A second plan for a solar farm on county-owned land along state Highway 22 has apparently gone the way of the first proposal — nowhere.
Members of the public property committee agreed by consensus Feb. 12 the OneEnergy proposal is apparently dead once it was determined the revenue for the county would be minimal.
Nick Hesse, Shawano County’s facilities management director, said the county would only receive rental payments for the 47 acres and not any state funds.
OneEnergy proposed a 5-7 megawatt solar farm on the north side of state Highway 22 near Rose Brook Road.
Because the power lines are owned by Shawano Municipal Utilities, the solar farm would either be owned by One Energy or SMU. Because neither company is a significant generator, the county and Town of Belle Plaine would not be eligible for thousands of dollars in revenue from the state for each of the 30 years of the proposed lease.
“We’d get the bare minimum,” he said. “There’s no kickback.”
“There would be if they would build it and sell it to Alliant,” Supervisor Tom Kautza said.
He noted that a small solar farm near Bonduel is owned by We Energies, and the county does make some revenue from that.
If the project was eligible for state payments in lieu of taxes, the payments would amount to $1,333.33 per megawatt per year for the county and $666.67 for the Town of Belle Plaine.
Another incentive payment, because it’s a solar project, would be $1,500 per megawatt per year.
In a related matter, the entire 284-acre county farmland will be again leased to Kraig Rosenow for one year at $125 per acre.
Supervisor Randy Young suggested the county could see a higher rate if officials decide to lengthen the term of the lease, possibly to three or five years. Previous to solar farm discussions, the land was leased in five-year increments.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
