Major Wisconsin wind power project generates controversy 

Bob Bishop’s family has lived and farmed in southwest Wisconsin for over 100 years.

His father returned to the farm after fighting in World War II and eventually passed the tradition on to Bob, who along with his two sons is keeping the family business alive.

But changing economic conditions forced an end to hog farming and made it increasingly difficult to eke out a living with row crops. So in 2018, when developers wanted to build Wisconsin’s largest solar farm partly on his land, Bishop took their offer.

Now, his property is part of another massive renewable energy project proposed for southwest Wisconsin. If approved by state regulators, the Badger Hollow project would be the first major new wind farm in the state in over a decade.

Bishop, whose land could be used for a transmission line carrying power generated by the turbines, said farmers recognize the project as an opportunity.

“This will pay car payments, college tuition payments and home mortgages for children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for a number of years to come, because there’s a revenue stream that connects it back to the farm and the family,” he said.

The Badger Hollow project would build as many as 19 wind turbines over five towns in western Iowa County and eastern Grant County, about an hour west of Madison. Developers say the project would provide 118 megawatts of power to customers in the Madison and Milwaukee areas when completed by 2027.

Advocates for clean energy say wind generation is more reliable and cost effective than other types of power, but some people who would live near the turbines are contesting the proposed development.

Concerns range from fears about health hazards to flickering lights. Some opponents say they are just tired of out-of-town people pushing to build wind turbines that block views of their farmland or the surrounding landscape.

In Wisconsin, local government leaders and the people they represent have almost no control over whether such large projects are approved within their borders. Some would like that to change, however.

“If anyone from Madison wants wind turbines, they can be installed in Lake Wingra or Lake Monona so that the residents there can have an obstructed viewshed, see flashing red lights at night and experience the negative health effects – cardiac, neurological and nauseogenic symptoms,” Grant County resident George Schwarzmann Jr. wrote to the Public Service Commission, which regulates energy production in the state. “They can destroy their own environment, and (developer) Invenergy can go to hell!”

The developer has pointed to the scores of landowners who have signed up to participate in the project, as well as the economic impact for the region.

“The Badger Hollow Wind project will be an exciting step forward for the community, and we are grateful to our local partners, including the nearly 100 landowners signed in support,” Brandon Davis, the project manager for Invenergy, said in a statement. “This project will help farming families like theirs thrive while bringing affordable and reliable energy, up to 200 local jobs, and millions of dollars to Iowa and Grant Counties for long-term local benefits to roads, schools and public safety.”

Wind is part of a state carbon-free goal

Federal data shows there are 18 wind projects already operating in Wisconsin, with many of the turbines concentrated in the southwest and the south-central part of the state.

Those projects play a role in keeping the lights on across the entire state. In 2022, the most recent year where data is available, 19% of Wisconsin’s electricity was derived from wind, according to a report from the Public Service Commission.

The commission notes that wind generation increased over 20 fold since 2015 and is one of the few types of energy projected to grow.

Gov. Tony Evers’ administration has set a goal for achieving carbon-free electricity consumption in Wisconsin by 2050. Rick Coelho, rural energy campaign manager for Clean Wisconsin, said large wind and solar projects, along with rooftop solar and other renewable energy efforts, are important in achieving that target.

Proponents of renewable energy have pointed to neighboring Iowa, which generates over half of its electricity from wind, the highest of any state in the country.

“We are watching all of our neighboring states develop these resources,” Coelho said. “Wind is a homegrown energy source. Each year, Wisconsin is a net importer of energy, and wind is one of those resources we have right here at home.”

Wind power, however, has become increasingly political.

Shortly after retaking office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that paused the leasing of offshore wind projects and halted the approval of any wind developments on federal land.

Trump has been critical of wind power more broadly. He has said noise from turbines causes cancer or is responsible for whale deaths, claims which have been rejected by scientists.

Proponents of wind and solar power in places like southwest Wisconsin tout the economic benefits for local communities.

Invenergy has said the project will generate nearly $600,000 in property tax revenue for county and local governments each year, as well as additional aid payments for municipalities.

In addition, developers must pay farmers to lease the land they use for solar panels or wind turbines. Invenergy estimates those payments could run into the millions of dollars over the life of the project.

Jon Mueller, whose farm in the town of Eden was part of one of the first wind projects in Wisconsin, is among those who have agreed to allow turbines from Badger Hollow on their land.

“It is an extra income stream for us,” Mueller said. “Farming economics can be up and down because we’re subject to the markets that we don’t have a lot of control over.”

Not everyone sees the money as a fair payoff. The bulk of those submitting comments to the Public Service Commission are people who support the project but don’t live in Iowa or Grant counties. Of those who live in southwest Wisconsin, most said they oppose Badger Hollow moving forward.

