Office of African American Affairs
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Environmental Collaboration Office
The City of Milwaukee's Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO), formerly the Office of Environmental Sustainability, and Port Milwaukee partnered to install a Northern Power 100-kilowatt wind turbine at the Port's administration building near the shore of Lake Michigan. The wind turbine is an important symbol of the City's clean energy future.
The turbine provides more than 100% of the electricity needs of the administration building, allowing surplus clean power to be provided back to the power grid. As a result, Milwaukee’s Port Administration Building is the first City of Milwaukee municipal facility that is a "net zero" electric energy user. Since its installation on February 27, 2012, the wind turbine has generated over 1.4 million kilowatt hours of clean power. Net savings on the electric bill from the wind turbine and energy efficiency work at the Port Administration Building is approximately $200,000 over the last ten years (as of 2/22/2022).
February 27, 2022 marks the tenth anniversary of energy generation from Port Milwaukee’s wind turbine. In the past decade, the Port has avoided releasing over 1,025 metric tons of carbon dioxide into our air. That's equivalent to 1,133,355 pounds of coal burned or 123 homes’ energy use for one year. This surplus electricity creates over $8,000 in revenue for the City each year on average.
Not only is the wind turbine an important symbol of Milwaukee's clean energy future, it is paying annual dividends on the tax payers’ investment. In fact, the turbine has far exceeded initial estimates in clean energy production and savings to the City. Since many of the components and all of the installation services were sourced from Wisconsin firms, the wind turbine also demonstrates that every dollar invested in renewable energy in Wisconsin is a dollar invested in a job for a Wisconsinite.
Milwaukee’s wind turbine is part of the City’s initiative to reduce energy use and increase renewable energy projects on City facilities. ECO is currently planning additional solar energy projects to complement this renewable energy source.
The Milwaukee wind turbine not only provides clean energy for the City, it helped to support Wisconsin's exciting wind industry.
The City and Northern Power worked with the following companies to ensure that the majority of components were made right here in Wisconsin: