NEWS

1,400-acre Sheboygan County solar farm is approved despite residents' complaints

Diana Dombrowski
Sheboygan Press
A Ranger Power map of the Onion River solar project in the town of Holland shows where the solar farm will be built. The yellow shows the primary areas for the project and the blue shows alternate areas. Both will be fenced in.

SHEBOYGAN - The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin signed off Thursday on a 1,400-acre solar farm planned for the town of Holland that will power tens of thousands of homes. 

New York-based Ranger Power plans to start construction on the Onion River solar farm late this year and expects to complete work by late 2022.

While project manager Emily Straka expressed gratitude for what he described as the Commission's "ongoing commitment to bringing safe, clean and economical renewable energy resources to Wisconsin" in a news release Friday, some residents who live near the proposed solar farm have fought the project.

Ellie Hudovernik, who lives near the proposed solar farm, said Friday the Commission wasn't working for all the citizens involved.

Hudovernik and others opposed the solar farm on a wide range of grounds, saying it will be unsightly and noisy, that it might have negative effects on public health and the environment, and that the project has moved forward without full transparency.

Aside from concerns over the impact the solar farm will have on the land, Hudovernik worries she and her husband, Robert Hudovernik, won't be able to sell their house at market value once the solar panels are installed.

"The majority of public comments were against the solar project," Robert Hudovernik said in an email Friday. "Solar farms belong on roofs, and 'brown' unusable land, not our prime farm fields."

The 150-megawatt solar farm project will include rows of photovoltaic panels spaced about 16 to 20 feet from each other. The entire project area encompasses 1,900 acres.

Landowners will lease their land to be used for the solar panels, which will be operated on the land for 30 to 35 years.

After written approval is received in the next month, Alliant Energy plans to acquire the solar farm and operate it once it's built.

The Onion River solar project is part of Alliant Energy's goal to add nearly 1,100 megawatts of solar generation in Wisconsin by 2023. The project is one of six in the state.

Alliant expects those six to be up and running by the end of 2022 and has applications in for another six solar projects. It expects approval for those by spring of 2022.

Contact Diana Dombrowski at (920) 242-7079 or ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana