Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, University of Wisconsin chancellor John Wiley and Madison Gas and Electric president and chief executive officer Gary Wolter took part in the official groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday morning at the West Campus power plant, amid a sea of multicolored hard hats, flannel and business apparel.
Wolter welcomed the crowd at the construction site by praising UW and the governor’s office for their cooperation in making this “unique partnership” possible. He added that the construction of this power plant would continue to sustain and grow the quality of life in the Madison community.
After a short introduction, Doyle thanked and congratulated MGE and UW.
“[The construction of the power plant] took the efforts of the entire university to make this happen,” Doyle said.
Doyle also praised the functionality and environmental friendliness of the new cogeneration facility and announced legislation to cut approval times of such energy facilities in half “without losing” any of Wisconsin’s standards.
Doyle then spoke on the importance of UW, noting the university is a key economic engine to the state of Wisconsin.
During Wolter’s introduction of Wiley, the MGE executive joked that he considered firing engineers to save money and that the chancellor could help design and build the plant, because he is so involved in the project.
Wiley, who was a physics major and former faculty member at UW’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, chuckled but declined the offer.
“I think my studies in electrical engineering don’t extend to power plants,” Wiley said.
Wiley put the joking aside and thanked MGE and Wolter, in particular, but added that the bureaucracies delayed the already inherent complexities of building a power plant.
Wiley built on the timeliness of this plant, speaking on some new UW buildings that will need power and steam. It will become “absolutely essential by the end of 2005” to have the new plant up and running, Wiley said.
Wiley also added that the power plant will give improved reliability to a campus that needs electricity to survive, citing the location of the plant and the absence of transmission wires that are prone to damage by weather or fallen trees. Wiley said that everyday UW does not have power, $800,000 is lost.
He continued by commending the agreements to offset emissions produced by the plant by running other UW plants at a lower capacity and running cleaner fuels in buses as well as the cooperation with surrounding community residents in a “memorandum of understanding”.
In the memorandum, different community groups found some agreements with MGE and UW to reduce noise and pollution.
Wiley also said he is proposing a multi-year initiative to phase out all internal-combustion gas engines in UW vehicles. Wiley said in an interview that he hopes the city and state will cooperate in this initiative so that costs would be kept low due to bulk purchases of the environmentally friendly packages. He added that cars could be refitted with compressed natural gas or propane engines or that cars could be equipped with fuel cells. However, plans for doing so are still in the abstract.
Wiley also said each new UW building project that would “create flat surfaces” would also be equipped with a nearby “rain garden” to put rainwater back into the ground quickly and in an environmentally friendly fashion.
Audience member Terrance E. McGowan, president of the local union of operating engineers who was involved in the construction of the facility, applauded both the power plant and its cooperation with labor.
“I think it’s great,” McGowan said. “I think it’s great with the speed that they got it through and their work with organized labor … it’s great to see government work with the private sector [like this.]”
He added that the plant is being built exclusively by union labor, and he is proud of organized labor’s commitment to get the plant done on time.
The 150-megawatt facility will produce steam, chilled water and electricity using natural gas, serving both UW and the Madison community.