A news release issued by Arch Electric:
Arch Electric recently installed and commissioned a 19.32-kilowatt solar electric (PV) system for First Congregational Church, UCC in the City of Sheboygan.
The solar array consists of 84 solar modules and was installed on the roof of the church building with a custom-designed ballast rack system that required only 1 roof penetration into the building.
On an annual basis the Solar PV System will produce over 24,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and save the church more than $2,800.
The solar panel manufacturer has a facility in Georgia, the racking system was designed and manufactured in Southeast Wisconsin, and the NABCEP Certified installers from Arch Electric are local residents. Based in Plymouth, WI, Arch Electric is a leading designer and installer of renewable energy throughout the Midwest, having commissioned over 2-Megawatts of renewable energy on businesses, homes, churches, farms, YMCA’s and other organizations.
Arch Electric also installed a solar electric system at St. Nicholas Senior Apartments in Sheboygan.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Manure-to-electricty plant planned for Greenbush farm
From an article by Josh Lintereur in the Sheboygan Press:
For the past 71 years, the cows at the Goeser family dairy farm in rural Plymouth have been fairly prolific at producing two things — milk and manure.
But by next year, the cows could also become a reliable source of renewable energy. Using a simple process that's been around for decades, a Milwaukee startup firm called U.S. Biogas has proposed building a small power plant at the farm that would use cow manure to create electricity.
At peak production, the plant, called an anaerobic digester, could process 15 million gallons of manure a year and produce enough electricity to power up to 1,200 homes.
The process would also produce a liquid fertilizer that can be used to grow crops, along with a fiber product that can be used as bedding for the farm's 2,000 cows. Any unused fiber — which is rich in nutrients — will be sold to nurseries and landscapers.
The benefit to the farm is that the resulting fertilizer would be mostly odor free, and its phosphorous content would be cut by 50 to 60 percent, meaning there would be significantly less phosphorous runoff into nearby lakes and streams.
"It's a good deal for us, and we feel it's a positive for the public," said Craig Goeser, who owns the third-generation dairy with his two brothers, Pat and Brian. "You're reducing the amount of phosphorous going out into the fields, so you're protecting the environment, and you're not burning coal to produce electricity."
If the project goes forward, the plant would be the only one of its kind operating at a Sheboygan County dairy farm, and it would join the growing number of manure digesters operating in Wisconsin, which produces more so-called cow power than any other state.
For the past 71 years, the cows at the Goeser family dairy farm in rural Plymouth have been fairly prolific at producing two things — milk and manure.
But by next year, the cows could also become a reliable source of renewable energy. Using a simple process that's been around for decades, a Milwaukee startup firm called U.S. Biogas has proposed building a small power plant at the farm that would use cow manure to create electricity.
At peak production, the plant, called an anaerobic digester, could process 15 million gallons of manure a year and produce enough electricity to power up to 1,200 homes.
The process would also produce a liquid fertilizer that can be used to grow crops, along with a fiber product that can be used as bedding for the farm's 2,000 cows. Any unused fiber — which is rich in nutrients — will be sold to nurseries and landscapers.
The benefit to the farm is that the resulting fertilizer would be mostly odor free, and its phosphorous content would be cut by 50 to 60 percent, meaning there would be significantly less phosphorous runoff into nearby lakes and streams.
"It's a good deal for us, and we feel it's a positive for the public," said Craig Goeser, who owns the third-generation dairy with his two brothers, Pat and Brian. "You're reducing the amount of phosphorous going out into the fields, so you're protecting the environment, and you're not burning coal to produce electricity."
If the project goes forward, the plant would be the only one of its kind operating at a Sheboygan County dairy farm, and it would join the growing number of manure digesters operating in Wisconsin, which produces more so-called cow power than any other state.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Years later, Wisconsin wind farm fears fail to materialize
From an article by Rick Chamberlin in Midwest Energy News:
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, Wis. — When the 31 Vestas wind turbines in northeast Kewaunee County, Wisconsin began producing electricity in the summer of 1999, a moderate Republican named Tommy Thompson was a few months into his fourth term as governor. Relative peace reigned between the parties in the legislature, statewide unemployment was at a record low and the Dow had just topped 10,000 for the first time.
But in Lincoln and Red River townships, where the turbines were erected, the climate was anything but mild. Residents’ tempers had been flaring since before April 1998 when Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) hosted the first meetings in the community about its plans to build 11.2 megawatts of wind power in the area. Wisconsin Public Service (WPS), a Green Bay-based utility, had also announced its intention to build a large-scale wind farm in the area.
