Wisconsin Energy Broadcast

Energy storage is rapidly changing the market for renewable power.  Business and residential customers are turning toward batteries to have a reliable back-up energy system.  Large scale developers use battery power to smooth out the power generation.

On this episode of the Wisconsin Energy Broadcast we are airing a Battery Storage breakout session from the January 16, 2020 Renewable Energy Summit held at the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin.  The accompanying slides and the full audio recording are available at renewwisconsin.org.

The short slide presentation includes energy storage terminology, system design and models of how the combination of solar + storage can smooth variations into hourly firm blocks and reduce energy imbalances.  These slides may enhance your enjoyment as you listen to this presentation from the energy storage experts.

The experts featured in tonights episode are Steve Danbeck, Arch Electric, Inc., Kate Howling, Invenergy, Tom Mullooly, Foley and Lardner & Tim Wilson of Gunderson Health Systems.

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Agriculture in the U.S. represents about 9% of total greenhouse gas emissions.  But new research suggests that improvements in dairy farm operations could reduce those emissions by up to 30 or 40%.

Dr. Matthew Ruark shares the results of the multi-university, $10 million research report on dairy and greenhouse gas emissions.  The report titled “Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Diary Production Systems of the Great Lakes Region: Dairy Coordinated Agricultural Project” shares research on reducing emissions from all stages of dairy production.  Find this report and more at sustainabledairy.org.

Dr. Ruark shares information about strategies farmers can use to increase carbon and organic matter in the soil (to retain water and supply more nutrients).   Farmers can return carbon to soil with manure additions, high biomass crops, and adding cover crops.  And farmers can keep the carbon in place in the soil by reducing tillage and soil disturbances.

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Katherine Hamilton, Chair, 38 North Solutions is coming to Madison to headline the RENEW Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit on January 16, 2020.   Heather talks with Katherine about trends in federal policy and global economic drivers as they relate to renewables.  They discuss solar tax credits, trends in electricity storage and efforts by states to develop forward looking clean energy policies.

In her keynote address at the Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit,  Katherine will offer a global perspective on clean energy before zeroing in on Wisconsin’s role, opportunity, and strategies for advancing this industry.

Katherine has been listed on the #Solar100 board by kWh Analytics and received a Cleanie Award as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. Katherine served as President of the GridWise Alliance, advocating for nearly $5 billion in funding for smart grid projects in the Recovery Act.

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Katherine led buildings research and then managed government relations in Washington, DC. Katherine spent a decade at Virginia Power, designing overhead and underground electrical systems for commercial and residential developments.  Katherine studied electrical engineering at Northern Virginia Community College and holds degrees from Cornell University and the Sorbonne. Katherine is part of The Energy Gang podcast through Greentech Media.

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Community solar projects offer utility customers a simple way to go solar by signing up for a program to procure their energy from a large scale solar project offered by the utility.  Community solar is a great alternative if you want to go solar but you may not have the perfect roof to install solar.

Renters, small businesses, or people who don’t want to make a major upfront investment invest in community solar projects by buying shares or buying panels (depending on the details of the program).

Deb Erwin, Manager of Regulatory Policy at Xcel Energy stops by the studio to talk about community solar projects in MN and WI and how they are different.

Kaya Freiman and Jillian Page of Madison Gas and Electric talk about MGE’s Shared Solar  program and how you can tap into this new opportunity to go solar.  The shared solar program allows business and residential customers to buy shares of the solar project to meet up to 50% of their annual electricity usage.  Learn more at the shared solar program website.

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Energy reporter Chris Hubbuch of the Wisconsin State Journal joins the Wisconsin Energy Broadcast to discuss Evers new 100% clean energy goal for Wisconsin and all the major energy developments in the last twelve months.

This is the two year anniversary of the Wisconsin Energy Broadcast!  And we are enormously grateful to you, our listeners.  As a big thank you for listening, we are covering all the highlights from the last year.  Listen to this episode and get updates on the:

Cardinal Hickory Creek Transmission Line

The We Energies Rate Case

The dropped proposal for a new solar tax from We Energies

The Badger Hollow Solar Farm approval and the Two Creeks Solar Farm groundbreaking

And Governor Evers’ announcement of a 100% clean energy goal.   It has been a big year and Chris Hubbuch puts it all in perspective for the Wisconsin Energy Broadcast.

