconsin. More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.

Renewable Energy Touted for Value on Earth Day

The price consumers pay for energy fails to account for the value of environmental improvement, energy diversity, and economic development, said Don Wichert, RENEW Wisconsin’s executive director, at an Earth Day information event at Wisconsin’s Capitol.

“In the case of solar energy, for example, this energy source offers the value proposition of very low or no air emissions, uses the energy available at the site, and keeps the energy dollars circulating through the local economy,” said Wichert.

Wichert compared renewable power to the value people pay for when choosing various vehicle transportation modes. Each takes you from one spot to another, but some offer more value that people are willing to pay for.

“Fossil based energy, in contrast, produces five to ten times more lifecycle green house gases, is dug out from the earth thousands of miles away from Wisconsin, and the majority of the money paid for this energy leaves the state,” Wichert said.

A recent survey of undecided Wisconsin voters showed that nearly 90% supported solar, wind, and hydro power as their preferred energy sources, according to Wichert.  “With thousands of examples of small distributed renewable energy applications in Wisconsin, as well as 12 wind farms, it’s clear that renewable energy works and has huge potential for the Badger state.”

All of the Earth Day presentations for “Wisconsin Climate Change and Jobs Forum, Challenges and Solutions” can be seen on the Capitol Eye network at Capitol Eye Earth Day Forum. 

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WI Climate Change and Jobs Forum — Challenges and Solutions
Thursday, April 19th at the State Capitol

WHAT: With the warmest March on record, scientists, citizens and leaders will hold a Wisconsin Climate Change and Jobs Forum to discuss current and future climate change impacts on Wisconsin and explore cost-effective solutions to reduce greenhouse air pollution and create clean energy jobs in our state.

WHO: State leaders, UW climate experts, conservation group, public sector, business and labor leaders, State Rep. Brett Hulsey, and others.

WHEN: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 19th, 2012.

WHERE: GAR Hall, Room 417 North (4th Floor-North Wing) of the State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin.

There will be a charge for pizza brought in for lunch.

**Early-bird rates extended until April 9**

Heating the Midwest (HTM) is a group of volunteers with a serious interest in growing awareness and usage of biomass thermal fuel for heat in the Midwest.

Our Mission:
“To advance biomass thermal heating in the Midwest for a more sustainable future, while improving the economic, environmental and social well-being of the region.”

Driven and directed by a Steering Committee, Heating the Midwest includes industry, government, non-profit organizations, university representatives and tribal representatives. It is an efficient group of biomass advocates working to promote biomass to a larger constituency, including government policy makers and entities, consumers and businesses in the Midwest.

HTM featured on webinar hosted by the Biomass Thermal Energy Council: Regional Developments of Biomass Energy – Midwestern Region
November 21, 2011. Presenters included HTM Steering Committee Members Michael Curci, Becky Philipp, and Pamela Porter, with Gregg Mast serving as moderator.

Why biomass?
Energy supply and use is a national priority and a major policy focus in the United States. Driving this is the need to reduce reliance on foreign oil, create clean energy jobs, increase our overall energy efficiency and address climate change. Biomass energy, harvested from forests and farms, provides an important source of renewable, sustainable energy for the United States.

Siting rule survives challenge, takes effect
Capping a bitter four-year struggle, the Legislature cleared the path for wind energy development to resume in Wisconsin under clear and consistent rules.

By adjourning without passage of bills restricting wind development, the Legislature allowed a statewide permitting rule developed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to take effect.

Community wind sweeps into western Wisconsin
Two privately owned utility-scale wind turbines are set to rise this spring near Organic Valley Cooperative’s distribution center in Cashton, home of Wisconsin’s first Community Wind project. Called Cashton Greens, the wind project is a joint venture of LaFarge-based Organic Valley and La Crosse-based Gundersen Lutheran Health System.

St. Croix County Wind Project seeks PSC approval
In a first for the Badger State, western Wisconsin, specifically, St. Croix County will provide the backdrop for a high-profile permitting battle over a utility-scale wind energy project. The 41-turbine project would be located in the towns of Forest and Cylon, about 30 miles northeast of Hudson.

More information
Don Wichert
dwichert@renewwisconsin.org
608.255.4044, ext. 1

Frustration Floods PSC over Suspension of Renewable Energy Funds

More than 200 individuals and businesses submitted comments decrying the long delay in restarting the renewable energy programs of Focus on Energy, a nationally recognized program that reduces the cost of solar, wind, and biomass installations for Wisconsin utility customers.

Focus on Energy suspended its support for customer-sited renewable energy systems for businesses last July, when rising demand for renewables outstripped available funds, according to Shaw Environmental, the program administrator. When it announced the funding suspension last June, Shaw told installers that incentives would resume before the end of 2011. In January 2012, funding for residential renewable energy systems ended.

“It is now the spring of 2012, and neither Shaw nor the Public Service Commission (PSC), which oversees Focus, have said a peep about when they will again offer incentives, as required by law,” said Don Wichert, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit advocacy organization that represents businesses, organizations, and individuals who want more clean renewable energy produced in Wisconsin.

“The protracted delay in resuming incentives speaks to Shaw’s lack of experience in managing a renewable energy program. While Shaw struggles to ‘learn on the job’, dozens of contractors and small businesses are experiencing financial hardship as installation activity grinds to a halt,” added Michael Vickerman, director of policy and programs for RENEW.

“A separate contractor should administer the renewable energy program. Under the current arrangement, renewables and energy efficiency are lumped together under one administrator and are forced to compete against each other for the same pot of funding,” said Vickerman.

“The number of comments shows the huge amount of frustration over lost business and jobs for installers, as well as citizens who support and want to install renewable energy systems,” Wichert said.

James Kerbel, owner of Photovoltaic Systems LLC in Amherst, wrote: “I have seven employees on layoff and some are still collecting unemployment. I also have 20-plus bids out to customers who want to move ahead with a solar electric system, but will not move until they see the new Focus on Energy incentives.”

“My employees can’t wait forever for work,” Kerbel said. “I need an answer very soon or I will lose all these trained employees. They need to work, not have their lives in turmoil like this. I need an answer as soon as possible, please.”

State Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) posted a comment. “To benefit and not damage efforts to grow local jobs and the Wisconsin economy, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin should direct Shaw Environmental, the state-contracted administrator of the Focus on Energy program, to immediately restore a comprehensive and robust incentive program for renewable energy system installations,” Schultz wrote.

“I would very much LIKE to put up a Solar PV system. And will if you can get the FOE incentives program going again!!” commented Martha Christensen of Madison.

All public comments can be accessed by clicking on Documents at http://psc.wi.gov/apps40/dockets/content/detail.aspx?dockt_id=5-GF-191 .

END

RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that organizes and represents businesses, and individuals who want more clean renewable energy produced in Wisconsin. More information on RENEW’s Web site at http://www.renewwisconsin.org.

88 days since Focus on Energy “suspended” the renewable energy residential program!

Dozens of people submitted comments asking the PSC to restart Focus on Energy renewable incentive.

Have you?

You’ll be in good company if you comment. Go to this PSC Web page, then click on “Documents” to see who already signed.

You have only until the end of next week, March 30 to tell the Public Service Commission to RESTART the incentives

Remember when Wisconsin used to give incentives, as directed by state law, to people, organizations, and businesses that installed renewable energy systems – solar, wind, biodigesters, and more – through Focus on Energy, which the Public Service Commission oversees.

Not any more!

Since the first of this year, Focus on Energy stopped giving renewable incentives to homeowners as well!

Incentives would again be offered in the spring, said Shaw Environmental, the state-contracted administrator of Focus. Not!

Put a comment in the PSC’s official proceeding (5-GF-191) for Focus on Energy. Click here to get to the comment form.

Here’s a sample message to deliver:

The Focus on Energy program used to have a successful renewable energy incentive program, but now the program has been completely dropped. Homeowners and businesses that want to improve the environment, support local jobs, and promote energy independence need the incentives and services to make installations affordable and easy to implement.

RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization that advocates for businesses, organizations, and individuals who want more clean renewable energy in Wisconsin. More information on RENEW’s vision, 2012 action plan, and how to become a member can be found on RENEW’s Web site at http://www.renewwisconsin.com. Join or donate today! Click here.

As RENEW Wisconsin’s new Program and Policy Director (see footnote below), I would like to report on recent results of the 2011-2012 legislative session. Though the session as a whole presented Wisconsin’s renewable energy community with unprecedented challenges and a few setbacks, we were able to fend off a number of bad proposals in the final days. Had these proposals been adopted, Wisconsin’s ability to support and host investments in renewable energy would have been permanently damaged.

Wind-siting
As you probably know, the Legislature adjourned March 16 without taking any follow-up action on the wind siting rule (PSC 128). In doing so, the Legislature allowed the rule, which had been in a state of suspension for more than a year, to take effect. PSC 128 is now in effect, and it can’t be suspended by future Legislatures. More than four years has elapsed since RENEW spearheaded the process of forging a coalition (initially called the “Campaign for Sensible Wind Permitting”) to pass a bill requiring uniform standards for permitting wind turbines. Much blood, sweat and tears went into that legislative campaign (renamed “Wind for Wisconsin”) which culminated in the passage of 2009 Act 40 with bipartisan support. Then followed the drafting and redrafting of the siting rule itself, which proved to be more difficult process than we had first imagined.

Nevertheless, the PSC issued a strict but workable rule in December 2010. Even though what had emerged from the rulemaking process was a product of compromise and deliberation, the rule came under fire virtually the moment the Legislature convened in January 2011. After holding a stacked-deck hearing in February, the Legislature suspended PSC 128 on March 1, the day the rule was to take effect. Shortly thereafter, antiwind legislators circulated bills to repeal the rule outright (SB 50 and AB 72).

On a separate track, Sen. Frank Lasee, a Republican from Brown County, introduced a series of bills aimed at permanently crippling the wind industry in Wisconsin. Though these bills went nowhere, they succeeded in presenting an unwelcoming face to wind developers, and they responded by suspending or cancelling about a half dozen prospects throughout the state.

By March this year, it seemed to us that the momentum had shifted in our favor. Since the suspension of PSC 128, more than 17 or so newspapers had written editorials decrying the destructive nature of Lasee’s jihad and reiterated their support for a clear and consistently applied permitting process – exactly what PSC 128 rule was intended to provide. The signals coming from the legislative leadership strongly suggested that none of the antiwind bills referred to committee, including SB 50, the senate bill to permanently repeal PSC 128 and direct the PSC to issue a new rule , would be scheduled for a floor vote in the final two weeks of session.

But something happened around March 1st that changed the political calculus, and to everyone’s surprise, SB 50 appeared on the Senate calendar for the week of March 5. Theories abound as to why Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald reversed himself and allowed SB 50, which the wind industry viewed as the functional equivalent of a death warrant, onto the Senate floor. Unconfirmed reports attribute this last-minute switcheroo to extreme pressure that Sen. Lasee and his allies (former senator Bob Welch, now lobbyist for the Brown County antiwind group, and the Wisconsin Realtors Association, which had contributed generously to Republican office-seekers in the fall 2010 elections) exerted on Sen. Fitgerald.

When the Senate took the floor that Tuesday, the outlook looked grim. It appeared that the antiwind faction had at least the minimum 17 votes required to pass the bill. Wind energy supporters had little time to turn an unpromising situation around and build a firewall of support. But in those few hours they succeeded in denying Sen. Lasee the 17th vote he needed to send this bill to the Assembly. The following day, Lasee admitted defeat, and SB 50 was referred back to committee, a startling turnaround from the situation 24 hours earlier. The bill stayed there until its death the following Thursday, when the State Senate gaveled itself into the history books.

Notwithstanding PSC 128’s roller coaster ride culminating in the late-session cliffhanger vote that staved off its repeal, Wisconsin can now say, for the first time since 2007, that it is open for business in the wind energy development arena.

