By Tracy Will
WisBusiness.com
A spokesman for a state utility watchdog said today’s unanimous Public Service Commission vote to deny a plan for a new coal-fired power plant was an out-of-the-ordinary win for his group, and could signal a change in direction for the PSC.
“We lose so often that I don’t know how to deal with it when we win,” said Charlie Higley, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board. “This is the first time they’ve ever turned down a power plant of this magnitude.”
Alliant Energy subsidiary Wisconsin Power & Light had applied to build a $1.3 billion coal and biomass power plant, called the Nelson Dewey plant, in Cassville.
“We’re very disappointed for the people of Cassville and the agricultural community out there who supported our plan to develop a biomass opportunity that is now lost,” said Rob Crain, spokesman for Alliant Energy. “We feel bad for the folks in the labor community in Cassville and the region who were looking to this project as a source of jobs and economic development.”
One PSC commissioner said the decision involved more than just the plant’s impact on the local community.
“Having attended the hearing in Cassville, I know how important this proposal is to the people of that community,” PSC commissioner Lauren Azar said afterwards. “However, a community’s desire for this plant cannot overcome the fact that the Nelson Dewey proposal is not cost effective, is inconsistent with Wisconsin’s energy priorities and does not provide the flexibility we need to deal with our uncertain energy future.”
Higley said the decision could signal a shift in PSC attitudes.
“This is the first time that their decision will steer a utility away from using energy sources that contribute to global warming and instead encourage consumer conservation and alternative energy generation sources that reduce air pollution,” he said.
Katie Nekola, the energy program director and attorney at Clean Wisconsin, called the PSC’s 3-0 vote a “great” decision.
“We’re very, very happy,” Nekola said, adding that her group’s efforts saved ratepayers a lot of money by preventing the plant from being built.
“It’s a huge savings for the consumer … I think the utility said it would have to raise electrical rates about 6 percent a year to pay for its construction, compare that with say that Neenah natural gas plant, which produces energy at a much cheaper rate,” Nekola said.
Alliant spokesman Crain said the utility is still in the position of offering an alternative plan to increase its base-load electrical generation capacity.
“I think that the important thing to take away is what was not disputed, for WP&L to provide its customers with more base-load, viable power,” he said. “It doesn’t relieve us of the mission of delivering affordable electrical power to our customers. We’ll have to develop other plans using more natural gas and power-purchase agreements to meet our obligations.”
He also said the decision was a missed opportunity in the area of biomass-generated energy.
“Losing this opportunity to deveop biomass is truly disappointing,” he said. “You need to have a plant like Nelson Dewey to develop all the agricultural resources in the region, farmers who grow crops, the capital investments in equipment needed to serve a large-scale program going forward. Dewey would have enabled that and despite today’s ruling, biomass is an option that we still want to pursue,” Crain said.
In a release, the PSC acknowledged that the effort to use biomass was “laudable” but it said the risks and cost of the project outweighed that benefit.
“We are at a unique juncture in this country, and in Wisconsin, and decisions regarding new sources of electric generation need to account for the likely future costs of complying with constraints on carbon emissions,” PSC chair Eric Callisto said. “The costs of this plant in relation to its risk and the more affordable options currently available to Wisconsin Power and Light were important factors in my decision. Cheaper, cleaner options are out there, and I encourage the utility to move on them quickly. I look forward to reviewing other projects in Wisconsin that take advantage of the state’s biomass resource without the risk associated with this project.”
Crain said that the utility would look closely at the written opinion when it is available later this month, but that the utility would make another proposal to add to its base-load capacity.”
“I doubt another coal plant will be approved,” CUB’s Higley said, adding “it depends on what we do to regulate global warming pollution in the future.”
Nekola agreed and said Clean Wisconsin, “doesn’t think any fossil fuel should be the primary source for energy production in Wisconsin,” emphasizing consumer conservation approaches to reduce the load.
Higley said the commission left the door open for WP&L to pursue the retooling of existing plants in Neenah that burn natural gas. Higley added that Alliant has the option to purchase the Rock-Gen natural gas plant near Cambridge in Dane County, which would also be a candidate for the new technology conversion and still satisfy Alliant’s base-load obligations.
