Local Governments Voice Opposition To Proposed Solar Arrays

Several solar energy projects across Wisconsin are facing community pushback, including two large projects being opposed by local governments.

Town officials in northeast and central Wisconsin communities have come out against two utility-scale solar projects proposed in their communities. And village officials in south central Wisconsin delayed a vote on a small solar project after an hours-long public hearing last week.

The debate comes as a bill in the state Legislature would require local governments sign off on major solar or wind projects in their communities before state regulators.

Two of the big projects facing pushback include Fox Solar Project in the town of Morgan in Oconto County, and the Akron Solar Project in the town of Rome in Adams County and the town of Saratoga in Wood County. Both are being developed by Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources and require state approval but not local approval.

The Fox Solar Project would generate 100 megawatts, while the Akron Solar Project would generate 200 megawatts. For context, 100 megawatts of solar energy can power around 15,332 homes in Wisconsin, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The projects also include battery storage — 50 megawatts at Fox and 200 at Akron.

Morgan Town Board Chair Lori Witthuhn and Rome Town Board Chair Carl Hasdal both submitted written comments to the state Public Service Commission opposing the projects.

The town of Rome has filed documents to be an intervenor in the Akron Solar case before the Public Service Commission, and the town of Morgan plans to do the same in the Fox Solar Project.

“We are locked out on the whole thing,” Hasdal said. “We don’t have any say in the matter, and that’s just not right.”

Communities in Oconto, Adams counties oppose solar projects

In Oconto County, the Fox Solar Project has been the cause of controversy for several years. Two town board members were recalled in 2022 after residents learned they had agreed to lease farmland for the project.

Witthuhn, who took office through the recall, said nearly 70 percent of town residents opposed the solar project in a 2023 referendum.

“It’s pretty obvious to me that people in this township do not want it,” she said.

Witthuhn and Oconto County Board Supervisor David Behrend said NextEra Energy hasn’t done enough to gather and respond to community feedback. Behrend, who lives in Morgan, said the company held community meetings, but it feels like they’ve done so to check a box.

“They think they can come into any town and do as they wish,” he said.

Behrend said residents are opposed to the project because of concerns about lost farmland, concerns about the reliability of solar and worries that batteries could catch fire.

In a statement, a spokesperson for NextEra said the developer remains committed to building the Fox Solar Project and working through the state approval process.

“We are excited about the prospect of delivering a project that will provide approximately $12.5 million in tax revenue to the local community,” the statement read.

NextEra did not respond to a request for comment on the Akron Solar Project.

Hasdal said the company hosted a couple meetings with the community about the project it’s planning in Adams and Wood counties, but only allowed for limited feedback. He said the project is very unpopular in the community.

“This is just not what the people want here,” Hasdal said.

Hasdal, Witthuhn and Behrend all said they’d like to see local communities have more of a say in the process of building utility-scale renewable energy.

“It’s important that people have a voice, whether you’re for it or against it,” Witthuhn said.

Bill would require local governments approve solar, wind projects

Currently in Wisconsin, electric facilities that generate 100 megawatts or more need approval from the Public Service Commission, but not from municipalities. That includes renewable energy projects, like wind and solar, as well as gas or coal.

A Republican bill would require solar or wind projects producing 15 megawatts or more to get approval from each city, village and town hosting the project. The PSC would not be able to OK solar or wind projects without local approvals.

“While many energy projects are important, we must prioritize local control and the wishes of the communities in which projects are located,” said state Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, in a letter to officials in Morgan. “It remains my hope that we pass (the bill), and put power back into the hands of those who have been elected to lead.”

Rick Coelho, rural energy campaign manager at the nonprofit Clean Wisconsin, said the bill could make it harder for Wisconsin to respond to expected increases in energy demand from data centers and other industrial development.

“Solar in particular is amongst the fastest to deploy and cheapest energy sources out there,” he said. “Do we want to slow down the approval of fast and cheap energy at a time of growing energy demand and higher energy bills for people across Wisconsin?”

Coelho said much of the pushback solar energy projects are facing, both in Wisconsin and nationally, stems from an unease over changes in land use.

“A solar farm replacing an agricultural field is really a land use change,” he said. “I think that change leads to a lot of big feelings.”

He said developers are required to submit a decommissioning plan to state regulators detailing what will happen at the end of a project’s useful life. He said there’s evidence that solar projects can provide benefits to the soil on the lands hosting those projects.

Coelho added that the Public Service Commission’s approval process for energy projects is thorough and includes opportunities for residents to weigh in at public hearings and in written comments.

“I’m not going to say that there’s no room for improvement at the PSC, but I do think it’s an organization that takes its mandate to study these projects seriously,” Coelho said.

Vote delayed on small solar project in Waunakee

A small solar project in the village of Waunakee also faced pushback during a Village Board meeting last week. Officials were slated to vote on a permit for the Six Mile Solar Project, a 6-megawatt solar facility developed by OneEnergy Renewables, based in Madison and Seattle.

The project would be built on land that OneEnergy would lease from Madison Gas and Electric, according to Project Manager Nolan Stumph. If approved and built, he told the Village Board that the project would also help stabilize the local energy grid.

“That reduces the need to import fuel from out of state or out of country and also reduces the need to transmit energy long distances since there’s a local generating asset,” he said. “These projects also create lots of jobs.”

But some residents who spoke out during the meeting cited concerns that the solar project would change the character of the rural community.

Waunakee resident John Aronica, who sits on the village’s board of review and board of appeals, said he cares about the preservation of local land, and suggested OneEnergy either put the project “someplace else or don’t put it any place.”

“We are not against solar energy. That is not our issue,” he said. “Our issue is that it’s inappropriate where it’s located, where they want to put it.”

While many spoke out against the project, some community members did speak in favor of it. That includes Waunakee resident Linda Ashmore who said solar energy is “one of the cleanest and most cost-effective forms of energy.”

“It’s one of those things where (people say), ‘Not in my backyard but we do want power,’” she said.

The Waunakee Village Board ultimately postponed voting on the permit for the solar project. According to the village administrator, the village does not have a date established yet on when the project will come back up for consideration.

Several solar projects across Wisconsin are facing community opposition was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.