We Energies Announces New Renewable Energy Programs
From We Energies:
We Energies, headquartered in Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s largest utility, has received authorization from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) to significantly expand their renewable energy programs. Renewable energy is a means of generating electricity from resources that replenish themselves naturally – examples include solar power, wind power, and biomass (or the production of electricity from organic material such as manure-to-electricity technology on farms). Included in the PSCW rate case order are the following new additions or enhanced changes to We Energies renewable energy program:
- Authorization to invest $6 million per year on renewable energy development programs in 2006-2007.
- A program to allow customer-owned wind turbines to engage in net metering for wind turbines between 20 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts in size.
- New buy-back rates for solar electric systems (We Energies will pay 22.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for 10 years) and biogas anaerobic digesters (8 ¢/kWh on peak, 4.9 ¢/kWh off peak).
- Lower cost to participate in We Energies voluntary green power purchase program, Energy for Tomorrow (EFT). The voluntary purchase cost was reduced from 2.04 ¢/kWh to 1.37 ¢/kWh, based on lower, more stable renewable energy costs, making it one of the lowest cost programs in the country.
- Continuation of We Energies’ Bulk Purchase Rate for larger business (purchasing 70,000 kWh of renewable energy per month or greater). The new rate, first approved in 2005, has been reduced to 1.0 ¢/kWh.
As part of the company’s Power The Future plan, We Energies set a target to supply 5 percent of the electricity used by the company’s Wisconsin retail electric customers from renewable energy resources by 2011 – significantly exceeding the 2.2 percent currently required by state law. The $6 million per year authorized by the PSCW, mentioned above, will be used to implement 16 new programs related to renewable energy. These programs include the support of large, utility-scale wind, solar, and biomass projects — as well as support for customer-owned generation, market development efforts, renewable energy education, and renewable energy technology R&D efforts. The goal of these initiatives is to reduce the costs of renewable energy for the company’s customers over the next few years. Details of the sixteen “Renewable Energy Development” programs will be released throughout 2006.
As of thee end of January, the company now has three new standard offers for customers who want to install renewable energy systems – using “customer generation” installation. The first new rate, a “Solar Buy-Back Rate” was introduced last Fall and allows customers to sell 100% of the output from qualifying Solar PV systems to We Energies at a rate of 22.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for up to 10 years. A second meter is used to measure the output of the solar energy being generated and all of the power is supplied to other customers in the company’s “Energy for Tomorrow” renewable energy program (see below). This offer is currently limited to the first 500 kilowatts of Solar PV installations to enroll in the program.
Also as of the end of January, the company has also made available a “Biogas Buy-Back Rate” to customers who generate electricity from anaerobic digester technology using animal waste from farm operations, from industrial food processes, or from municipal wastewater treatment facilities. This standard buy-back rate pays 8.0 cents per kilowatt-hour for “on-peak” energy and 4.9 cents per kilowatt-hour for “off-peak” energy from qualifying systems. This offer is limited to system up to 800 kilowatts in size and has a total limit of 10 megawatts for this offer. The last new renewable energy offering applies to customers installing their own wind turbines between 20 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts in size, these customers can take advantage of the company’s “Net Metering” procedure which allows customers to net bill against their electrical usage — it is limited to renewable energy systems up to 20 kilowatts in size, but the new offering extends this to the first 25 customers installing qualifying wind turbines between 20 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts in size. Wind turbines 20 kilowatts and smaller are already eligible for net metering under existing Wisconsin state law.
Information on all three new customer offers for solar, wind, and biogas can be found on a special We Energies customer generation webpage at: www.we-energies.com/cg
For customers unable to install their own customer generation system, but who want to support greater use of renewable energy, an option exists for them as well. We Energies introduced its Energy for Tomorrow renewable energy program in 1996 as one of the first programs of its kind in the United States. It is a voluntary “green pricing” program that allows We Energies customers to support electricity generated from renewable energy resources. We Energies customers can participate in the program and support the production of electricity through clean, renewable energy resources such as wind, water, solar, and biomass. The program currently has over 12,000 residential customers participating in the program and also has over 400 business customers currently supporting renewable energy generation under the program, some of which are listed here: www.we-energies.com/business_new/altenergy/eft_buscust.htm
As part of the company’s recent rate case, the rate premium for participants in the Energy for Tomorrow renewable energy was lowered by the PSCW from 2.04 cents per kilowatt-hour to a new level of 1.37 cents per kilowatt-hour — making it one of the lowest cost programs of its kind in the country. The new lower rates resulted from a base rate increase and the fact that renewable energy prices have been more stable in the past few years that fossil fuel prices. Customers enrolled in the program at the 100% renewable energy level will see no fossil fuel related rate adjustments for the next two years. The new rates became effective on February 10, 2006.
For larger business customers that purchase 70,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per month or greater, they will qualify for the new EFT “bulk purchase rate” which the PSCW first approved last year. The rate for business customers buying at this level has been reduced to 1.0 cent/kWh — or half what they would have paid a year ago. Business customers also have the option to aggregate multiple accounts under a single corporate ownership to reach the indicated threshold. This is one of the lowest rates for business customers buying renewable energy in the country as well.
Finally, in response to requests from customers participating in the Energy for Tomorrow program, the company has changed the power supply mix for the program to increase the amount of Wind Power in the program, to decrease the amount of Landfill Gas used to supply the program, and to introduce Solar Power into the supply mix for the first time. This new mix is depicted graphically, below. To learn more about the Energy for Tomorrow renewable energy program, or to enroll in the program, please visit: www.we-energies.com/eft
