Nearly 30 Megawatts of Local Solar Coming Soon  

Two new arrays in Dane County will serve the County, municipalities, local businesses, state government and the university. 

If you've driven on Highway 51 near the Dane County Regional Airport recently, you may have noticed solar panels at the airport. MGE partnered with Dane County to build a 9-megawatt (MW) solar array that will generate enough carbon-free electricity to provide the County with about 40% of the energy used by all of its facilities. The project came online in December 2020.  

With about 31,000 solar panels on 58 acres of County-owned land north of the airport, it is the largest solar installation in the state built for a single customer. MGE constructed and owns the array and sells the energy to Dane County under a Renewable Energy Rider (RER) agreement.  

MGE's innovative RER program grows clean energy in our community. Under an RER agreement, MGE partners with a large energy user to tailor a renewable energy solution to meet that customer's energy needs.  

 

Major solar project to be built in Fitchburg  

MGE received approval from state regulators in October to build the O'Brien Solar Fields. Located in Fitchburg, this project will generate 20 MW of carbon-free energy.  

When completed, there will be an educational kiosk with information about the project and additional educational opportunities will be available, including tours for local students. It is expected to come online in 2021 to serve:  

• City of Fitchburg 
• Placon 
• Promega Corporation 
• Tribe 9 Foods 
• University of Wisconsin-Madison 
• Willy Street Co-op 
• Wisconsin Department of Administration 

The O'Brien Solar Fields project also is being built under RER agreements with these customers. 
 

Clean energy partnerships advance MGE's goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 

These projects advance sustainability goals shared by our participating customers and by MGE. MGE is targeting net-zero carbon electricity by the year 2050. 

MGE also has flexible programs, such as Shared Solar and Green Power Tomorrow (GPT), for our electric customers who are interested in powering their household or business with clean energy. Shared Solar and GPT support the growth of locally generated clean energy. 

To achieve net-zero carbon electricity, MGE is growing its use of renewable energy, engaging customers around energy efficiency and facilitating the electrification of transportation, all of which are key strategies identified by the United States for achieving deep decarbonization. By working together, we can create a more sustainable future. 

 

published: Nov-17-2020