Sheboygan's Onion River Solar Project is now in service. Here's the impact it's expected to have.
Sheboygan County's solar farm is among several recently completed projects in Wisconsin, bolstering Alliant Energy's renewable footprint.
Alex Garner
TOWN OF HOLLAND — Alliant Energy’s 1,000-acre solar project is now in service in the town of Holland, after several years of planning and building.
Construction on the $200 million Onion River Solar Project, with an estimated capacity to power about 40,000 homes, finished in mid-December, according to company spokesperson Tony Palese, following groundbreaking in summer 2022.
The solar farm also has about 40 acres of native grass for pollinators, too. At its peak, the project created about 300 local jobs. Alliant estimates the Onion River project could generate about $18 million over 30 years.
Sheboygan County’s project is among five recently completed solar farms in Wisconsin — in Dodge, Grant, Green, Rock and Waushara counties — which the utility said tripled its solar generation capacity in Wisconsin. The remaining three projects could be done by the middle of the year. When finished, 12 solar farms could generate enough energy to power about 300,000 homes a year.
"Completing these projects is a huge milestone and a pivotal moment in our journey toward a brighter energy future,” David de Leon, Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin president, said in a news release. “We’re proud to leverage new technology and locally generated energy solutions to increase customer value and help avoid long-term costs.
"Adding this solar power to the grid is just one way we’re diversifying our energy generation portfolio and increasing customer access to clean, reliable, cost-effective energy," he continued.
2024 projects to expect in Sheboygan:Michaels, pickleball courts and apartments: Here are projects you can expect in 2024
Investment in solar energy is part of Alliant’s move to renewable energy, in conjunction with retiring coal-fired plants and building battery energy storage systems, part of the Clean Energy Blueprint. By 2030, Alliant aims to eliminate coal plants, expand renewables by more than 20% and grow battery storage by 6%.
Energy diversification is planned for Sheboygan, with the start of construction for a 99-megawatt BESS later this year and the retirement of the Edgewater Generating Station by 2025.
The Onion River project moved forward, despite resident complaints that their interests weren’t considered in the past, some concerned about habitat and animal impacts, lowered property values, weather volatility and harmful chemicals leakage.
A spokesperson for New York-based Range Power, a renewable energy developer that was pursuing the solar project before Alliant acquired it, told the Sheboygan Press in 2020 that solar panels don’t pose a material risk of toxicity and, if damaged, though they can withstand adverse weather conditions, would be repaired.
Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.