India's Blackout Lesson: Coal Failed, Small Solar = Big Results

From a story by Justin Guay, Sierra Club International Program:

Of course they still have to face the problems they have inherited from trying to copy/paste a centralized grid from the West. So what can they do to solve peak problems with the grid they already have in place? Deploy lots and lots of distributed solar and efficiency.

That's because, unlike coal, solar for the most part is available when you need it - during peak hours. Which is why it's great to see States like Gujarat taking the lead in roof top solar programs with the support of the IFC. And efficiency makes the peaks smaller so you need less power in the first place.

The irony here of course is that distributed generation has always been ignored as trivial compared to the real need for a large scale 'modern grid.' That’s because policymakers and commentators lack the imagination to understand the fact that when aggregated, small can be very, very big.

Take the hidden truth behind India's modern grid (as my colleague Jigar Shah points out): it is actually already a distributed system that is largely powered by filthy, costly diesel gen sets. That’s because power outages are so frequent that businesses and wealthy individuals have been forced to pay for this backup generation to ensure power. This is a tremendous opportunity for companies seeking targeted diesel replacement strategies to save people and companies tremendous amounts of money, while providing reliable power.

Kaukauna moves ahead with hydro plant plan

From an article by Larry Avila in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

KAUKAUNA — The scene outside Jeffrey Feldt's office window is dominated by the sight and sound of water rushing out of two aging hydro power plants.

This will change in the spring when "Old Badger" and "New Badger," which have operated reliably together for more than 80 years, will be shut down and the area transformed into a construction site, said Feldt, general manager of Kaukauna Utilities. The time has come to replace the power-generating facilities, the first built in 1908 and the other in 1928.

After a decade-long process, which included assorted environmental and economic feasibility studies as well as securing state and federal regulatory approval, the Kaukauna Common Council approved a $44,875,000 bond issue Jan. 17 to cover the costs of building a new $25.5 million hydro power plant and rebuilding the canal — for $10.5 million — which supplies water to the facility. Work is scheduled to start in May with construction expected to last 18 months, city officials said.

Modernization will come at a price, likely in the form of higher electrical rates for the utility's 15,000 power customers in 2013. The utility plans to file a request with the state Public Service Commission before the end of March to seek a 6.5 percent rate increase to generate more revenue to repay the bonds. Rising expenses

Bill Roloff, owner and president of Roloff Manufacturing in Kaukauna, recognizes the benefit of updating the power plants and understands higher electric bills are coming.

"Personally, it's something that's needed," said Roloff, whose business produces assorted castings and is a big power user.

He estimates electricity costs represent 15 percent of his company's overall annual expenses. A rate increase may raise his power costs up to 20 percent, but Roloff sees that as a worst-case scenario.

Rising Diesel Prices Fuel Higher Electric Rates

For immediate release
April 15, 2011

More information
RENEW Wisconsin
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org

We Energies Customers Will Pay the Higher Cost of Hauling Coal

We Energies’ electricity customers can look forward to coughing up an additional $25 million in 2011 due to the Public Service Commission’s approval yesterday [April14] of a rate increase to cover the escalating cost of transporting coal to Wisconsin power plants.

Milwaukee-based We Energies, Wisconsin’s largest electric utility, imports coal from such distant locations as Wyoming and Pennsylvania to generate electricity. Transportation now accounts for two-thirds of the delivered cost of coal to Wisconsin.

Diesel fuel costs have jumped to approximately $4.00 a gallon this year, propelled by political unrest in the Middle East, declining petroleum output from Mexico, a weakening dollar, and other factors. We Energies’ request predated the ongoing civil war in Libya.

“While we cannot control any of those price drivers, we can more effectively cushion their effects by diversifying our energy generation mix with locally produced wind, solar, small hydro, and biogas electricity,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide organization advocating for public policies and private initiatives that advance renewable energy.

“The coal mines aren’t getting any closer to Wisconsin. Therefore we have to be serious about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels that are tied to the global oil supply picture. Now is not the time to skimp on investments in conservation and renewable energy that will help stabilize the utility bills of businesses and residents,” Vickerman said.

“Do we have the will to pursue energy policies that take us off of the fossil fuel price escalator? Doing nothing will bake these rate increases into our future without any corresponding boost to Wisconsin’s job market and sustainable energy economy.”

--END--

Wind generation reduces climate-changing emissions

From a report titled "The Facts about Wind Energy’s Emissions Savings" prepared by the American Wind Energy Association:

. . . four of the seven major independent grid operators in the
U.S. have studied the emissions impact of adding wind energy to their power grids, and all four have found that adding wind energy drastically reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants. While the emissions savings depend somewhat on the existing share of coal-fired versus gas-fired generation in the region, as one would expect, it is impossible to dispute the findings of these four independent grid operators that adding wind energy to their grids has significantly reduced emissions. . . .

DOE data show that wind and other renewables’ share of Texas’s
electric mix increased from 1.3% in 2005 to 4.4% in 2008, an increase in share of 3.1 percentage points. During that period, electric sector carbon dioxide emissions declined by 3.3%, even though electricity use actually increased by 2% during that time. Because of wind energy, the state of Texas was able to turn what would have been a carbon emissions increase into a decrease of 8,690,000 metric tons per year, equal to the emissions savings of taking around 1.5 million cars off the road.

