We Energies has purchased 88 wind turbines from Vestas Wind Systems for construction of the Blue Sky Green Field wind project in Fond du Lac County.
Each Vestas V82 turbine is capable of producing 1.65 megawatts of electricity for a project total of 145 megawatts, or enough energy to power approximately 36,000 homes.
The venture is the state's largest wind project to date.
Construction is expected to begin this summer and will take approximately one year to complete. Six months will be needed for site preparation and the installation of turbine foundations and cabling. An additional six months will be required for turbine erection, assembly and commissioning.
Headquartered in Denmark, Vestas began manufacturing wind turbines in 1979 and has installed more than 32,500 wind turbines in more than 60 countries worldwide.
"Throughout the selection process, we evaluated a number of turbine models and vendors to ensure we received favorable economics and technology that is well suited to the project site. The Vestas V82 turbine has proven to be the most competitive and is available for the earliest delivery dates," said Rick Kuester, executive vice president of Wisconsin Energy Corp., the Milwaukee-based parent company of We Energies.
The wind farm will be located in the towns of Calumet and Marshfield in northeast Fond du Lac County and is expected to cost approximately $300 million. The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the project on Feb. 1. To learn more about the Blue Sky Green Field wind project, visit www.we-energies.com.

Beginning today, baseball fans will have an opportunity to participate in a weeklong auction on the Brewers homepage to bid on retro Milwaukee Braves game jerseys worn by Brewers players and coaches in recent years.
All net proceeds from the auction will go toward funding the Milwaukee Braves Historical Society's 50th anniversary celebration, scheduled for Aug. 30.
The online auction begins today at noon. The featured jerseys include game-worn uniforms from "Turn Back the Clock Night" on Aug. 26, 2005, when the Brewers took on the Atlanta Braves at Miller Park. Each jersey is individually autographed by a Brewers player or coach.
Additional jerseys available in the auction include autographed Milwaukee Braves "Turn Back the Clock" jerseys from former Milwaukee Braves players such as Red Schoendienst and Bob Buhl.
A select few Milwaukee Braves jerseys from May 22, 2002, when the Brewers rolled back the clock against the Los Angeles Dodgers, will also be available as part of the auction.
The auction will conclude on Thursday, April 5, at noon.
The Brewers are helping to raise funds for the Milwaukee Braves Historical Society to defray the costs bringing the surviving members of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves championship team back to Milwaukee for a celebration on Aug. 30. For more information, contact Tom Kaminski at (414) 347-1212.

SABMiller plc, the parent company of Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co., announced today that its Russian operations will invest approximately $170 million in the construction of a new brewery outside the city of Ulyanovsk.
Ulyanovsk, which lies along the Volga river, has road and rail links and is home to several raw material suppliers.
The new brewery, which will have an initial capacity of 3 million hectolitres, is expected to be operational in early 2009 and will complement the group's existing brewery in Kaluga.
SABMiller's business in Russia has achieved compound annual volume growth of approximately 30 percent over the past five years, and its Kaluga site has been expanded to a capacity of 6 million hectolitres.
Both breweries will produce SABMiller's Russian brands, including Zolotaya Bochka ("Golden Barrel"), Miller Genuine Draft and Velkopopovicky Kozel.
Alan Clark, managing director of SABMiller Europe, said, "Russia remains a strategically important market for SABMiller, and this investment will enable us to maintain our strong growth profile in the premium segment, whilst optimising our transport costs and at the same time improving our service levels to distributors and big retailers."
London-based SABMiller currently sells 6 percent of the beer in the Russian market, but its volume in the market increased 14 percent in the past fiscal year.

