Vista Sands Solar Farm

Wisconsin-grown clean energy

Vista Sands Solar Farm is a solar project proposed near the Village of Plover and the towns of Plover, Buena Vista and Grant in Portage County. The 1,200-megawatt project will:

  • Bring a total capital investment of over $1.5 billion.
  • Generate $6.5million annually for local communities hosting the project.
  • Create approximately 500 jobs during construction and about 50 permanent jobs.
  • Improve water quality for local waterways.
  • Provide native pollinator habitat among the solar arrays.
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water overuse and contamination

Vista Sands brings relief for water-depleted Central Sands

For years, the Central Sands area of Wisconsin has been plagued by low aquifer levels and contaminated drinking water wells due to intensive agricultural practices in the region. Sandy soils and shallow groundwater aquifers in the Central Sands make the area particularly vulnerable to water contamination from pesticides and fertilizers and reduced surface water flow from intensive irrigation.

Vista Sands solar farm will take 56 high-capacity wells out of normal operation.

In a typical year these wells pump one billion gallons of water from aquifers and account for 20% of the total high-capacity well withdrawal in the Greater Buena Vista Area. In dry years, the wells pump 2 billion gallons, worsening aquifer impacts when waters are already stressed.

Vista Sands will also drastically reduce nitrate and pesticide use.

The area currently receives 3 million pounds of fertilizer and 73,000 gallons of insecticide every year, which will be significantly reduced if not completely eliminated because of the project.

What about the Greater Prairie Chicken?

The vast majority of the project would be on what is currently intensively-farmed conventional agriculture land. None of it will be built on existing Greater Prairie Chicken habitat. The biggest driver of prairie chicken decline has been the conversion of grassland to conventional agriculture, and this project will help mitigate that.

Want to learn more about projected environmental benefits of Vista Sands and research related to the Prairie Chicken? Read our Science Director’s testimony to the Public Service Commission

 

1.3 gigawatts (GW)

The biggest step yet on our path to net-zero in Wisconsin

Local Benefits of Solar

Solar energy can provide benefits far beyond climate change mitigation. In many cases, solar development offers additional benefits to the people and places hosting the project. These co-benefits include increased tax base, groundwater protection, increased landowner return, and habitat restoration. By focusing on the needs of the people, community, and environment around the solar project, the local benefits alone can be reason enough to support utility-scale solar.

In Wisconsin, the state’s utility aid fund pays local governments hosting clean energy developments. When completed and operational, Vista Sands Solar will generate approximately $6.5 million in annual payments for local governments to use at their discretion. The increased tax base will provide additional support for community services.
The project is also expected to generate:

Millions of dollars in new earnings to businesses in Portage County during the construction phase.

500 jobs during the construction phase.

50 permanent jobs.

Utility-scale solar developments offer benefits to both agriculture and ecosystems by improving soil health, retaining water, nurturing native species, and supporting native pollinators, which in turn support local food production. Solar farms can also help farmers and landowners diversify their income by providing a reliable, drought-resistant revenue stream. This steady income means that farmers are less vulnerable to fluctuations in market prices, uncertain trade regimes, and changing weather patterns, helping farmers stay in business. At the end of its useful life, the project will be decommissioned, and the land will be available for all future potential uses, including traditional agriculture.

A solar project’s environmental benefits can extend beyond the climate and air quality benefits of displacing fossil fuel generation when the facility is sited in a way where its physical footprint will enhance local environmental quality rather than displacing important natural habitat. Nutrients—specifically phosphorus and nitrogen—and other chemicals like pesticides that are inputs on agricultural fields get washed into nearby waterways with stormwater or snowmelt, or flow through the soil into groundwater. Solar facilities vegetated with perennial grassland can reduce this water pollution by not requiring nutrient application and greatly reducing soil erosion. This reduced erosion and runoff contributes to improved local water quality.

Additional environmental benefits from replacing the row cropped fields with solar farms featuring native vegetation include enhanced pollinator habitat and increased soil carbon sequestration. A recent study modeling ecosystem services at solar energy facilities in Midwestern states found that a solar facility planted with native plants improves pollinator habitat by 300% and provides 65% more carbon storage than pre-solar row cropping agricultural land use.

Vista Sands Solar Farm will generate millions of dollars in health benefits every year by displacing fossil fuel generation. These positive health impacts include avoided heart attacks, asthma exacerbation, and even reductions in early mortality. Public health benefits are not limited to the communities in Portage County, everyone in Wisconsin and beyond can enjoy longer, healthier lives by transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy.

Read more:

Analysis: Solar farms produce 100 times more energy per acre than corn ethanol

There is a concern that we’re going to take too much farmland out of production to site solar panels, but we’re already using a lot of land to harvest energy in the form of corn ethanol. This analysis demonstrates how, with solar, we can harvest more energy using far less land.
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Three Big Things

Wisconsin needs more renewable energy on the grid. Much more. And we need it fast. While the transition to clean energy is achievable, it’s no surprise that Wisconsin must drastically pick up the pace. Based on the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, we’ve only installed about 3% of the solar capacity needed by 2050.
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