We are indebted to the law firm of Cullen, Weston Pines and Bach for their heroic efforts in keeping wind development alive in Wisconsin. Special thanks are in order for Lee Cullen, Jeff Vercauteren, Curt Pawlisch, and Chris Kunkle for building a firewall of support for PSC 128 that held firm under the extreme pressure applied by antiwind forces.

Further information on wind siting:
RENEW Cheers End of Wind Siting Impasse
March 16, 2012

Legislature lets wind turbine placement rules stand
March 19, 2012

AB 146 (Extending the Life of Unused Renewable Energy Credits)
Under current law, a Wisconsin electric provider can bank an unused Renewable Energy Credit (REC) for up to four years before using it to comply with Wisconsin’s Renewable Energy Standard. If not used within that four-year window, the REC expires. Last May, a bill was introduced (AB 146) to eliminate the shelf life of an unused REC. Passage of this bill would allow REC’s to be bankable into perpetuity, which would have the effect of diminishing the need for new sources of renewable electricity.

The Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee held a hearing on the bill in September. Among those in support of AB 146 were Wisconsin Utilities Association and various individual utilities. Among those joining RENEW in opposition to the bill were the American Wind Energy Association, Wind on the Wires and several independent wind developers; Wisconsin Counties Association; several private waste haulers; Dairy Business Association; Clean Wisconsin; Sierra Club; Citizens Utility Board, and the American Lung Association in Wisconsin. As events unfolded, the committee never did vote on AB 146. The bill died last Thursday, and is not likely to be resurrected in 2013.

Allowing Third-Party Sales of Energy to Host Customers
In an effort to expand and invigorate small-scale renewables in Wisconsin, RENEW asked two legislators (Rep. Gary Tauchen of Bonduel and Rep. Chris Taylor of Madison) to sponsor the drafting of legislation to authorize sales of energy from third party-owned renewable energy systems to host customers. The legislation would accomplish that objective by exempting renewable energy systems that serve the owners of the premises where they’re located from being regulated as public utilities. The exemption would be narrowly constructed to restrict the sale of that energy only to the host customer or the local utility.

Last Thursday, the Legislative Reference Bureau produced a revised bill draft that appears to be ready for introduction … next year, when a new Legislature is convened. In the meantime, RENEW plans to solicit support for this bill from such influential constituencies as farm groups, local governments, WMC, and large commercial enterprises. While the utilities may not support this kind of legislation, they could decide not to oppose the bill, especially if we build a bipartisan coalition of supporters.

1 In June, the Legislature took two steps back on renewable energy policy. First, it passed a bill watering down the state’s Renewable Energy Standard by allowing large-scale Canadian hydroelectric generation to become eligible renewable energy generators. Later that month, the Legislature approved a substantial cut to the annual budget of Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy program. The budget for 2012 will be $20 million less than last year’s budget, which will diminish the supply of financial incentives available to support customer-sited renewable energy systems.

Wisconsin used to give incentives, as directed by state law, to people, organizations, and businesses that installed renewable energy systems – solar, wind, biodigesters, and more – through Focus on Energy, which the Public Service Commission oversees.

Not any more!

Last June 2011, Focus on Energy announced a “limited suspension” of incentive payments to businesses that want to install a renewable system.

Since the first of this year, Focus on Energy stopped giving renewable incentives to homeowners as well!

Incentives would again be offered in the spring, said Shaw Environmental, the state-contracted administrator.  Not!  Spring begins today, and Focus on Energy still needs to restart the incentives program.

Tell the Public Service Commission to RESTART the incentives:

• Put a comment in the PSC’s official proceeding (5-GF-191) for Focus on Energy.  Click here to get to the comment form.
• Contact your Wisconsin legislators.  Find them here: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx.

Here’s a sample message to deliver in your email or on the phone:

The Focus on Energy program used to have a successful renewable energy incentive program, but now the program has been completely dropped.  Homeowners and businesses that want to improve the environment, support local jobs, and promote energy independence need the incentives and services to make installations affordable and easy to implement.

RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization that advocates for businesses, organizations, and individuals who want more clean renewable energy in Wisconsin.   More information on RENEW’s vision and 2012 action plan, and ways to become a member can be found on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.com.  Join or donate today!  Click here.