Science & Environment| Science & Environment

Thursday’s 2-0 vote by the Public Service Commission allowed Invenergy to construct the Koshkonong Solar Energy Center, which is located on approximately 2,400 acres west-of-Cambridge.

The 465-megawatt solar plus-storage facility will generate enough energy to power approximately a third of the county’s homes.

Koshkonong, the 12th largest solar project approved by Commission, is the first of its type in Dane County. It contains the largest battery storage component approved in Wisconsin.

Madison Gas and Electric and We Energies, three utilities, are looking to purchase the project at $649 million. This is to help them replace coal-fired power plant with carbon-free energy.

This case is just a reflection of where we are at the transition, said Ellen Nowak. This will be more for the state and its residents.

Rebecca Valcq (PSC Chair) stated that the commission has an obligation ensure that the state has adequate generation resources. These resources have to be built in someone’s backyard.

It rises up to the level of BANANA — build absolutely everything anywhere near anything, Valcq claimed. We don’t have this luxury. We face a transition, which has been announced.

After opposition claimed that Tyler Huebner, commissioner for Koshkonong, had acted in bias when he advocated for the project before joining it, he resigned.

The project has been met with fierce opposition by neighbors, Christiana, the Cambridge School district, and the village of Cambridge, as well as activists who have opposed other utility projects in southern Wisconsin.

They claim the industrial-scale project is going to forever alter the rural landscape in Cambridge and landlock their bedroom community, which has very little land for new housing. They are concerned about the risks of living near a 165-megawatt lithiumion battery array. However, they argue that there are cheaper ways to reduce carbon emissions.

Supporters included the Sierra Club, Clean Wisconsin, and Dane County sustainability organizations. They argued that the project was necessary to make the quick transition to clean energy that climate scientists believe is necessary to slow down climate change.

According to the International Energy Agency, this will require the world to quadruple its current pace of solar and wind development. This will translate into four projects of the same size as Koshkonong each day for the next ten years.

Environmentalists claim that solar panels are less harmful than the alternatives and that the project will reduce runoff and improve water purity.

Opponents claim that the project will be beneficial to a few landowners at the expense their neighbors views and property value, while wasting prime farmland.

Dennis Lund, who has agreed that he will lease approximately 500 acres of his land for solar panel production, said that farmers need the income in order to be profitable and not have to sell their land.

He said, “We feel like we’re in a zoo” for the glorification by those who like to see what we do.” They don’t care whether we survive or fail.

Opponents also challenged lease agreements between developers and farmers, arguing that they violate a provision in state constitution that restricts long term leases on farmland.

The challenge was dismissed by the commission, who claimed it was based on a misreading the 174-year old document and failed to take into account existing laws and court rulings.

The commission failed to consider the potential value of the project to ratepayers. This question will be raised when the commission decides whether to allow utilities to purchase the plant.

Opponents accuse the utilities company and the developer of using a legal loophole for regulatory oversight. The commission however rejected that argument.

Invenergy, an unregulated company, is not required to justify the cost or need for a project. MGE and other utilities which pass the costs on to ratepayers with interest are held to a higher standard.

Invenergy insists that the site-and-acquire method used in most utility-scale projects approved to date is in compliance with the law.