Wisconsin

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This summary is part of Beyond the Beltway: A Report on State Energy and Climate Policies produced by the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law

 

Wisconsin’s electricity mix is very old-fashioned. In 2016, coal provided 52% of the state’s net electricity generation; as compared with only 8% is from renewables That’s a mix of biomass, hydro, and wind. No solar. Fifteen percent is from nuclear, and the rest is natural gas. It has a 10% renewable portfolio standard. 

The state could do better. Neighboring Minnesota, which has about three times as much wind potential, generates 17% of its energy from wind, about six times as much as Wisconsin, so Wisconsin could probably double its generation of wind power with no greater effort than Minnesota has made.

There seems to be a lot of variation between utilities, with some getting as much as 20% of their power from renewables.[1] Madison, the state capital, has pledged to achieve 100% renewables, though it hasn’t set a deadline.[2] Milwaukee has joined with other cities and states in expressing its support for the Paris Agreement and pledging to take action against climate change.[3] But the state government is hostile to renewables, with the public utility commission taking a number of steps to discourage solar (one of which was rejected by the courts).[4] The state’s Department of Natural Resources has scrubbed all references to climate change from its website.[5] Still, economics have some effect. As in other states, coal plants are beginning to close, including a ninety-year-old plant in Green Bay.[6] It remains unclear, however, why Wisconsin seems to be lagging Michigan and Ohio, two rather similar states.

 

  1. Thomas Content, Report Cites Mixed Results for Wisconsin’s Renewable Energy Progress, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (May 28, 2016), available at http://archive.jsonline.com/business/report-cites-mixed-results-for-wisconsins-renewable-energy-progress-b99732648z1-381205601.html/.
  2. Kari Lydersen, Wisconsin’s Capital City Sets a High Bar with Ambitious Renewable Energy Goal (March 24, 2017), available at http://midwestenergynews.com/2017/03/24/wisconsins-capital-city-sets-a-high-bar-with-ambitious-renewable-energy-goal/.
  3. City of Milwaukee, “We Are Still In,” http://city.milwaukee.gov/Climate-Action.htm#.Wnuzn5M-cdV
  4. Thomas Content, Judge Rejects We Energies Plan to Assess Solar Panel Owners Extra Fees, Milwaukee Sentinel (October 30, 2015), available at http://archive.jsonline.com/business/judge-rejects-we-energies-plan-to-assess-solar-panel-owners-extra-fees-b99606784z1-338962302.html.
  5. James Rowan, DNR Censors All Climate Change Info, Urban Milwaukee, Urbana (December 26, 2016), https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2016/12/26/op-ed-dnr-censors-all-climate-change-info/.
  6. Darrell Proctor, Another Coal-fired Plant Will Close in Wisconsin, Power Magazine (December 3, 2017), http://www.powermag.com/another-coal-fired-plant-will-close-in-wisconsin/.