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Surging solar investments by Wis. utilities to add nearly 3 GW by 2024 from SNL Renewable Energy Weekly Surging solar investments by Wis. utilities to add nearly 3 GW by 2024Section: DATA DISPATCH; Exclusive Byline: Krizka Danielle Del Rosario, Michael Lustig From just a few hundred megawatts installed as of the end of 2020, Wisconsin anticipates a nearly 10-fold increase in solar-powered generation resources by the end of 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The shift is driven by local utilities, which have established long-term commitments to eliminate carbon emissions from their power generation portfolios and are already planning for the retirement of additional coal-fired capacity. Wisconsin in the late 1990s was among the first U.S. states to enact legislation setting a renewable portfolio standard for its utilities. The current legislative standard, passed in 2005, calls for distribution utilities to get 10% of their retail sales from renewable resources as of Dec. 31, 2015. According to the state's most recent annual compliance report, for 2019, that level has been surpassed every year since 2013. In recent months, utilities have accelerated their addition of renewable resources, particularly solar, and a number of transactions have advanced during the first part of 2021. On April 22, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission verbally approved Alliant Energy Corp. subsidiary Wisconsin Power and Light Co.'s acquisition of six solar projects totaling 675 MW from four developers. All are expected to be in operation in 2022 or 2023. Alliant initially announced the purchase in May 2020, saying it was the first stage of a plan to add 1,000 MW of solar resources in Wisconsin by 2023. That announcement came just a few days after Alliant said it would retire its 415-MW coal-fired Edgewater plant in Sheboygan County, Wis., by the end of 2022. The remaining unit at the plant has been operating since 1985. Overall, Alliant plans to add 1,100 MW of solar in the state. In March, the company announced plans to add another 414 MW at six more facilities, five of which it intends to develop on its own. "These investments are another part of our clean energy blueprint, developed through an extensive and transparent planning process and utilizing our best project execution," Alliant Chairman, CEO and President John Larsen said May 7 during the company's first-quarter 2021 earnings call. Alliant, which also has electric utility operations in Iowa, announced in July 2020 that it will achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. A larger Wisconsin coal plant, the 1,163-MW Columbia Energy Center in Columbia County, is slated for retirement in 2024. Alliant, through Wisconsin Power and Light, owns a 52.5% interest in the plant. WEC Energy Group Inc. subsidiary Wisconsin Public Service Corp. owns a 28.1% stake, and MGE Energy Inc. subsidiary Madison Gas and Electric Co. owns the remaining 19.4%. WEC Energy, with electric and natural gas utility operations in four Midwestern states, announced its own 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target in July 2020. Madison Gas and Electric, with a service area primarily around Madison, Wis., and other areas in the southern part of the state, made its 2050 net-zero carbon emissions commitment earlier, in May 2019. WEC Energy, through its two in-state utilities, Wisconsin Public Service, or WPS, and Wisconsin Electric Power Co., has teamed up with MGE to purchase several planned solar projects. On April 20, the companies opened a docket (Docket 5-BS-258) at the PSC to acquire from Invenergy LLC the Koshkonong Solar Energy Center, which is comprised of 300 MW of solar capacity and 165 MW of battery storage. The Koshkonong project is the third this year to date that the Wisconsin utilities are seeking to acquire from Invenergy. In February, it was the Paris Solar Farm Project (Docket 5-BS-254), comprising 200 MW of solar capacity plus 110 MW of storage. In March, it was the Darien Solar Farm (Rock - Walworth) (Docket 5-BS-255), which has 250 MW of solar and 75 MW of storage. In each case, the WEC Energy companies will own 90% of the facility and MGE will own the remaining 10%. The WEC Energy companies and MGE are also splitting ownership of the 300-MW Badger Hollow Solar Farm, due to come online in two phases later this year and in 2022, with WPS and Wisconsin Electric Power, under the name We Energies, each owning 100 MW and MGE owning the remaining 100 MW. At the 150-MW Two Creeks Solar Project, which began operating in November 2020, WPS owns two-thirds and MGE owns the remaining third. The Wisconsin utilities' development partnerships and resource additions are not limited to solar. In March, Wisconsin Public Service and MGE applied to the PSC to acquire a planned 92-MW wind farm, called Red Barn (Docket 5-BS-256), to be located in Grant County, Wis. The WEC Energy utility will own 90% and MGE will own 10%. WEC Energy President and CEO Kevin Fletcher said during the company's first-quarter 2021 earnings call that its investment in the four projects will total about $1.5 billion. "We expect these projects to deliver significant operating cost savings and maintain reliability," he said. |
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