Wisconsin utilities increasing solar, wind power as they cut coal use

Wisconsin’s two largest public utilities are making bigger stakes in renewable energy and have pledged far deeper cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases than previous predictions.  

Madison-based Alliant Energy says it intends to stop burning carbon-intensive coal altogether in its electric power plants by 2050. 

Alliant and Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group recently said they are setting new goals to reduce carbon emissions by 80{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} from 2005 levels by 2050. 

That’s a shift from 2016 pronouncements when the utilities envisioned carbon dioxide reductions of 40{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} by 2030. (WEC Energy Group, which operates We Energies, says it now expects to reach the 40{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} goal by about 2023.) 

The moves to renewables are driven by tumbling prices for wind and solar power at the same time power companies in Wisconsin and nationally are using more natural gas as an alternative to coal. 

WEC Energy Chairman Gale Klappa told analysts on July 29 that utility-scale solar has increased in efficiency and prices have dropped by nearly 70{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} in recent years. He called it “an option that also fits well with our summer peak demand curve and with our plan to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.”

Natural gas, which is in abundant supply because of new drilling technologies, produces about half the carbon emissions as coal.

Critics worry about the effect on residential rates, or they think the companies should be moving faster to embrace green energy as the majority of climate scientists see a clear link between a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a changing climate.

Power plants are the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the country, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and make up about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re glad to see that the utilities are recognizing that this is what people want,” said Elizabeth Katt-Reinders of the Wisconsin chapter of the Sierra Club. “But actually it’s very underwhelming. We need to move off coal completely — and sooner.”

Still, the actions of the companies are an about-face from a decade ago when Alliant was seeking regulatory approval to build a new coal plant in Wisconsin. The state Public Service Commission in 2008 rejected the plan with one commissioner then calling it the “wrong project at the wrong time.”

In 2010 and 2011, after a big battle with environmentalists, WEC Energy opened a pair of coal-fired units in Oak Creek on Lake Michigan, which are among the last of their kind constructed in the United States.

The latest moves by the companies are coming as pressure from regulators is easing. 

The administration of President Donald Trump is working to dismantle Obama-era regulations that would limit carbon emissions from power plants. The president also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. 

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Also, unlike neighboring states, Wisconsin under Republican Gov. Scott Walker has not raised mandates for renewable power above a requirement of 10{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} of retail sales.

“This is not being driven by a federal policy because there really isn’t any right now,” said Doug Scott, a vice president of the Great Plains Institute, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit energy research group that has worked with utilities, including WEC Energy, on strategies to cut carbon emissions. 

“It’s being driven by their own decisions and the thought that decarbonization is going to happen for a variety or reasons.”

Besides falling prices for wind, solar and natural gas, Scott said utilities see other factors: A push by some states and cities for carbon-free sources of power; technological improvements such as battery systems that will increase the efficiency of solar and wind; pressure from investors with an interest in socially responsible investing; and large customers seeking greener sources of energy.

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Klappa said in his meeting with analysts that WEC Energy is discussing plans with Foxconn Technology Group about a major solar installation at the Taiwan company’s sprawling campus in Racine County — either with Foxconn building it itself, or his company making an investment.

“Everything’s on the table and we’re looking to how this works best for both parties,” he said. 

Alliant and WEC Energy detailed their plans to cut carbon emissions at the start of the month in their annual reports on corporate responsibility practices. 

Both said they planned to exceed the carbon reduction goals under President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan of cutting emissions by 32{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} from 2005 levels by 2030.

Alliant is targeting the use of more wind power and says it plans to spend $2 billion in the renewable sector between 2016 and 2020. The company is doubling its wind fleet by adding six wind farms — all in wind-friendly Iowa where the company sells electricity.

Meanwhile, it is building a 730-megawatt natural gas plant in Beloit opening next year.

The company has not said when it plans to close its coal-power plants. But spokesman Scott Reigstad said they will all be 65 years or older by 2050. 

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WEC Energy said it is retiring more than 1,800 megawatts of coal generation between now and 2020, including the recently shuttered Pleasant Prairie power plant in Kenosha County; adding more than 400 megawatts of natural gas generation in the next four years; and investing in more than 350 megawatts of “zero-carbon generation” in the state, including two solar projects. 

WEC Energy has no near-term plan to shut down operations in Oak Creek — especially the newer units, because they run efficiently and churn out electricity relatively inexpensively, said Daniel Krueger, senior vice president.

“I think that it is fair to say, going forward, it’s going to be solar, wind, batteries and some natural gas,” Krueger said. 

One worry is the impact on consumers in a state where electricity rates rank higher than most Midwest states. Power companies are entitled to recover the cost of investments, even if plants are mothballed and replaced with cleaner sources of power. 

“The utilities are certainly seeing green in green energy,” said Thomas Content, executive director of the Madison-based Citizens Utility Board, a watchdog group.
  
“The concern is how does this go from plans to reality in a way that is economical and cost-effective for homeowners and renters?” he said. 

“It can be done right, but if there is a bumpy transition, and if you are taking plants out of service that are still efficient and still need many years to pay off, that’s a concern.”

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