Three of the state’s major utilities are planning to spend almost $2 billion on five renewable energy projects as part of their plans to cut carbon emissions and shift to clean energy.
We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas and Electric filed plans with the Public Service Commission to acquire and build facilities that would cost around $1.9 billion combined. The five projects are expected to power about 250,000 homes. They include 500 megawatts of solar, around 180 megawatts of wind and 100 megawatts of battery storage.
The wind and solar facilities are being built by developers Invenergy and Qcells USA. They include the Dawn Harvest Solar Energy Center in Rock County, Saratoga Solar Energy Center in Wood County, Ursa Solar Park in Columbia County, Badger Hollow Wind Farm in Iowa and Grant counties and the Whitetail Wind Farm in Grant County.
“As we close our older, less efficient fossil fuel plants, we’re replacing that with clean energy, and these projects are going to be an important part of doing that,” We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said.
We Energies would own 80 percent of the projects. WPS and MGE would each own 10 percent.
We Energies and WPS, which are owned by WEC Energy Group, plan to invest nearly $8 billion in renewable energy, natural gas projects and storage in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee-based company said it’s part of a larger plan to save customers more than $2 billion over the next two decades.
What will it cost if they don’t?
Their gas infrastructure is crumbling. When it polar vortexes in Wisconsin, there is at least a day or two of "We can't keep up. Please use less gas." If they don't invest in renewables, I'm guessing they would invest that money in fixing that.