“Everybody that’s come around here pushing these don’t live around here – then they could be around here to see them,” said Steve Barth, who chairs the town board in Clifton, one of the communities that would be affected by Badger Hollow. “They’re pushing it, do their job, make their paycheck and leave.”

Reasons for opposition vary. Some said they worry the project would reduce their property values. Research has shown home values dip immediately after a project is announced but eventually rebound.

Others worry about the harm to wildlife in the Driftless region. Scientists agree turbine blades kill birds and bats, though they argue far more are killed by other causes, such as domestic cats or buildings.

Many critics worry the turbines might cause health issues. Some residents said existing wind turbines have left them with vertigo or sleep problems.

Concerns about health problems are common in communities with wind projects, so much so that feelings of nausea, tinnitus, headaches and stress have earned the moniker “wind turbine syndrome.”

There is little scientific evidence that noise generated by wind turbines causes these problems, though there is limited evidence that they can cause sleep disturbance. Researchers believe many of these symptoms come from a heightened state of annoyance or stress caused by the wind turbines, rather than the machinery itself.

Scientific arguments have done little to blunt concern about the project, however.

The Iowa-Grant School Board passed a resolution in December requesting the project be moved away from one of the district’s schools in Mifflin.

State law requires wind turbines be sited at least 1,250 feet, or a quarter mile, away from schools. Ross Leix, the school board president, said some turbines were set to be 0.4 miles from the school, which is allowed by the law but too close for the comfort of concerned families and staff members.

For a small school district, the fallout from the project could be significant, Leix said.

“If we have a family leave that has three kids, that’s approximately $35,000 to our district going out the door,” he said.

In Clifton, Barth said residents have been open to renewable energy projects. Past developers have been fairly easy to work with and have had open lines of communication with the town.

But more recent projects, such as the Badger Hollow Solar Farm, the largest in the state and developed by Invenergy, have soured things, Barth said. Invenergy hasn’t been nearly as communicative as past partners, he added.

“People decided they weren’t as neat as they thought,” he said of the projects.

The developers have defended their communication, pointing to the 72 public presentations they have done in the area since 2022, on top of individual outreach to residents and a local office that is staffed.

Supporters of renewables should understand the projects represent a major shift to landscapes that residents have called home for decades, said Coelho, from Clean Wisconsin. But he added there is a larger base of support for wind projects in those communities than it might initially appear.

“There’s an opportunity for dialogue here,” Coelho said. “I think a real thing that’s happening in southwest Wisconsin is the negativity is ruining the opportunity for dialogue and getting in the way.”

Local leaders have limited say on big projects

In Clifton, local officials passed an ordinance that smaller scale wind projects cannot have turbines taller than 500 feet.

But state law only allows local municipalities to impose restrictions on wind and solar development when necessary to protect public health and safety and only if there’s no significant increase in the project cost.

Wisconsin law gives the final say on projects of 100 megawatts or more, such as Badger Hollow, to the Public Service Commission. Local officials can weigh in on what they think the commission should do, but community policies or wishes don’t necessarily carry the day.

Instead, the commission has at least eight factors it must consider when evaluating whether to approve or deny a renewable energy project.

The factors include whether the site being considered is in the public interest and fits development planning in the area, if there are major environmental impacts from the project, and whether it “satisfies the reasonable needs of the public for an adequate supply of electric energy.”

To state Rep. Travis Tranel, R-Cuba City, restrictions on local input, enacted by Democratic lawmakers in 2009, didn’t take into account the large scope of many of the projects proposed in Wisconsin over a decade later.

Along with Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, Tranel has introduced legislation that would require local approval for state regulators to allow a wind or solar project of greater than 15 megawatts to proceed.

“I think we can do it in a way where we can take into account the long-term ramifications,” Tranel said. “And right now, we are not doing that. It is like the wild, wild West. We have essentially concluded that we are just going to pop up these projects wherever we possibly can, and the long-term ramifications can be damned.”

Public Service Commission members are appointed by Wisconsin’s governor and confirmed by the state Senate to serve six-year terms. All three members of the current commission were appointed by Evers, a Democrat.

Legislators introduced similar legislation last year but it didn’t make it to the governor’s desk. A spokesperson for Evers did not respond to an email asking if the governor would sign or veto the legislation.

Barth, the chair of the town board in Clifton, said he likes the idea of giving more of a voice to local residents, many of whom have told the Public Service Commission they haven’t felt heard in these deliberations.

“You always want to have input on the local level of people listening to you, instead of (the project) being shoved down your throat,” he said.

But Coelho of Clean Wisconsin said the idea would only stall projects the state needs for the future. Local governments would have a 90-day window to approve or disapprove of a project.

“We’re in an energy crisis,” he said. “And slowing down two of the cheapest forms of energy from being produced here in Wisconsin would not seem to do anything to help us address concerns about energy.”