by jboullion | Jan 30, 2017 | Solar, Utility Scale
For immediate release
January 30, 2017
More information
Tyler Huebner, Executive Director
608.255.4044
tyler.huebner@renewwisconsin.org
|
One of the Dairyland Power Cooperative arrays at
Taylor Electric Cooperative in Medford, WI.
The NextEra and WPPI project will be approx. 50x as large. |
Today, an agreement was announced between NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and WPPI Energy to build a 100 megawatt solar energy project in northeast Wisconsin. The project, according to the companies, would be located on land adjacent to the existing Point Beach Nuclear Plant which operates in Two Rivers, and serve more than 23,000 people with affordable, clean energy.
RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director, Tyler Huebner, said, “This will by far be the largest solar energy project built in Wisconsin yet, and it builds on the continued growth of solar energy in the state. We congratulate both WPPI Energy and NextEra Energy Resources on the announcement of this project and their leadership in bringing more affordable, clean energy to Wisconsin.”
This project will nearly triple the amount of solar we have built in Wisconsin as of today. According to RENEW Wisconsin estimates, 55 megawatts of solar are built or in construction today, and that is up from 25 megawatts at the end of 2015.
“Along with Dairyland Power Coooperative, which is building 20 MW of solar projects currently, WPPI Energy is showing that solar power is a competitive resource for electricity providers in Wisconsin,” concluded Huebner.
The companies’ press release can be found at: https://wppienergy.org/News/NewsItem?item=47
Media stories on the announcement:
– Op-Ed from Two Rivers City Manager Greg Buckley
– Major solar energy project slated for Wisconsin; Sun Prairie’s WPPI Energy to buy the power
by jboullion | Nov 15, 2016 | Solar, Utility Scale
Anticipating the completion of a dozen solar projects in Wisconsin, La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative signed contracts this month to add three more arrays to its generation
portfolio. With these three arrays Dairyland now has more 20 MW of solar
generation under contract, almost all of it located in the Badger State
(see table below). These arrays will produce emission-free power for
Dairyland’s 25 member distribution cooperatives and 17 municipal
utilities.
Chicago-based SoCore Energy will build and
own the three new arrays. Two of the three arrays will be located in Wisconsin, and the third will go up in northeast Iowa. SoCore is also the developer of 11 of the initial 12 arrays announced by Dairyland in February.
All 15 arrays are located in the service territories of Dairyland’s member distribution cooperatives. In conjunction with Dairyland’s utility-scale arrays, many of the host cooperatives are adding their own panels to these installations, to serve customers who subscribe to their shared solar programs.
The environmental benefits from these arrays will go beyond clean energy. Every project site will be revegetated with native plants to create bee and butterfly habitat. When revegetation is complete, SoCore will seek certification of its projects as “pollinator gardens.”
One of the projects under construction, St. Croix Electric Cooperative’s Sunflower II array in Roberts, provided the backdrop for a solar media day on Monday, November 14th. RENEW’s Michael Vickerman took part in the open house, providing RENEW’s perspective on the rapid growth of solar generation throughout Wisconsin. The Sunflower II project is about 30 miles east of St. Paul, Minn., and 55 miles west of Eau Claire, Wis.
Of the 45-50 MW of Wisconsin-based solar generating capacity likely to be operational by April 2017, Dairyland’s projects will account for nearly 40% of that total. As of today, the only multimegawatt array producing power under contract to a Wisconsin electric provider is the 2.25 MW installation in Rock County owned by Hanwha Q CELLS USA, which supplies electricity to Wisconsin Power & Light.
For more information on Dairyland’s newest solar projects, see: http://www.dairylandpower.com/dcontent/article/DPCannouncesadditionalsolarcontracts.pdf
As a reminder, Barbara Nick, CEO of Dairyland Power Cooperative, will speak at our 2017 Energy Policy Summit, Clean Energy Goes Mainstream, on January 19, 2017. Learn more and register today!
by jboullion | Nov 17, 2015 | Community Solar, Solar, Uncategorized
With the flip of a switch, Fall Creek-based Eau Claire Energy Cooperative (ECEC) now owns and operates Wisconsin’s newest and largest Community Solar project. Consisting of 2,816 panels with a rated capacity of 872 kilowatts (DC), the array will produce approximately 900,000 kilowatt-hours a year, roughly the equivalent of what 90 households would consume in a year.
For the moment at least, it is the third largest solar array in Wisconsin (see table below).
River Falls-based Able Energy Company constructed ECEC’s system. Later this year, Able will commence construction on a 250 kW solar array in Minnesota for People’s Energy Cooperative.
“Eau Claire Energy’s project makes a statement on solar energy that couldn’t be clearer,” said Tyler Huebner, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a renewable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison. “If you’re searching for a utility project that delivers clean energy and long-term savings to its subscribers while creating good-paying jobs with in-state businesses, you’ll find an excellent example in Fall Creek.”
“Solar energy is here to stay and we encourage other electric providers to embrace that reality,” Huebner said.
Under a typical community solar project, electricity customers help finance the building of a large project through an up-front subscription fee that is paid back in full (with a modest return) through monthly on-bill credits. A centralized solar array enables all utility customers, including those who rent or are lacking sufficient solar exposure, to support the expansion of solar generation in their community.
Since early 2014, six Wisconsin electric cooperatives have built and energized solar gardens totaling more than 1.5 MW (see table below). For information on community solar activity in Wisconsin, visit RENEW’s web page at http://renewwisconsin.org/action/CommunitySolar.htm.
by RENEW Wisconsin | Sep 20, 2013 | Solar, Utility Scale
Some excellent news out of Jefferson today. A new solar project totaling 1 megawatt of power generated over a seven-acre site. Read the article in the Daily Union below:
JEFFERSON — The City of Jefferson Common Council got a glimpse of a bright future Tuesday as developers took a first glimpse at the soon-to-be-completed solar farm on the city’s north side.
Representatives of Half Moon Ventures, a Chicago-based company that recently purchased the development, presented plans to the council for a renewable energy production facility slated to begin construction three years after talk of a solar field first got under way.
Green States Energy, a Florida-based company, approached the city in summer 2010 with plans to build a 100-acre solar energy farm on city-owned property that would produce 20 megawatts of electricity. That project was slated to be completed by late 2011 or early 2012.
Although construction on that project never moved forward, earlier this summer, Half Moon Ventures, which maintains a Milwaukee office, purchased a 100-percent interest in the project, gaining complete control over the future development. It intends to construct a seven-acre solar park housing 3,600 solar panels to produce 1 megawatt of electricity.
It is scheduled to open in December.
“We have entered into a supplemental agreement with Half Moon Ventures, and that supplemental agreement … also established the lease commencement date as today, Sept. 17,” said City Administrator Tim Freitag. “Earlier this evening, Kevin (Hirsch, Half Moon Ventures chief financial officer) provided a check in the amount of about $123,000 to the City of Jefferson for a 20-year prepaid lease.”
Hirsch said Half Moon, which bills itself as a “pioneer in renewable energy project development,” will approach the project from a financial angle rather than as a construction or engineering challenge.
“Renewable large projects today are chiefly a financing project to produce energy at the lowest possible cost with a renewable resource,” he said. “We were very excited to see this project come in front of us, and we only wish it were 20 Megawatts, as we told Tim countless times. But we still think this can be a wonderful project for the city and I hope you guys will see that, as well.”…
[READ MORE]
