WIDRC Donations
Home > About Us > Donations 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013
The Wisconsin Distributed Resources
Collaborative provided a limited amount of funding as a donation
toward distributed energy resource related activities in 2016, 2015,
2014 and 2013.
Applications were considered on a case-by-case
basis by the Wisconsin Distributed Resources Collaborative under
the terms of a Request for Applications. The Wisconsin Distributed
Resources Collaborative donated to the following activities:
2016
RENEW Wisconsin
RENEW Wisconsin (RENEW) received a donation to support its sixth annual Renewable Energy Policy Summit, held Thursday, January
19, 2017. This year’s Summit was themed “Clean Energy Goes Mainstream” and
focused on how utilities, businesses, and citizens are adopting more renewable
and distributed energy, and how Wisconsin’s economy can benefit from the trend.
In this Summit, RENEW provided concrete, credible examples of how
utilities and customers are
successfully evolving to incorporate more distributed resources into their
operations. For utilities,
meeting customer desires and evolving towards more clean and local resources are
key objectives.
For private citizens and businesses, having the ability to produce their own
clean power and reduce
monthly bills over time are key drivers.
"Clean
Energy Goes Mainstream" - Presentation on 2017 RENEW WI
Energy Summit
Heart of the City, Fort Atkinson
Heart of the City, (HOC), a Fort Atkinson-based grassroots group
promoting sustainable development and citizen engagement with
local government is working to facilitate a private-public
expansion of a project of solar site assessments and feasibility
studies of ten public buildings begun in Fall 2016.
With the blessing of the City and the cooperation of Madison Solar
Consultants, Heart of the City has worked out a fair and efficient
process to offer subsidies to willing local business to have solar
site assessments and feasibility studies conducted for their
commercial sites. Our goal is to increase awareness of and support
for the city's efforts, and to make it as easy as possible for
more local businesses to gather objective information they need to
make solid decisions about adding solar production to their
buildings. Ultimately, the hope is that the City's efforts,
combined with private business efforts, will create a culture
normalizing solar in the City of 12,000 population. Homeowners,
developers and builders will be invited to track the numbers and
evaluate the savings renewable energy affords the City and
commercial sectors so that renewable energy and sustainable
building practices are top of mind for new buildings and remodels.
Followup:
"Fort Atkinson City Council Resolution in support of Glacial Heritage Solar Group
Buy, February 6, 2018."
Milwaukee Shines, City of Milwaukee Solar Program
Milwaukee Shines, the City of Milwaukee’s solar program, has stimulated solar
installations in southeast Wisconsin since its inception in 2009. Milwaukee
Shines has worked to increase the amount of solar installed in the City to 1.7
megawatts by the start of 2016. The City of Milwaukee is working to
facilitate a smooth transition to large scale adoption, and solar O&M is an
important piece to this expanding market, in order to ensure quality
installations are truly benefiting the City and the homes and businesses that
are choosing to install solar. To date, there is no O&M plan for City
installations and having one in place will benefit the City and serve as a guide
for other municipalities.
With funding from WIDRC, Milwaukee Shines, the
City of Milwaukee’s solar program, will partner with a third party trainer to
provide training that ensures PV systems are being property maintained. This
training will also help ensure solar installers and municipal staff are up to
speed on the latest solar technology applications and the operations and
maintenance requirements that accompany any PV installation such as: repairing
or replacing equipment, monitoring, diagnostics, module and racking inspections,
cleaning, vegetation control and warranty management.
Midwest Renewable Energy Association
The MREA will develop and deliver advanced Solar operations and maintenance training to municipalities, facility owners and solar contractors in Wisconsin to assure their expected system lifetimes of 25 or more years.
Funds will be
used to develop curriculum that outlines O&M strategies for PV systems in northern latitudes where additional stresses of extreme temperature ranges, seasonal sun angles and snow loads can become service related issues.
2015
Madison Area Technical College,
Renewable Energy Program
Madison College will hold a second annual SolarEducator Academy for Wisconsin high school teachers in the summer of 2016. This training will provide science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers with hands-on experience installing photovoltaic systems, along with activities and pedagogical strategies to incorporate solar energy in their curriculum and instruction.
These funds will enable the purchase
of the small, hands-on equipment that Academy participants can use
in their classrooms. Last year’s participants confirmed that
teachers have lots of classroom professional development
opportunities available; they have far fewer options to gain
hands-on experience in new technology. This Academy will provide
this opportunity as well as provide specific information and lab
activities that teachers can bring back to the classroom at a low
cost.
Link to Presentation on 2016
WI STEM Educator Solar Institute
Midwest Renewable Energy Association
The Midwest Renewable Energy Association
(MREA) will expand the municipal workshop track accomplished at the 2015
Energy Fair to engage more solar market stakeholders at the 27th Annual
Energy Fair (June 17–19, 2016) in Custer, WI. Educational workshops and
a networking event will be targeted to three main audiences: local
government officials, solar installers, and solar purchasers.
