Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota April 5th, 2007
Today, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle announced that Wisconsin joins the states of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and the province of Manitoba in implementing a regional renewable energy tracking system, the Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System (M-RETS). This agreement marks a milestone in meeting the region’s renewable energy goals and promotes more renewable energy development.

The purpose of M-RETS is to help participants meet their renewable energy standards and objectives. M- RETS supports a regional trading market which will keep costs of developing renewable energy down and promotes more renewable energy generation – ultimately helping the region to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Four jurisdictions in the Upper Midwest, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Manitoba, currently have policies requiring or encouraging the development and use of renewable resources. M- RETS will provide a tool for these jurisdictions to collect data on renewable energy production and provide a mechanism for monitoring their respective goals. It will also promote trading credits with neighboring jurisdictions in the region to help in meeting policy requirements.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) has signed a contract with APX, Inc. to implement this system. APX Inc. is North America’s leading technology and administration provider for environmental and energy markets. The length of the M-RETS contract awarded to APX is for four years and the system will become operational in the summer of 2007. Several other states and provinces in the region are also expected to join as the program progresses.

Background on the development of M- RETS

The Great Plains Institute, on behalf of Powering the Plains project and in partnership with the Izaak Walton League of America, worked with legislators and regulators to draft legislative authorities that will permit cross-border trading of renewable credits. Industry, regulators and other project participants were engaged to secure passage of legislative authority for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and to allow M-RETS implementation to move forward.

With technical assistance from the Center for Resource Solutions, a Technical Review Committee drew on experiences from other regions’ tracking systems and input from a series of regional stakeholder workshops to recommend system designs for M-RETS. They proposed these designs to the region’s utilities commissioners and provincial authorities in Manitoba and convened individuals from key institutions with an interest in the system functionality, financing and administration.

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The Great Plains Institute is a regional non-profit organization that brings together key public and private leaders from across the region to identify policies, projects and research that will accelerate the transition to a renewable and carbon-neutral energy system by mid-century.