Wisconsin

The latest plant retirement announcements—in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wisconsin—highlight how coal continues to lose its historical stature as a baseload source of electricity.

Minnesota is on a far better footing than Wisconsin, whose “heavy carbon footprint is a liability for our economic future,” one researcher said. “A clean energy economy will bolster prospects.”

“The blades are coming,” said a spokesman for the Duluth Seaport Port Authority. The port at Superior, Wisc., is also anticipating growth in freight traffic as the upper Midwest buys into wind-powered generation.

In a small but landmark deal, 10 communities in Wisconsin will buy solar-powered electricity under a long-term deal from 10 solar farms – seven in Wisconsin, two in Minnesota and one in Iowa. The arrangement increases the state’s solar consumption by 33 percent almost overnight and will help rural providers “flatten out the ups and downs of the market,” said one of the private-sector participants in the project. “That's a big attraction to us and we know what the price is for the entire life of the contract.”