Minnesota Rubber and Plastics Receives Energy Efficiency Grant

Wisconsin Public Power Inc. will award more than $225,000 in grants for energy efficiency projects to industrial companies served by WPPI member utilities. The funding comes from WPPI’s ‘RFP for Energy Efficiency’ program, aimed at making electric energy saving projects a worthwhile business investment for large power customers.

“We know that energy conservation is the most practical and effective way to keep customers’ electric bills down for the long-term,” says WPPI Director of Energy Services Jake Oelke. “Wisconsin Public Power is providing these grants to help control energy costs by reducing inefficient uses of energy, without adversely affecting convenience or productivity.”

The RFP program invites commercial and industrial customers of WPPI’s municipally owned member utilities to submit competitive, cost-effective proposals for energy-saving upgrades to equipment and systems within customers’ current facilities.

Four companies will receive grants through the current round of project bidding:

• Thilmany LLC, Kaukauna, Wis., was awarded $70,000 to install variable frequency drives that will improve pressure control for two water pumps. Thilmany, a leading manufacturer of specialty lightweight packaging, pressure sensitive, and technical and industrial papers, will also retrofit lighting in several areas of the mill as recommended in a lighting audit conducted by WPPI.
• Goodyear Engineered Products, Sun Prairie, Wis., will receive more than $19,000 to offset the costs of optimizing its compressed air system. Goodyear Engineered Products, part of Veyance Technologies Inc., is a global leader in tire development and manufacturing.
• Minnesota Rubber and Plastics, River Falls, Wis. – will receive nearly $117,000 to replace an existing plastic resin drying process with a more efficient centralized system. In addition to energy cost savings achieved through decreased drying and vacuum pump load, the centralized system will result in less material handling time, less raw material waste and higher machine utilization.
• The Wisconsin Cheeseman, Sun Prairie, Wis., was awarded $20,000 for the installation of a variable speed drive air compressor as recommended during a recent energy audit conducted by WPPI. The project will provide a combination of energy cost savings and maintenance cost savings for The Wisconsin Cheeseman, a mail order gift food company.

WPPI will offer customers of its member utilities three new RFP for Energy Efficiency bid cycles in 2008. The program is designed especially for large power customers with the potential for electric savings during periods of peak energy use of at least 25 kilowatts per project.

WPPI’s member utilities have substantially increased funding for conservation and energy efficiency programs, providing hands-on assistance through traditional industrial energy conservation incentives and through targeted programs such as the RFP for Energy Efficiency.

Energy efficiency project funding also continues to be available through WPPI’s Efficiency Improvement Incentive program, which is open to any WPPI member retail customer with a valid commercial, industrial, municipal or agricultural electric account. WPPI and its member utilities provided more than $750,000 in Efficiency Improvement Incentives in 2007.

WPPI is a regional power company serving 49 customer-owned electric utilities. Through WPPI, these public power utilities share resources and own generation facilities to provide reliable, affordable electricity to more than 190,000 homes and businesses in Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Iowa.