The Wisconsin Public Service Commission punted last week again on a question that's front-of-mind for solar advocates in the state: Is a private company that owns and operates solar service in effect a public utility?

Tagged with: Eagle Point Solar Public Service Commission of Wisconsin solar energy solar power We Energies

Wisconsin gets more than half of its electricity from burning coal, which spews greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to a warming planet and severer droughts and storms.

Tagged with: Badger Hollow Solar Farm Invenergy solar power

Bob Bishop is a 61-year-old farmer living in dairy country in southwestern Wisconsin but will stop raising cows because falling dairy prices have put his industry at serious risk.

Tagged with: Madison Gas & Electric Michael Vickerman RENEW Wisconsin solar energy solar power Wisconsin Public Service Commission Wisconsin Public Service Corp.

The utility company We Energies is proposing a "Solar Now" test project it says would expand the use of solar energy by allowing it to essentially rent roofs where solar installations could be built and then pay the owners of the leased property a monthly fee.

Tagged with: solar power third-party ownership We Energies

The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska can already boast of having 400 kilowatts of installed solar panels, more than nearly any other Midwestern American Indian tribe.

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Electric car maker Tesla has added another product to its lineup: Solar roof tiles. As of Wednesday, customers worldwide could order a solar roof on Tesla's web site. Installations will begin next month in the U.S., starting with California. Installations outside the U.S. will begin next year, the company said.

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New data show that the Wisconsin solar industry saw its most active year of development as it was boosted by a major investment in solar by Dairyland Power Cooperative, other utilities and Target Stores Inc., as well as projects around the state.

Tagged with: Dairyland Power Cooperative solar power

Even as a Wisconsin electrical utility used a yearly report to lay out plans for producing more energy with natural gas and various renewable sources, it was saying its total generating capacity would be increasing by relatively little.

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The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a far-reaching energy bill Wednesday that reflects significant changes in U.S. oil and natural gas production over the past decade and boosts alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Tagged with: Clean Power Plan solar power Wind power

Using nature to help generate power isn't exactly a new idea.

Tagged with: Dairyland Power Cooperative solar power Xcel Energy