Public Hearing Held to Discuss Potential Solar Farm in Eden

Town of Eden Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Thursday Aug.10. At the meeting, OneEnergy Renewables gave a presentation on their project to those who attended. In their presentation they estimated that the power from this solar farm would be enough to power 1,600 average Wisconsin homes.

It included a joint public hearing which allowed the community members, the board and the application presenter time to ask and answer questions.

This application is for a six Megawatt solar energy farm inside of 30 acres on Highway F. The area is currently zoned as agricultural. Parcel numbers for this project are T06-14-18-23-14-001-00 and T06-14-18-23-15-001-00.

The solar farm would connect to preexisting wooden powerlines in the town along Highway F.

Bifacial panels would be used in the farm so energy from the sun can be collected on both sides of the panels. This is useful in the winter according to OneEnergy. 27 acres of the 30 acres would be fenced in and house the panels.

The energy would be locally produced and locally consumed. The company would make utility aid payments over the next 30 years to both the Town of Eden and Fond du Lac County.

There were several residents who spoke at the public hearing portion after the presentation. After the residents spoke, the representatives from OneEnergy were allowed to respond to their questions or comments.

One resident questioned if the panels were compatible with the rural identity of Eden and if it was a viable site. They also asked where the power would be going. The representatives responded that the power would go to homes in Eden on the existing lines. Additionally they mentioned that they know it is a viable site due to their testing and mapping of the land.

Another resident who lives on Happy Road, not far from the potential project, was concerned about the length of time it would take to dismantle the project once it is complete. They were also questioning how long it would take to fix/replace damaged panels. OneEnergy responded that conditions could be made on their part that the Town of Eden has security if the panels are damaged and the company carries insurance to manage costs of potential repair.

A third resident who lives on Highway F across from the proposed site of the project asked what would happen if the panels get damaged in a weather event. Lastly, a resident also questioned clean up and what would happen if the project gets walked out on and isn’t completed or is abandoned. OneEnergy responded in a similar way to this question and the one before as they did to the second resident’s question.

OneEnergy mentioned that oftentimes with projects like these the utilities in the town often buy the project. If the utilities do buy the project, any conditions or leases will transfer over to the utility so they must follow the same rules that were put in place by the Town of Eden.

Concerns were brought up by residents about raised utility rates if the utility company bought the project. OneEnergy said that rates tend to rise no matter what and whether there is a solar farm there or not. They said they would make sure it is economically sensible before looking into that option.

The Town Board members asked a few questions as well. A summary of the questions and their answers are as follows:

If utilities buy the project, will they use the same panels? OneEnergy responded, they will or they will use similar ones wattage wise.

Will they let the town know if utilities were to buy the project? They said that they would alert the town.

Would the land be flattened where the project would be? Limiting the amount of flattening based on topography is what they said in response. They would try to preserve the natural grading but a small amount would have to be done.

Some additional information that was given by OneEnergy was about the timeline for the project. If accepted they would begin construction next year. Construction would take around four to six months to complete. Some proposed working hours they gave were 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. That can change depending on what the board decides and what potential conditions are added.

The project, if approved, would likely start in the spring or early summer and end around September. Panels would only take around a few weeks to be fully installed.

The record is still open for the public hearing until Thursday, Aug. 27 at the end of the day. If you have any comments to add to the deliberation, send them to the clerk via email at clerk@townofedenwi.gov.

Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 6:30 p.m. is the next meeting to discuss the potential solar farm further.