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Renewable Energy and Health

Jessica LeClair, Public Health Nurse and Clinical Instructor at the UW-Madison School of Nursing, joined us in the studio to talk about why she works at the nexus of health and environment, her experience going solar with Madisunsolar.com, and her passion for promoting health equity.

If you want to go solar on your home, business or non-profit, the City of Madison’s MadiSUN program has rebates, resources, and information to make it easy and affordable.  Listen to Jessica’s experience on this episode and check out a quick video here to see how it works.

The City has additional rebates and grants to help businesses, nonprofits and affordable housing providers go solar.

Health Equity

Our community recognizes that access to clean energy and the impacts of fossil fuel energy generation have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable among us.  Jessica relates how her work with local families dealing with the long-term effects of the 2008 floods influenced her career focus on health equity.  Check out the resources below to see how you can learn more about efforts to address disparate impacts of climate change on our community.

Health Equity Resources

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Solar prices are down 75% in the last ten years.   Greg Nemet UW Madison Professor and Author of the new book, How Solar Became Cheap  joins the Wisconsin Energy Broadcast to explain how we got here.  He reviews the global historical trends and the crucial role the US Defense Department, Germany, Japan and China have all played in reducing the costs since the invention of solar.  And he tells us how this knowledge can help increase the viability of other renewable technologies.

According to Nemet

Solar PV is exciting not just because of the massive solar resource available and low current prices, but because of how far solar has come.  I am convinced that the payoff from understanding the reasons for solar’s success includes learning how to support other low-carbon technologies with analogous properties. While many technologies do not fit into the solar model, some including small nuclear reactors and direct air capture, have the characteristics that make them suitable for following solar’s path. They can benefit from solar’s drivers: scientific understanding of a phenomenon,  evolving R&D foci, iterative upscaling, learning by doing, knowledge spillovers, modular scale, policy-independent niche markets, robust policy support, and delayed system integration challenges. 

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A planned Oregon Elementary School will be the first Net Zero School in Wisconsin!

According to the World Building Council a Net Zero Carbon Building “is a building that is highly energy efficient and fully powered from on-site and/or off-site renewable energy sources.”

In November of 2018 the Oregon School District voters approved a referendum to build a new elementary school to account for a growing student population.  The state of the art school which is projected to cost $50 million  will generate as much power as it uses!  The school will also serve as a living laboratory for students to learn about energy technology and efficiency on-site.This school will employ geothermal heat, efficient lighting, solar panels and potentially even batteries!

Thanks to Alex Harris of HGA, Nathan Schieve of Bray Architects, Andrew Weiland  from the Oregon  School District, and Kathleen, a senior Oregon high school student, for sharing this exciting story with WEB listeners!

Photo: Oregon High School Solar Panels.  Photo Credit and Installation: Full Spectrum Solar

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Luke Tonachel, Director, Clean Vehicles and Fuels Group, Climate and Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council talks with the WEB about the federal rollback of the fuel economy standards.

The fuel economy standards require gradual improvements in mpg for vehicles over time. If we kept the current standards in place the average new vehicles (from cars to pickup trucks) would have about 37 mpg in 2025.

Luke Tonachel explains why the rollback of these standards are creating regulatory pandemonium for automakers.  Rolling back the standards puts the jobs and growth at risk.  The Trump Administration’s own proposal found that this rollback would yield 60,000 fewer jobs in the auto sector alone.

These rollbacks will result in more “bad air days” and climate change is yielding more “hot air days” which exacerbate the air quality issues.  Children, the elderly and people of color suffer disproportionately from air pollution, meaning these fuel economy rollbacks will worsen health outcomes for the most vulnerable Americans.

These rollbacks would force Americans to spend more on fuel – over $2 billion in Wisconsin alone – more than $1,000 per household.

Also in clean energy news this month!

Want to get involved with the Wisconsin Energy Broadcast as volunteer?  Or do you have a show idea, or want to be a guest?  Send us an email at the [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you.

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On this episode of the WEB we replay one of our favorite interviews.  We talk with Lauren Azar about the grid, microgrids, threats to the grid and the future of renewable energy.  A former DOE and WI Public Service Commission official – Ms. Azar was appointed in December 2018 to Gov. Evers’ Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resources Policy Advisory Council.

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