March 22, 2011
Wisconsin

Developer cancels plan for big wind farm

By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel, www.jsonline.com 21 March 2011

Chicago energy development firm Invenergy on Monday notified state regulators that it’s withdrawing plans to build a large wind power project south of Green Bay.

The project, announced in October 2009, would have seen construction of 94 to 100 turbines in and generated 150 megawatts of electricity. Based on energy output, it would have been the second-largest wind project in the state, after the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County.

The proposal generated significant opposition in rural Brown County, with residents of towns that would host the project generating much of the opposition to wind siting rules that are being debated in Madison.

The company said it was concerned about moving forward because of the state of flux in Wisconsin’s regulatory climate when it comes to wind siting. Gov. Scott Walker has proposed a bill that would sharply curtail wind development, and a legislative committee moved this month to block a less restrictive wind siting standard from taking effect.

“The absence of regulatory stability has made it imprudent for Invenergy to proceed with investments in a project which unknown regulations might make infeasible to construct,” the company’s director of development, Kevin Parzyck, said in a letter to the state Public Service Commission.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/22/developer-cancels-plan-for-big-wind-farm/