Compared to Wisconsin, Michigan’s wind capacity is four times higher. Minnesota: six times higher. Illinois: ten times higher. And Iowa: a whopping 17 times higher wind capacity than we have here in Wisconsin! There are many reasons we should be producing more homegrown energy in Wisconsin, and to do that, we need to speak up and support building new wind farms in our communities.
Wind works in Wisconsin
Wind energy is a highly efficient, profitable, made-in-Wisconsin product that contributes to a clean and healthy environment. Even though it’s not as blustery here as in the Dakotas or offshore, we still have plenty of wind blowing through our state that could be harnessed to help meet our energy demands in a significant way. While we need more rooftop solar and smaller-scale renewable energy solutions, the large energy production from wind farms clearly shows why this technology needs to be implemented at scale. In just one minute, a wind turbine can power a typical Wisconsin home for an entire day!
Community-wide benefits
Economic benefits of wind projects are vast for farmers and rural communities. By leasing out some of their land to host wind turbines – which farmers can continue to farm around – rural landowners are able to incorporate this stable, long-term income into their farm business plan. With more family farms struggling to make ends meet and going out of business, these leases can be an economic lifeline. Wind leases help diversify farm income, keeping more farms productive and viable to pass onto the next generation.
Income to individual farmers, however, is only a fraction of the economic benefits that utility-scale wind projects bring. Wisconsin state law requires that owners of projects over a specified size pay into a utility aid fund that goes directly to the local communities hosting the project. This amount increased in 2024. For a large-scale wind project, an annual payment of $2,000 per megawatt is split between the municipality (town, village, or city) and county hosting the project. An additional $1,500 per megawatt is paid to both the municipality and the county. The first payment applies to all electric generation facilities, and the second is a bonus for alternative energy facilities like wind and solar. That adds up to $5,000 per megawatt per year going directly to the local governments hosting the wind project within their borders. And that payment is made every year for the lifetime of the wind project, which spans decades. For a 600-MW total project like Uplands Wind, that’s $3 million dollars per year spread across the host communities. That is a game changing amount of money, and I have no doubt that Southwest Wisconsin residents have a plethora of good ideas for how to put it to use.
We need to be for something
Yet, despite the benefits to the local economy and global climate, proposals for new wind projects are facing some opposition. We need more people to speak up in support of these wind projects. Of course, this is an issue that extends beyond wind energy. The reality is people are more likely to get fired up and fight something they don’t like than cheerlead a vision they support. In fact, there is a robust discussion in the environmental community about how we shift that dynamic from blocking bad things to supporting the things we need. This is particularly important in this unprecedented period of funding for environmental projects made possible by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. The environmental movement cut its teeth opposing things – fossil fuels, air pollution, pipelines, coal plants, toxic chemicals. Building support for something isn’t second nature for many environmentalists. But the reality is, to protect the places we love and that sustain us, we need to build new, different infrastructure, because what we have now is harming us, and we desperately need an alternative. It’s not easy to speak up on a controversial topic. We all want to be nice and don’t want to upset neighbors. But it is possible, and I would say necessary, to have civil conversations with those we don’t agree with, and to bring important facts and perspectives to the public dialogue.
We need you to speak up for clean energy and a healthier future. Especially if you live in Southwest Wisconsin or another part of the state where a wind or solar development is under discussion, please get in touch if you have any questions about how to be a strong advocate for renewable energy and the benefits they bring to your local community. Your voice and your support can make a big difference.
Uplands Wind
Wisconsin trails in wind energy from a lack of project development over the last decade, but recent proposals for new wind projects in our state are cause for excitement. One example is Uplands Wind, a proposed project in the counties of Lafayette, Iowa, and Grant in Southwest Wisconsin. Uplands Wind is comprised of two 300-megawatt (MW) wind projects, for a total of 600 MWs. This project is expected to seek approval from the Public Service Commission this summer.
Join our Action Network to support wind projects in Wisconsin.