RENEW's winter newsletter goes online

The Wisconsin Renewable Quarterly, RENEW Wisconsin's newsletter, features these articles:

+ Rest in Peace: Cassville Coal Plant
+ Mississippi River Bird and Bat Study
+ Osceola School Heats Pools with Solar
+ Bob Ramlow: Solar Pioneer
+ Focus on Energy Issues Biogas Profiles
+ Focus on Energy Earns National Honor
+ State Plugs into Renewable Energy

Builders urge Alliant to offer more work (maybe in Neenah)

From an article by Paul Snyder in The Daily Reporter:

More than 1,000 construction workers lost their latest, best hope when the state rejected the $1.26 billion Nelson Dewey Generating Facility expansion, and now builders want an alternative.

“Especially in the times we’ve got, (losing the Nelson Dewey job) was devastating to the industry for all trades,” said Thomas Fisher, president and business manager of the Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council. “Everything right now is doom and gloom.”

But while opportunities were lost in Cassville’s Nelson Dewey job, they might be found in Neenah. In the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin’s rejection last week of Alliant Energy’s Cassville project, commissioners indicated their preference that the utility instead perform major expansion and conversion work to a Neenah natural gas plant it bought earlier this year.

The alternative first came to light in September when the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin and Clean Wisconsin Inc., both opponents of the Nelson Dewey project, said they preferred the Neenah option.

Both groups argued Alliant could convert the offline plant to a more efficient technology using waste heat that escapes through smokestacks to produce additional clean and inexpensive electricity.

Utility wants to spend $153 million on pollution controls at Sheboygan plant

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Pollution controls would be installed at a 23-year-old coal-fired power plant in Sheboygan at a cost of $153 million under an application filed with state regulators Friday by Alliant Energy Corp.

Wisconsin Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of Alliant, is seeking permission from the state Public Service Commission to install pollution controls that would reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide by 75%, the utility said.

The Edgewater 5 power plant along Lake Michigan in Sheboygan is a jointly owned plant, with Alliant owning 75% and the remainder owned by We Energies of Milwaukee. That means that if the project is approved, WP&L electric customers would pay $115 million and We Energies customers would pay $38 million for the project.

The project has a six-year payback period and would keep the coal plant that opened in 1985 open for another 45 years, WP&L said. If the PSC approves the work, the project would be completed by 2011.

The filing comes days after the Public Service Commission denied an Alliant request to build a new coal-fired power plant in Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin at a cost of nearly $1.3 billion.

Nitrogen oxide is a contributor to ground-level ozone, a contributor to smog that has been linked to asthma and other respiratory problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Energy future clearly not in coal

From an editorial in the Sheboygan Press:

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission sent a clear message last week that coal-fired power plants will probably not be a big part of Wisconsin's energy future.

Alliant, which provides electricity for much of Sheboygan County through Wisconsin Power and Light, lost its bid for a 300-megawatt plant near Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin. The 3-0 negative vote showed that the PSC is clearly concerned about the effect carbon emissions have on the environment, specifically global warming.

Eric Callisto, PSC chairman, said, "We are at a unique juncture in this country, and in Wisconsin, and decisions regarding new sources of electric generation need to account for the likely future costs of complying with constraints on carbon emissions."

This follows the lead set by Gov. Jim Doyle.

The governor's Task Force on Global Warming recommended reduction of carbon emissions and increased reliance on renewable power. Doyle himself came out against using coal at state-owned heating plants in Madison, saying, "We must chart a course that lowers greenhouse gas emissions and encourages new alternative energy sources."

To its credit, Alliant is already pursuing some of those new sources of electric generation in its wind power projects. The company also planned to use biomass as a partial fuel source for the Cassville plant: 80 percent coal and 20 percent switch grass, wood chips and cornstalks.

But that failed to sway the commission.

Nor apparently was the PSC influenced by Alliant's plans to close down the oldest coal-fired plant in the state, Unit 3 at the Edgewater Generating Station here in Sheboygan. Though this would reduce greenhouse gasses by about 500,000 tons a year — and make the air cleaner in Sheboygan — the Cassville plant would produce about 3 million tons. Opponents of the Cassville project were quick to cite this net gain in greenhouse gas production.

We endorsed the plan for Cassville last summer, in part because it meant cleaner air here with the closing of Edgewater's Unit 3, and because of the commitment to the use of fuel sources other than coal or natural gas. Those were and still are laudable goals. And we hope Alliant and other energy producers continue to pursue them. . . .

Part of Sheboygan power plant to go idle

From an article by Erik Litcke in the Sheboygan Press:

Alliant Energy plans to shut down one of three coal-fired generators at its Sheboygan power plant by 2013 as part of an initiative to increase efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, the company announced Thursday.

The move — which is tied to construction of a new $1 billion plant in Cassville — is expected to result in rate increases of 5 to 6 percent annually, company officials said.

"Having a green energy future, that's really where we want to go," said Ken Wilmot, who supervises the Edgewater Generating Station and all other Alliant plants in Wisconsin. "Doing this in a cost-effective manner is important to us. We believe this is the right approach to take."

Wilmot said the shutdown of the oldest of the plant's three units should have little or no effect on the Edgewater work force, since Alliant will be implementing more rigorous pollution controls in the coming years that will require more manpower. The plant's 117 employees were notified of the planned shutdown Thursday morning. . . .

Unit 3, which was built in 1951 and is Alliant's oldest coal-fired plant in Wisconsin, would be retired in 2013 if the more cost-effective Cassville plant is approved by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Unit 3 can produce up to 75 megawatts, or about 10 percent of Edgewater's total capacity.