Despite the heat, the two utilities found more than enough landowners in the two towns willing to host all 31 turbines, and the town boards soon voted to approve conditional use permits for the projects. But pressure from several vocal landowners convinced the Lincoln town board in February of 1999 to amend its zoning ordinance to require board affirmation of all applications for future conditional use permits. A few months later, both townships adopted 18-month moratoriums on future wind farm sitings.
“We had some real knock-down-drag-outs,” said Mick Sagrillo, who chaired a committee charged with evaluating the impact of the projects on residents and proposing any changes to the permit process. More than anything, Sagrillo said, people feared change. . . .
A 2003 study by the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP) found “no significant evidence that the presence of the wind farms had a negative effect on residential property values” in the communities closest to the Kewaunee County turbines. . . .
When asked if dollars promised to landowners and the townships have materialized, Jerabek said, “I haven’t had any landowners complain that they haven’t received their lease payment.”
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, Wis. — When the 31 Vestas wind turbines in northeast Kewaunee County, Wisconsin began producing electricity in the summer of 1999, a moderate Republican named Tommy Thompson was a few months into his fourth term as governor. Relative peace reigned between the parties in the legislature, statewide unemployment was at a record low and the Dow had just topped 10,000 for the first time.
But in Lincoln and Red River townships, where the turbines were erected, the climate was anything but mild. Residents’ tempers had been flaring since before April 1998 when Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) hosted the first meetings in the community about its plans to build 11.2 megawatts of wind power in the area. Wisconsin Public Service (WPS), a Green Bay-based utility, had also announced its intention to build a large-scale wind farm in the area.
Despite the heat, the two utilities found more than enough landowners in the two towns willing to host all 31 turbines, and the town boards soon voted to approve conditional use permits for the projects. But pressure from several vocal landowners convinced the Lincoln town board in February of 1999 to amend its zoning ordinance to require board affirmation of all applications for future conditional use permits. A few months later, both townships adopted 18-month moratoriums on future wind farm sitings.
“We had some real knock-down-drag-outs,” said Mick Sagrillo, who chaired a committee charged with evaluating the impact of the projects on residents and proposing any changes to the permit process. More than anything, Sagrillo said, people feared change. . . .
A 2003 study by the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP) found “no significant evidence that the presence of the wind farms had a negative effect on residential property values” in the communities closest to the Kewaunee County turbines. . . .
When asked if dollars promised to landowners and the townships have materialized, Jerabek said, “I haven’t had any landowners complain that they haven’t received their lease payment.”
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Coal Critic Coming to Madison to Speak on Effective Renewable Energy Advocacy, January 13, 2012
For immediate release
December 7, 2011
More information
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Leslie Glustrom, research director of Colorado-based Clean Energy Action, and an unwavering critic of utility reliance on coal for electricity generation, will be the featured speaker at RENEW Wisconsin’s Energy Policy Summit.
The Summit will be held on Friday, January 13, 2012, at the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Pyle Center located on the UW-Madison campus. Summit attendees will spend the day discussing and selecting renewable energy strategies that make sense in the current political environment in Wisconsin. More information on the Summit can be found on the RENEW Wisconsin website at http://www.renewwisconsin.org.
As research director, Glustrom authored in 2009 an extensively referenced report on U.S. coal supplies titled, “Coal—Cheap and Abundant—Or Is It? Why Americans Should Stop Assuming that the US has a 200-Year Supply of Coal,” available for free at http://www.cleanenergyaction.org.
Since 2009, Glustrom has traveled to numerous states helping them to understand the likely constraints on their coal supplies.
Glustrom’s on-going research illuminates a future in which coal prices will likely continue to escalate, driven by a combination of less accessible coal supplies, increasing demand from Asian countries, and rising diesel fuel costs for hauling coal to distant markets like Wisconsin.
Clean Energy Action is spearheading a campaign to shut down Colorado’s coal-fired power plants and replace them with locally generated renewable electricity.
“Leslie’s experiences with Clean Energy Action can help Wisconsin renewable energy advocates formulate effective strategies for 2012 and beyond,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide sustainable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison.
“Even though Colorado is a coal-producing state, it has adopted some of the most aggressive policies in the country for advancing renewable energy,” said Vickerman. “Colorado’s commitment to clean energy is driving its economy at a time when its coal output is diminishing. For example, Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines with four plants employing 1,700 people in Colorado, supplied 90 turbines this year to Wisconsin’s largest wind project, the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County.”
