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Task force releases energy agreement

Gov. Jim Doyle’s energy task force recently released its new energy plan after a year of deliberation. The members of the task force finally agreed on a new state energy package that will possibly save consumers money and exceed national standards for renewable energy sources.

“The really amazing thing about the whole proposal is that it works on a lot of broad issues,” Linda Barth, Public Service Commission spokeswoman, said. “It talks about creating new energy-efficient standards, it talks about using government purchasing power and it talks about use of renewables.”

The task force was composed of 25 people with different backgrounds, representing varied interests from businesses to utilities to environmentalist agencies.

One of the main issues the task force discussed was the use of renewable energy in Wisconsin. Renewable energy is energy other than fossil fuels, such as wind, solar and hydro energy.

According to Barth, 4 percent of Wisconsin’s energy is from renewable sources. The task force’s plan is to raise that to 10 percent by 2015. It also hopes to raise state government use of renewable sources to 20 percent by 2010.

The plan also will provide more funding for the state’s Focus on Energy programs, improve building codes on energy use and encourage the use of anaerobic digesters and wind turbines in the farm communities of Wisconsin.

All of these plans may or may not mean savings for the consumer, but they will not raise the cost of consumer electricity bills. According to a release by RENEW Wisconsin, a study completed by the Wisconsin Division of Energy found using more renewable energy sources would not have an effect on bills.

“Wisconsin doesn’t produce any fossil fuels, so we have to import fossil fuels and that’s about $6 billion we are spending,” Barth said. “We have renewable resources here so the money stays in the local economy.”

Alliant Energy, one of the companies the plan will affect, voiced satisfaction with the outcome. The company is very pleased with the positive effects that came out of the process and plans to do its part to raise energy standards.

“We have about 5200 megawatts of generating capacity, 575 of that is renewable energy. In our plan, we are going to add about 230 megawatts [of renewable energy],” Scott Smith, manager of communications for Alliant Energy, said.

Many Wisconsin companies have similar plans and because of the differing interests, the task force found it difficult to come to an agreement. Thus, the task force hopes the plan will be passed as a package deal.

“There was a lot of give and take on this committee,” Barth said. “So this is put together as a package that a lot of people have invested a lot in. Keeping it together as a package keeps the whole spirit of the task force.”

So far, 18 states have adopted renewable energy standards. Wisconsin’s plan most closely resembles those of Colorado and New York.