The idea of a new power plant to meet the University of Wisconsin’s expanding energy needs dates back to more than two years ago, but it was not until Thursday morning that the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin finalized the plans for a 150-megawatt facility on the west side of campus.
In a written statement at its Thursday-morning meeting, the commission approved the power plant to be built to serve the chilled-water and steam needs of UW and Madison-area customers.
The written statement was approved with little opposition, according to commission spokeswoman Linda Barth.
“There was no debate about the cogen facility,” Barth said.
Although the proposed facility had a generally uneventful trip through the Public Service Commission, the cogeneration facility to be overseen by Alliant Energy has not had such an easy ride through the state Legislature. Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said the power plant, was proposed on shaky grounds.
According to Black, the issue of the power plant had been openly discussed in the state Legislature, but the entire process had been marred since the proposal’s unsavory introduction by former Rep. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison. Black said the matter was discussed “secretly” in 2001 when Chvala was in power. Chvala is currently under indictment for, among other accusations, allegedly taking money from groups with energy interests.
“There was an independent consultant that was hired and determined a UW-owned [45-megawatt] power plant would be about $200 million cheaper,” Black said.
Not all legislators agreed with Black at the time. Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, believed the legislation was brought up properly on the floor and stood in opposition to funding the 150-megawatt proposal.
“Rep. Black can fuzz up the facts,” Jensen said. He went on to say that the government should work in cooperation with the private sector. “I don’t think the state should be building any more power plants. We already have more power buildings than any other state in the nation.”
Jensen is also a legislator accused of inappropriate behavior in office involving the acceptance of illicit campaign funds.
Even though the origination of the bill may seem murky to some, Kent Barrett, spokesman for the UW administration, made UW’s position clear.
“The 150-megawatt facility is a better proposal,” Barrett said. “The idea of a 45-megawatt power plant was too bogged down; it was a bad proposal.”
Barrett went on to say the savings of building a smaller plant would be minimal at best, and if there were any savings, they would not be significant enough to make a difference.
However, an independent energy consultant, Sebesta Blomberg, initially said UW would spend more than $200 million more on the 150-megawatt MGE-partnered plant over the next 30 years than on a totally state-owned plant. The report was then changed to have lower rates applied to the study, and the difference between plants was lowered to approximately $50 million over the next 30 years, which, with inflation factored in, would not be significant.
“It is indicated in the report that UW and MGE manipulated the information to use unrealistic presumptions,” said Chamond Liu, a member of Friends of Responsible Energy and an area resident who lives about half a mile from the site. “The root of long-term savings is in the rates, not the upfront capital costs.”
Al Fish, Associate Vice Chancellor of facilities planning and management, thinks the partnered, 150-megawatt facility will actually save the campus and taxpayers money.
“We will invest about $80 to 90 million in the cogen facility, which is a significant difference than the $130 million it would cost to build a 45-megawatt plant,” Fish said. Fish also said a study done by UW graduate students investigating steam rates of the UW-built facility versus the MGE-partnered plant proved helpful.
MGE vice president and treasurer Jeff Newman said in May that the partnered power plant would save $154 million.
UW computer sciences faculty member David DeWitt voiced his concern about the joint project. DeWitt claimed he was personally affected because he lives in a home in the neighborhood and because the noise and air pollution seemed like overkill.
The plant will be located on Walnut Street, on the west end of the UW campus, and the building will be overseen by Alliant Energy, a publicly traded company based in Madison. UW System president Katherine Lyall is a member of the Alliant board of directors.
