The decision to transition a sizable portion of their family’s farm from pastures and grain fields to thousands of solar panels was not an easy one for Duane and Tina Hinchley.
The couple owns Hinchley’s Dairy Farm in Cambridge, which is located 20 miles east of Madison. The farm totals approximately 2,600 acres.
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Michael Vickerman, policy director of Renew Wisconsin, says utilities’ efforts to block private solar companies from partnering with cities and other entities are aimed at protecting their monopolies. Testifying at an Iowa County Board meeting in 2018 (above), Vickerman spoke in favor of the Badger Hollow Solar Farm. At 300 megawatts, it was one of the Midwest’s largest utility-scale solar projects at that time. Photo taken Dec. 18, 2018.
File/Emily Hamer/Wisconsin Watch
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