Removing the barriers to renewable energy production

Ryan Schryver

Thanks to the support of our members across the state and extensive lobbying from Clean Wisconsin staff, the Wisconsin Legislature passed Act 141 (the Clean Energy Bill). One of the major components of the Clean Energy Bill was a requirement for Wisconsin utilities to begin producing at least 10% of their energy from renewable resources by the year 2015. Now Clean Wisconsin is working to ensure these goals are met and Wisconsin can transition to a clean energy future.

If Wisconsin is to meet those renewable electricity goals, wind energy will need to be a major component of our energy mix. But recently, a hodgepodge of unhelpful and ill-advised local laws and regulations have made Wisconsin one of the most difficult places in the country to approve sites and build wind farms.

All across the state, local governments have felt the pressure from a small but vocal group of opponents to wind energy development. Since the current state laws leave it up to county and local governments to oversee the permitting of smaller scale wind farms, this has meant that local units of government all across the state have enacted their own unique standards and policies for siting wind energy projects.

This process has created a patchwork of policies that make it difficult for wind energy developers to build wind farms in Wisconsin. In many cases local governments have changed the local rules and regulations during the permitting process. Forcing renewable energy developers to hit these moving targets has caused costly and unnecessary delays for many projects across the state. While it is important to consider local interests in any major project, it is also important for consistent standards to be followed during the permitting process.

With our abundance of natural resources, Wisconsin should be a leader in clean energy production. But in order to do so, we will need a statewide standard to guide the permitting of wind energy; not the burdensome, piecemeal approach we currently have.

Over the course of the next year, Clean Wisconsin will be asking for your support to help create a statewide policy for approving sites for wind farms. We are working with a broad coalition of renewable energy advocates, wind energy developers, businesses, labor unions, and utilities to pass legislation that will open the door for additional clean, safe, renewable energy in Wisconsin.