“Leslie will inspire us to reverse the retreat from renewables and retake the initiative going forward,” Vickerman said.
December 7, 2011
More information
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Leslie Glustrom, research director of Colorado-based Clean Energy Action, and an unwavering critic of utility reliance on coal for electricity generation, will be the featured speaker at RENEW Wisconsin’s Energy Policy Summit.
The Summit will be held on Friday, January 13, 2012, at the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Pyle Center located on the UW-Madison campus. Summit attendees will spend the day discussing and selecting renewable energy strategies that make sense in the current political environment in Wisconsin. More information on the Summit can be found on the RENEW Wisconsin website at http://www.renewwisconsin.org.
As research director, Glustrom authored in 2009 an extensively referenced report on U.S. coal supplies titled, “Coal—Cheap and Abundant—Or Is It? Why Americans Should Stop Assuming that the US has a 200-Year Supply of Coal,” available for free at http://www.cleanenergyaction.org.
Since 2009, Glustrom has traveled to numerous states helping them to understand the likely constraints on their coal supplies.
Glustrom’s on-going research illuminates a future in which coal prices will likely continue to escalate, driven by a combination of less accessible coal supplies, increasing demand from Asian countries, and rising diesel fuel costs for hauling coal to distant markets like Wisconsin.
Clean Energy Action is spearheading a campaign to shut down Colorado’s coal-fired power plants and replace them with locally generated renewable electricity.
“Leslie’s experiences with Clean Energy Action can help Wisconsin renewable energy advocates formulate effective strategies for 2012 and beyond,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide sustainable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison.
“Even though Colorado is a coal-producing state, it has adopted some of the most aggressive policies in the country for advancing renewable energy,” said Vickerman. “Colorado’s commitment to clean energy is driving its economy at a time when its coal output is diminishing. For example, Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines with four plants employing 1,700 people in Colorado, supplied 90 turbines this year to Wisconsin’s largest wind project, the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County.”
“Leslie will inspire us to reverse the retreat from renewables and retake the initiative going forward,” Vickerman said.
In Boulder, Glustrom was part of the team that led the successful 2010 and 2011 ballot initiatives allowing Boulder to move ahead with plans to municipalize and break away from the long term commitment to coal plants made by their incumbent utility, Xcel Energy.
-- END --
Friday, December 2, 2011
Iowa farmers find profits blowing in the wind
From an article by Jim Offner in The Courier:
WATERLOO, Iowa --- Of the 480 acres Tim Hemphill owns and 1,200 he farms near Milford, he sets aside three for two wind-turbine towers.
In exchange for the small plot of land Hemphill would have devoted to his corn and soybean products, he collects $20,000 a year.
"It's worth it, even with high grain prices," Hemphill said. "When we put them up, corn was around $3 a bushel, and it has doubled since then, but it's still worth it."
"The check's always good," he said.
Hemphills's towers have been up for two years, and the checks will flow in quarterly for the run of a 30-year contract, he said.
Hemphill said he is but one of an increasing number of Iowa farmers who have watched wind towers go up on their acreages.
"There's quite a few farmers I know who have them," he said. "My neighbor has six of them and another with seven."
Hemphill said his motivation transcends finances, although he acknowledges the income certainly doesn't hurt.
"I think we need more green energy," he said. "People in California and the cities have brownouts. Besides, it's a good revenue source."
WATERLOO, Iowa --- Of the 480 acres Tim Hemphill owns and 1,200 he farms near Milford, he sets aside three for two wind-turbine towers.
In exchange for the small plot of land Hemphill would have devoted to his corn and soybean products, he collects $20,000 a year.
"It's worth it, even with high grain prices," Hemphill said. "When we put them up, corn was around $3 a bushel, and it has doubled since then, but it's still worth it."
"The check's always good," he said.
Hemphills's towers have been up for two years, and the checks will flow in quarterly for the run of a 30-year contract, he said.
Hemphill said he is but one of an increasing number of Iowa farmers who have watched wind towers go up on their acreages.
"There's quite a few farmers I know who have them," he said. "My neighbor has six of them and another with seven."
Hemphill said his motivation transcends finances, although he acknowledges the income certainly doesn't hurt.
"I think we need more green energy," he said. "People in California and the cities have brownouts. Besides, it's a good revenue source."
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