WIND FARM IN GREEN LAKE COUNTY?

From the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel...

Rebuffed in its bid to build a Wisconsin coal-fired power plant, Alliant Energy is shifting toward more power from wind turbines as one element of its future energy supply. The Madison utility holding company has reached an agreement with NextEra Energy Resources, a unit of FPL Group Inc., to buy wind power from NextEra under a 25-year contract. Under the deal, Alliant also would buy development rights to a future wind farm in the Green Lake area, utility spokesman Rob Crain said.

The agreement comes as Alliant prepares for stiffer renewable energy mandates from the state Legislature and reacts to the state Public Service Commission decision last year to deny its bid to build a coal-fired power plant in Cassville on the Mississippi River. “The PSC expressed concern over carbon, and we listened,” Crain said. In order for the deal to go forward, Wisconsin regulators must approve the Bent Tree wind farm in Minnesota, projected to cost $400 million to $450 million, Crain said.

The agreement ends NextEra’s opposition to Alliant’s Minnesota wind farm, and NextEra has withdrawn its involvement in that case, a company lawyer said in a filing. Terms of the deal were filed in a confidential document submitted Tuesday to state regulators. NextEra, formerly FPL Energy, had argued Alliant’s proposal wasn’t competitive because NextEra was ready to sell power from its Crystal Lake wind farm in Iowa. NextEra is a major supplier of wind power — owning the Montfort wind farm in Wisconsin — as well as nuclear power. It operates the Point Beach nuclear plant in Two Creeks and an Iowa reactor it bought in recent years from Alliant.

Securing a strong candidate for a Wisconsin wind farm in the Green Lake area could help Alliant if Wisconsin lawmakers require that wind power generated in Wisconsin must be part of a company’s renewable energy strategy, Crain said. “It”s good because it allows us to lock in value now for our customers for emission-free energy in a rising cost environment,” he said. “Certainly, as federal and state renewable mandates come down, it’s logical to assume the costs will increase, so locking this in now, we think, is a benefit to customers.”

Under state law, 10 percent of electricity sold by state utilities must come from renewable sources by 2015. Under Alliant’s new plan, Wisconsin Power & Light Co., Alliant’s Wisconsin utility, would exceed that, generating 12 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2012, Crain said. The announcement is linked to the rejection of the coal plant because a portion of the energy generated by the Cassville plant would have been renewable, burning switchgrass and wood. Legislation is expected to be introduced this year seeking to require that 25 percent of electricity come from renewable sources by 2025. The higher renewable requirement is one piece of the recommendations issued last year by a state global warming task force.

As part of its energy supply plan, Alliant is expected to look at other energy options beyond wind. The company has signaled it intends to upgrade a natural gas-fired power plant in Neenah. Also under consideration is construction of one or more biomass-to-energy plants. The cost facing ratepayers for future wind power projects at a time when the state has enough power to meet electricity demand has become a concern for some utility customers. Though specific details about the pricing terms to buy wind power from NextEra are confidential, Crain said, “These are reasonable and cost-competitive projects.”