In an effort to replace the energy production of the soon-to-be-decommissioned Allen S. King plant in Oak Park Heights, Xcel Energy has set in motion plans for a large-scale solar farm spread across thousands of acres in western Wisconsin.
While the project would provide cleaner energy for the grid and a welcome windfall for some landowners and local governments, the prospect has rankled some nearby homeowners who have challenged it in community meetings and an online petition.
The Ten Mile Creek Solar Project calls for up to 650 megawatts of solar panel production on 5,000 acres spread across some 40,000 acres in St. Croix County. The King plant generates about 600 megawatts.
The panels would be installed on parcels of private property, where Xcel would enter into 35-year leasing rights with landowners. The project would occur in phases, with the first phase potentially bringing up to 350 megawatts, spread across about 2,500 acres.
Of the total 5,000 acres needed, Xcel Energy officials said they have already secured leasing rights with landowners totaling 3,000 acres.
Why St. Croix County?
While the King plant’s coal generation is planned to sunset, Xcel Energy Regional Vice President Brian Elwood told the Pioneer Press the facility and area still contain transmission lines and energy grid connections needed for the move toward solar generation.
Another 15-mile transmission line is also in the planning stages to deliver energy from the solar project in Wisconsin to the existing grid connection at the King plant. When it comes to acreage, more undeveloped land is available on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River, closer to those grid connections, than in Washington County on the Minnesota side.
A project map has yet to be released, but early concepts have shown the project residing in the middle of St. Croix County, between the cities of New Richmond, Hammond and Baldwin. A detailed map would be released 60 days before Xcel formally submits an application with the state.
Some landowners in the impacted areas are already concerned.
Signs opposing an Xcel Energy solar farm line the road in rural Hammond Township, Wis. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
On Jan. 7, the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors held an informational session regarding the project during their regularly scheduled meeting. The presentation, discussion and community input lasted more than two hours, as residents filled the council room, the overflow room and hallways.
Residents brought up concerns about wildlife, the loss of agricultural land and possible impacts to property values, among other issues.
Some 4,500 people have already added their names to a change.org petition to stop the project, levying the same concerns.
At the Jan. 7 meeting, Elwood presented the solar farm’s plans so far, and outlined future timelines. Speaking to the Pioneer Press, Elwood said the public will have several opportunities to bring comment as the project moves along.
“The state of Wisconsin has a very thorough and comprehensive process for any energy projects,” Elwood said. “The Wisconsin DNR also does a very, very thorough review of these projects, and will look at these types of concerns.”
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If approved, the solar farm would bring in new money to the cities, townships and counties where the project is located. Wisconsin has a “shared revenue” program, one portion of which provides municipalities with aid for providing services to public utilities.
According to Xcel estimates, the first phase of the project when operational would provide about $1 million annually to the cities where the facilities are located and to St. Croix County. If the full 650 megawatt project was approved and operational, the project would provide $3 million annually, paid in combination to those cities and St. Croix County.
Those funds would be split, with the county receiving about two-thirds and the group of municipalities divvying up the remaining portion, according to figures provided by St. Croix County officials.
Property values
This snow-covered cornfield is one of several that Xcel Energy reportedly plans on converting into solar farms in rural Hammond Township, Wis. Landowners and local governments would receive payments but nearby homeowners believe their property values will fall and wildlife could be harmed. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Dan Weatherly recently looked out the window of his Hammond Township home, seeing prairie views and farmland, something that originally led him to the area almost 20 years ago. He created the online petition against the solar farm last November.
“We would love to see the entire project scrapped,” Weatherly said. “We think it interjects health, safety and economic risks to the residents of St. Croix County.”
If the undeveloped land next door to him ends up part of the solar farm, the panels would be a stone’s throw from his home, he said. When his family moved to the property, they researched that the land next door was zoned agricultural, figuring that either they would keep their farm views or the area could someday be additional houses.
“We were fine with that. We’re OK with housing, we’re OK with (agriculture). It’s not zoned industrial, so we had no way to be on notice or to predict this would happen,” Weatherly said.
The residents are concerned how the project might negatively impact property values and harm wildlife, among several other issues. If they are unable to stop the project, Weatherly hopes the solar farms would be at least one mile from residential subdivisions, in order to protect property values.
Recent state analysis in other Wisconsin solar projects has shown impacts have varied from negative to negligible.
Weatherly pointed toward a literature review that concluded housing values in rural areas near utility-scale solar projects decrease from 2.5 percent to 5.8 percent. The study came from researchers at the Louisiana State University Center for Energy Studies.
Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed study by Loyola University-Chicago looked at 70 utility-scale solar facilities built in the Midwest from 2009 to 2022, finding that the solar farms generally didn’t swing property values very much negatively or positively.
The study reviewed the solar projects, as well as the thousands of public comments registered in each of them.
“The broader takeaway from our review is that people are very concerned about this in meetings, but they probably shouldn’t be,” said Gilbert Michaud, one of the study’s authors. He is an assistant professor in the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola. “It’s a fine argument, and I’m not saying people shouldn’t talk about it, but it’s not as big a deal as you might think it is.”
What comes next?
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The project is far from shovel-ready right now. Xcel officials need to file an application with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, which would grant approval or deny the project. If the commission granted the project a certificate of public necessity, it would pre-empt local ordinances.
That means land currently zoned as agricultural could potentially serve energy needs instead.
Elwood said Xcel expects to file an application for the project in mid-2025, which kicks off a 12- to 18-month review process by the Public Service Commission.
If eventually approved, the first phase of the Ten Mile Creek Solar Project could begin in late 2027, with a goal of starting service by late 2029, according to Xcel officials.
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