All across the country, America’s investor-owned electric companies are working to deliver resilient clean energy to customers. Over the past 10 years, more than half of new growth capacity in the United States was wind and solar. Electric companies provide more than 70 percent of the solar energy in the country, with solar being deployed every day.

In Wisconsin, electric companies recently made an advancement that will increase the state’s output of solar energy.

In March, WEC Energy Group subsidiaries We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) purchased the Paris Solar-Battery Park, marking the first universal-scale solar and battery project in Wisconsin. The purchase was approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.

We Energies and WPS will own 90 percent of the project. MGE will own the remaining 10 percent.

The project will be located on about 1,500 acres in Paris, Wis., and will host up to 750,000 solar panels. The facility will feature 200 megawatts of solar generation which is enough to power 60,000 homes, and 110 megawatts of battery storage – which can store solar-generated energy to provide electricity when the sun isn’t shining.

“We appreciate the commission and staff’s thorough review and the commission’s approval of this historic project. Combining universal-scale solar with battery storage will allow us to extend the benefits of renewable energy and provide our customers ‘sunshine after sunset,’” said Scott Lauber, president and CEO of WEC Energy Group. “The Paris Solar-Battery Park is part of our commitment to invest $3.5 billion in renewable energy projects in the coming years. These investments will help us aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing affordable, reliable and clean energy for a sustainable future.”

"We are working every day toward deep carbon reductions and net-zero carbon electricity by 2050. The Paris Solar-Battery Park continues the progress we've already made increasing renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions, and advancing new technologies to benefit all our customers," said Jeff Keebler, MGE chairman, president and CEO. "MGE's first addition of universal-scale battery storage is a new and important technology to help us reach our sustainable energy goals."

Construction of the Paris Solar-Battery Park is scheduled to start in 2022, with the project expected to go into service in 2023.

For more information on this project and WEC Energy Group’s clean energy goals, visit its website. To learn more about MGE’s clean energy goals, visit its website.

Tags : Clean Energy, All