The municipal educational workshops will focus on
implementing best practices in the areas of solar permitting, planning,
and zoning in local Wisconsin units of government (i.e. cities,
counties, townships). Requested funds will support training stipends for
up to 30 workshop attendees, marketing efforts, and expenses to host a
Solar Market Stakeholder networking event. Resources developed for the
workshop track will be publicly available online after The Energy Fair.
RENEW Wisconsin
RENEW Wisconsin (RENEW) received a donation to support its
fifth annual Renewable Energy Policy Summit, held Thursday, January 21, 2016.
This year’s Summit was themed “Shaping the Utility of the Future” and focused on
how utilities are evolving in the face of increasing distributed resources and a
changing energy policy landscape.
In this Summit, RENEW offered concrete, credible examples of
how utilities are successfully evolving to incorporate more distributed
resources into their generation mix in a way that improves the companies’
relationships with customers, and meets and exceeds federal and state policies
and requirements to increase renewables and reduce emissions. Key policies and
programs were discussed that enable customer investments in renewable
distributed generation. These policies and programs will drive the distributed
resources industries in 2016 and beyond.
Link to Summary Report on 2016 RENEW Energy Policy Summit
City of Fitchburg
Citizen’s
Solar
Farm
(FCSF)
The Fitchburg Citizen’s Solar Farm project team will
evaluate community interest and feasibility of developing a community solar farm
in the City of Fitchburg. They will provide a roadmap for citizen investment in
community solar farms, tapping currently available tax credits, with an
attractive ROI.
As part of the project, the FCSF team will design and
implement a survey in house to gauge community attitudes and interest. Finally,
the FCSF will evaluate existing models of municipal community solar farms in
Wisconsin, laying the groundwater for advancing a community solar garden.
2014
Madison Area Technical College,
Renewable Energy Program
Madison College will hold a Solar Training Academy for Wisconsin high school teachers and two year college instructors in the summer of 2015. This training will provide teachers with hands-on experience installing photovoltaic systems as well as practical advice for bringing this material back to their classrooms.
These funds will be used to purchase the small, hands-on equipment representative of equipment Academy participants will be able to use in their classrooms. The College has PV equipment for training PV technicians, installers and electricians, but has not acquired equipment suitable for classroom demonstrations. These are small scale PV systems similar to those installed by Madison College in
their international classes taught in Costa Rica and Belize.
Link to Wisconsin Solar Academy Presentation
Midwest Renewable Energy Association
The Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) will expand municipal outreach and education efforts in Wisconsin with the objective of implementing best practices in the areas of solar permitting, planning, and zoning in local Wisconsin units of government (i.e. cities, counties, townships). These funds will help develop and execute a “Solar Permitting, Planning, and Zoning” workshop track at the 26th Annual Energy Fair to be held June 19–21, 2015 in Custer, WI.
The workshop track will be tailored to a municipal audience, and will provide attendees with actionable information on how to remove solar market barriers in local jurisdictions. Resources developed for the workshop track will be made publicly available online after the Energy Fair. Donated funds will support the development of the workshop track, outreach and marketing materials for the event, and training stipends for up to 40 attendees from Wisconsin municipalities.
2013
RENEW Wisconsin
A donation was provided to support RENEW’s Energy Policy Summit
on January 10, 2014, and for addressing other key distributed
generation (DG) stakeholders in additional meetings on January 9th.
Milwaukee Shines, City of Milwaukee Solar Program
With funding from WIDRC, Milwaukee Shines, the City of Milwaukee’s solar program, will provide inspector training to ensure consistent application of permitting and code requirements. This training will also help ensure inspectors are up to speed on the latest solar technology applications and changes to the National Electric Code. Inspectors from jurisdictions in southeast Wisconsin will also be invited to participate. Additionally, the results of Milwaukee’s expedited permit and the WIDRC-funded inspector training will be shared throughout the state, which will help not only spur solar investment, but also ensure safe solar installations throughout Wisconsin.
Ben Kaldunski
Candidate for M.S. in Environment & Resources/Energy Analysis & Policy Certificate Nelson Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison
WIDRC provided assistance to Mr. Kaldunski's research project
which will examine the economic costs and benefits of using
microgrids as the main technology to promote distributed renewable
generation in the Madison metro area. His study will compare a
baseline scenario for the city under current policies, generation
mixes and price assumptions from the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) against a high penetration microgrid
deployment scenario aimed at achieving at least a 50% renewable
electricity supply by 2035. It will identify the costs associated
with pursuing this aggressive transition to a microgrid-based power
distribution system and assess the cost burden on different
stakeholders (i.e. ratepayers, private developers, government
agencies and power companies). The impact on energy prices and
customer rates will also be examined.
Report Prepared for WIDRC (October 2014) "An
Economic Analysis of Solar PV Microgrids:
Are They a
Cost-Effective Option for Solar Deployment in Madison?"