Neil Hoffman has been appointed the next president of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD).
Hoffman will begin working at Wisconsin's only independent, four-year college of art and design on June 1.
Hoffman has twice served at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, as dean and chief executive officer from 1979-1983 and as president from 1993-2000. During his  tenure, he converted the then two-year publicly operated college to a comprehensive, independent four-year college.
"Neil Hoffman is a nationally recognized expert in the advancement of educational institutions through strategic planning, enrollment management, fundraising, and board and leadership development," said Claire Hackmann, chair of MIAD's board of trustees and leader of its presidential recruitment efforts. "These are exactly the skills that allow MIAD to reach a new level of excellence. Neil's proven track record, coupled with his infectious energy and passion for arts education at all levels, distinguished him from among the 10 highly qualified candidates the search committee interviewed for this position."
"I cannot wait to begin," said Hoffman. "As the only independent college of its kind in the state, MIAD plays a prominent role in the community and has a unique responsibility to support the arts and arts education in high schools. MIAD is an outstanding college and community resource, and I want to help increase its deserved recognition in these areas."
As president at Otis College, Hoffman raised capital funds of $15 million and increased the school's endowment 600 percent. He also increased scholarship funding and created a comprehensive diversity program, new degree programs and a new downtown campus for the School of Fashion Design.
In between his positions at Otis, Hoffman served from 1985-1993 as president of the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, where he achieved similar results.
From 1983-1985, Hoffman served as the first president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he implemented a comprehensive marketing and enrollment management program and acquired the donation of the school's first residence hall.
A professional and exhibiting photographer, he participated in the first major U.S. exhibition to feature photography at Western New York's Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and he has served as a member of the American Film Institute's Advisory Committee.
Hoffman succeeds Mary Schopp, who served as MIAD's acting president since Robert Rindler's resignation in August 2006. Schopp will return to her former position of executive vice president.
Hoffman and his wife, Sue, are planning to attend Creative Fusion, a new celebratory benefit at MIAD to be hosted by Madeleine and David Lubar on May 5.

Racine-based Johnson Outdoors Inc. today announced it has been awarded $500,000 by New York's Empire State Flood Recovery Grant Program, established to provide supplemental compensation for businesses impacted by catastrophic flooding in that state last year.
Binghamton, N.Y., is home to the Johnson Outdoors Outdoor Equipment Group division, which makes and markets consumer, commercial and military tents and camping equipment under the Eureka! and Silva brand names. On June 29, 2006, the company's manufacturing and administrative facilities in Binghamton were temporarily shut down due to flooding caused by heavy rains in the Northeast.
Production resumed at the facility in August, and administrative offices, which had operated out of a temporary location after the flooding, reopened at the facility in January 2007.
Funding for the New York state flood grant program was made available by $12 million in state appropriations and reappropriations to the Empire State Development Corp. Businesses and organizations located across 20 designated counties in New York state were eligible to receive assistance under the flood grant program.
In its flood grant application last fall, Johnson Outdoors estimated eligible grant expenditures in Binghamton of $7.6 million related to the flood. All but $1.2 million of the expenditures were covered by the company's insurance.
"On behalf of everyone at Johnson Outdoors, I want to thank the State of New York for taking prompt action to help spur the economic recovery of a region devastated by last year's flooding," said Helen Johnson-Leipold, chairman and chief executive officer. "We sincerely appreciate the support of Sen. Tom Libous and other officials throughout Broome County as we continue working hard to recover and rebuild our business."

Robert Cavinder will be installed as the 35th postmaster of the Milwaukee Post Office on Friday at 1 p.m. during a ceremony at Discovery World-Pier Wisconsin.
As postmaster, Cavinder will oversee mail delivery and retail sales at the Milwaukee's main post office and 20 additional post offices within the city limits.
He began his career with the U.s. Postal Service in 1984 as mailhandler in Lima, Ohio. He has advanced through positions of increased responsibility in Lebanon, Sidney and Columbus, Ohio, before moving to Madison and then Milwaukee.

Customers of a furniture store were shocked to learn this week that paperwork from their credit applications were simply dumped in the store's garbage dumpster. Read more in the daily roundup of news headlines from around the state at www.biztimes.com.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is proposing to close the Layton Avenue on/off ramps of Interstate 94, but that plan would be a disaster for businesses on Milwaukee's south side, according to Jaime Maliszewski, vice president of the Airport Gateway Business Association (AGBA) and the author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The BizTimes Stock Index dropped 1.43 points to close at 176.23 Wednesday, but local stocks showed some signs of new life in early morning trading today. The largest local gainers this morning were MGIC Investment Corp. (up 74 cents to $58.85) and Bucyrus International Inc. (up 67 cents to $51.73). The largest local decliners this morning were Manpower Inc. (down 57 cents to $73.42) and Twin Disc Inc. (down 26 cents to $24.05). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.