Solar power hot in Wisconsin

Last year was the biggest,
but 2016 could top that

It could be another big year for solar power development in Wisconsin.

Last year was the biggest, and this year looks to top even that.

From the group Renew Wisconsin, Tyler Huebner expects to see more solar installations in the state in 2016 than last year’s record 7.5 megawatts. 

Huebner says La Crosse-based Dairyland Power alone is expected to add 25 megawatts of solar power project pending.

“That’s about as much solar as we have in Wisconsin today that we’ve installed in the last 30 years,” Huebner said. “Twenty-five megawatts, we’re expecting a lot of that to be in Wisconsin, maybe not all of it, but that announcement could really boost solar even bigger in 2016.”

Huebner says a driving force behind the solar push is the decrease in the cost of solar panels by about 60 percent in just the past six years.  

Huebner also sees more opportunity to grow if there were a lease-to-own program.

“You wouldn’t have to pay up front with solar panels,” Huebner said. “You could work with companies that would put solar panels on your roof or on your property and you could pay them back over time.”

Such a program doesn’t yet exist in state, says Huebner, though it does in other states.