"I have the power!"

The Wisconsin State Assembly may soon be deflating proponents of Wisconsin’s wind energy industry ... Introduced May 20, Assembly Bill 146 seeks to eliminate the four-year expiration date for renewable energy credits, also known as RECs. For those of you who like me have absolutely no idea what RECs are here’s a concise explanation. The main worry with RECs that don’t expire is that they will provide power companies with a way to avoid meeting renewable energy standards.

Requiring wind turbines to be this far away from property lines means it takes an enormous piece of land on which to build the turbines, which raises the price to develop wind power by quite a bit.

To say that 2010 and 2011 have been bad years for wind energy in Wisconsin is a huge understatement. According to Reuters, laws passed last December require new turbines to be built at least 1,250 feet from property lines and new proposals suggest the distance could be pushed to 1,800 feet. Requiring wind turbines to be this far away from property lines means it takes an enormous piece of land on which to build the turbines, which raises the price to develop wind power by quite a bit.

Another setback appeared in early May when a law passed stating that energy companies can count energy produced through hydroelectric means as renewable, which further eliminates motivation to invest in solar and wind power.

Along with the changes for power companies the laws passed recently would affect both homeowners and local green energy-aligned companies by cutting incentives for investing in renewable recourses. Joe Maurer of Next Step Energy Systems in Eau Claire views the legislation as short sighted. “It will negatively affect all of our customers who use both our efficiency and renewable services,” said Maurer.

While renewable energy in Wisconsin may have recently taken some hits, the green movement seems much stronger in the rest of the U.S. with 29 other states implementing caps on RECs and incentives for developing wind energy.