Big Plans for Small Wind Farms; Single Turbine Approach Avoids Approval Turbulence

Aug 14 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

While large wind farms in Wisconsin face major regulatory and environmental hurdles, Ed Ritger is breezing along one wind turbine at a time.

Ritger and a group of investors have received permission from local towns to erect wind turbines each with an overall height of more than 400 feet and a wingspan of 270 or more feet in Washington, Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties. Each turbine can generate 1.65 to 2.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet the electricity needs of up to 1,000 homes, that could be sold to large utilities, Ritger said.

"Obviously this is a different kind of development" from large wind farms, said Ritger, a Random Lake attorney.

With seven windmills approved, Ritger's potential to become a wind-energy czar is slight compared with what's going on elsewhere in the renewable energy industry.

In eastern Wisconsin alone, plans are in the works to build 250 or more turbines in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties, possibly by the end of this year.

In July, the state Public Service Commission approved Chicago- based Invenergy LLC's plan for a $250 million, 200-megawatt, 133- wind turbine wind farm near Horicon Marsh.

But environmentalists have ramped up their opposition to that plan, saying the turbines' 126-foot-long blades threaten to slice and dice countless birds and bats.

Ritger's group of investors has received approval for their windmills in the towns of Eden and Ashford in Fond du Lac County, in the Town of Rhine in Sheboygan County and the Town of Addison in Washington County.

Thursday night, the Fredonia Town Board in Ozaukee County approved plans for a tower there. Contracts already have been signed with We Energies for those in Eden and in Addison, each of which are expected to be built by 2007, Ritger said.

Negotiations with We Energies are ongoing on the other sites, Ritger said.

Others may be in the works as "a lot of farm clients are interested" in putting windmills on their land, Ritger said.

"Whether there will be any new projects is partly dependent on the interest shown by the utilities to buy power from that type of source," he added.

It's also dependent on his own time and resources, he said. "We're not a big law firm that's going to cover the state in windmills."

Jeff Anthony, manager of renewable energy strategies for We Energies, said Ritger and his investors are probably one of the few, if not the only ones, in Wisconsin to attempt to enter the wind turbine business on such a small scale.

In most cases, when turbines are built one or two at a time, the energy produced is used solely to power a school, business, farm or small municipality not to sell to a larger utility, Anthony said.

Anthony said there is no standard rate that utilities pay for energy produced by wind turbines and would not say what We Energies has agreed to pay Ritger's group.

"But utilities are willing to pay premium rates for renewable energy" to help them meet a state mandate that 2.2% of their energy portfolio be renewable by 2011, he said.

We Energies officials have said that they hope to have 5% of its electricity supply come from renewable energy sources, principally wind, by 2011.

One advantage to Ritger's strategy, Anthony said, is that the projects' smaller scale is more likely to pass muster with local planners.

Each windmill costs about $2.5 million and has a life expectancy of 20 to 30 years, Ritger said.

Ritger declined to get into the economic specifics, but said each windmill should "produce a favorable return" within that time span.

He added that a major benefit to investors are the tax advantages offered by legislation, such the new energy bill signed into law Monday by President Bush.

Ritger has to negotiate with each landowner where the windmills are placed, and potentially any neighbors that might be affected.

Local town governments also benefit, being paid a standard per- megawatt fee, set by the state Public Service Commission, of $1,667 per year.

That means Ritger's group will pay each of the towns estimated amounts ranging from $2,500 to $4,200 a year, depending on the size of the turbine.

Ritger also said individual turbines benefit local economies because the investors are local.

"Big wind farms are typically foreign owned or owned by companies based out of state," he said.

Besides Invenergy, other companies in the business of developing wind farms include General Electric, FPL Energy of Florida and foreign-owned companies Gamesa of Spain and Vestas of Denmark.

Each windmill being developed by Ritger has its own investment group, and each includes residents living in the area.

"This money (from his projects) goes to local investors," Ritger said. "The money stays right here."

Small renewable energy projects aren't a major strategy for We Energies, but the company encourages them nonetheless, Anthony said.

"We basically undertook this as part of a commitment to try and encourage various business models. It's something that we thought was worth looking into, to see how quickly they were permitted and how they were supported by the local community," he said.