Green light for Wisconsin’s largest wind project

January 12, 2010

Construction on Glacier Hills should begin mid-2010, for completion in late 2011

The Public Service Commission in Wisconsin has given a green light for a new 90-turbine wind farm to be built – what could become the largest wind farm in the state.

The Wisconsin Electric Power Company (WEPCO) wants to build the Glacier Hills wind farm in the towns of Randolph and Scott, in the north-east of Columbia County.

The facility would cost between $335 million and $435 million.

It will help as Wisconsin aims to source 10% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015 – a mandatory requirement of its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

WEPCO could use wind turbines each rated at between 1.5MW and 2.3MW. At the upper end of that scale, the entire project would generate 207 megawatts (MW) of renewable power.

Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2010, with projected completion late 2011.

“When built, Glacier Hills will be the largest wind farm in Wisconsin,” said the company’s Chairperson, Eric Callisto.

“Today’s action will not only provide the state with a facility that will increase the capacity of generation from wind by 30 to 46 percent, but also will allow the utility to provide needed renewable and low-carbon energy to meet future RPS requirements,” Mr Callisto added.

Milwaukee-based WEPCO filed for permission to build Glacier Hills back in 2008, with the Wisconsin public asked for its views on the project in May 2009, and hearings held during November.

Commissioner Mark Meyer said: “When we take applications up like this, we ask some individuals, businesses and families to take on more burden than others and it’s humbling when considering the individual sacrifice in cases like this.

“Yet, it is our obligation to make decisions when appropriate in order to provide reliable service and provide the kind of service that state law requires.”

WEPCO, which operates as We Energies, provides electricity for more than one million customers in southeastern and eastern Wisconsin and upper Michigan.

Most of its power sourced from coal, although since May 2008 it has operated the 145 MW Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center in Fond du Lac County – currently Wisconsin’s largest wind project.

That project was built by Alliant Wind Connect from June 2007, using 88 Vestas V82 wind turbines, each 397 feet high to the blade tip.

The company is currently developing plans for a $250 million, 50MW biomass-fuelled power plant at Domtar Corporation’s paper mill site in Rothschild, Wisconsin.