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Wisconsin town pushes back on 300 MW solar plus BESS system

Lawyers for the town of Christiana, Wisconsin–whose 1,300 residents live around 30 minutes southeast of the state capital of Madison–filed a lawsuit in late May seeking to overturn a regulatory decision approving a $650 million, 300 MW solar facility and 165 MW battery storage system being developed by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Koshkonong plant was approved as a merchant generator, limiting […]

Lawyers for the town of Christiana, Wisconsin–whose 1,300 residents live around 30 minutes southeast of the state capital of Madison–filed a lawsuit in late May seeking to overturn a regulatory decision approving a $650 million, 300 MW solar facility and 165 MW battery storage system being developed by Chicago-based Invenergy.

The Koshkonong plant was approved as a merchant generator, limiting the extent of regulatory review. But plans call for the solar facility to be sold to Madison Gas and Electric and utilities owned by WEC Energy Group. A separate regulatory filing covers that proposed transaction. The sales price includes $412 million (or $1,373/kW) for the solar facility and $237 million (or $1,436/kW) for the battery story system.

Invenergy contracted with landowners for around 4,600 acres for the roughly 2,300-acre solar array in the towns of Christiana and Deerfield in Dane County. Plans call for construction to start later this year with an in-service date of May 31, 2024. The facility would be operated by Invenergy Services.

Regulators determined in early May that the solar facility falls under a section of Wisconsin administrative code that limit its review and require neither an environmental assessment (EA) nor an environmental impact statement (EIS). The commission said that because the project is proposed by an independent power producer, it does not review the project cost or need. It said that the cost to Wisconsin utilities would be reviewed in the separate project-sale proceeding.

The battery energy storage system (BESS) falls under a different part of state code, leading regulators to prepare an EA to evaluate the location of the project and its potential environmental, community, and private property impacts. 

In its lawsuit, the town alleged that approval of there Koshkonong solar project was improperly granted, in part because the plant will not be operated as a merchant facility. The lawsuit also claims that approval counteracts local development and planning authority, and would have an adverse environmental impact.

The lawsuit alleged that “The facility design, location, and route are not in the public interest considering alternative sources of supply, alternative locations or routes, including alternatives the Commission failed to develop, in violation of its non-discretionary duties, and by the individual hardships, engineering, economic, safety, reliability, and environmental burdens imposed by the Project.”

Local media said that some residents objected to the project’s proximity to homes and an elementary school. Others expressed concerns about the plant’s potential to create stray voltage or the batteries sparking fires.

Michael Vickerman, policy director for RENEW Wisconsin, was quoted as saying that concerns about stray voltage were “a red herring.”

“This lawsuit is the result of a couple of individuals and Town of Christiana government that just don’t like solar on agricultural land,” Vickerman was quoted as saying. “That’s all it comes down to.”

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