While reporting spectacular earnings, We Energies has prematurely ended a program that helped build small-scale renewable energy generation systems for specific sites, such as GE Medical or the Urban Ecology Center, according to the Journal Sentinel.
The company claims it is focusing on meeting a state requirement that will provide a modest 10% of its total generation through renewable sources, but the site-specific program was a relatively minor expense and one the firm had pledged to complete.
Feels like the company is lining up with Gov. Walker, who has thrown a massive, regulatory road block in front of wind energy projects and stopped the conversion from coal to biomass fuel at the UW-Charter St. electrical generating plant in Madison.
Walker substituted natural gas fuel for biomass - - and both decisions set back renewable energy production, research, development and employment in Wisconsin businesses.
We Energies decides to move forward with biomass project
ReplyDeleteBy Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel May 16, 2011
We Energies' biomass power plant project took a key step forward Monday.
The Milwaukee utility said it was notifying a key contractor to proceed with work to build a boiler for the power plant that would be located at Domtar Corp.'s paper mill in Rothschild.
The announcement came several days after state regulators issued a final decision on the project, making changes aimed at reducing the project's cost for We Energies' 1.1 million electricity customers.
"We are moving forward with the engineering and equipment orders that are necessary to maintain the project schedule," utility spokesman Brian Manthey said. "We feel it's the right move to make based on the final order and our discussions with Domtar."
The project would create 400 construction jobs and is projected to create 150 permanent jobs.
...The project is projected to cost $255 million.
...The project is the final piece in the plan developed by We Energies to comply with the state's 2015 renewable energy mandate. The utility is in the process of building its second large wind farm and has also signed power-purchase agreements for additional wind power.