OCONTO FALLS (NBC 26) — NextEra Energy hosted an informational meeting at Oconto Falls High School Thursday regarding the solar field they plan to build in the town of Morgan.
- Listen to a panel answer community questions about the solar project
- Two Morgan officials were voted out of office after volunteering their personal property for the solar project
- Danilo Cabrera, project director for NextEra, said at the meeting they are in talks with multiple potential buyers for the solar field
- The project is scheduled to be finished by late 2028
- NextEra says all landowners leasing to NextEra for the solar field did so voluntarily
- If the project goes through, $500,000 per year from the state will be split between Oconto County and the town of Morgan for use for community improvements or projects
- During Thursday's meeting, one person was escorted to the back of the auditorium and another was escorted out of the room for speaking during the presentation and question and answer session, when attendees were asked to fill out note cards with questions to be read by the moderator
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story with additional details for the web.)
NextEra energy answers community questions before they ask the state for permission to build a solar field. I'm Pari Apostolakos at Oconto Falls High School with a look inside Thursday's meeting.
NextEra Energy is planning to build a field of solar panels in Oconto County, extending north from the town of Morgan on more than 1,100 acres of what is now mostly farmland.
As we've previously reported, two town officials were voted out of office in 2022after agreeing to let NextEra use their personal land for the solar panels.
Some people gathered outside Oconto Falls High School in protest of the project before Thursday's informational meeting, including Nikki Coopman.
She says she is afraid her home and her business, a dog kennel, will be negatively impacted by noise from battery storage systems NextEra is planning on installing along with the solar field.
They say the battery storage systems will allow energy the solar panels capture from the sun to be stored for use later in the day, when electricity is more in demand.
"It makes me sick, I can't sleep," Coopman said. "It's my livelihood, that's all I think about. People work for me and everybody would be out of a job because people won't bring their dogs into a place like that with that noise."
Environmental Health Sciences Consultant for NextEra, Chris Ollson said the project would follow noise regulations of 50 decibels during the day and 45 at night.
"We're going to keep the noise low," Ollson said. "If I stop talking for a second, the noise in this room is just over 50 decibels. I measured [that] before we started. So, 45 [decibels] at night, it's meant to make sure everyone has a good night's sleep."
The panel also said the project will try to minimize impact to animal migration and waterways by studying the land and following state regulations.
They say the battery storage system is monitored 24 hours a day and fires are rare. New batteries will have to be added every three to five years because they decrease in efficiency over time. NextEra also said they would work with local firefighters and emergency response workers to make sure they know what to do if the worst case scenario did occur, and they wouldn't need more equipment than what they already have.
One person asked about the impact to farmland if the solar panels were to be removed.
"You're essentially leaving those acreages fallow for 30 years," Ollson said. "So not only are you returning the land, you're decommissioning, you're taking all the equipment out ... You can imagine how good that soil will be after 30 years."
The panels would connect to a grid and the electricity they generate could power areas beyond the county and even the state through the American Transmission Company, which serves parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
"I grew up on the east side of Green Bay, anyone familiar with the east side of Green Bay is familair with the 100-megawat former Pulliam coal fire power plant," Stantec Environmental Consultant and panelist John Wiater said. "That power plant emitted about 200 thousand tons under [Department of Natural Resources] permit of sulfur dioxide per year... So, would I rather have a solar farm in front of me to look at? Yes."
Wiater went on to say if he had a generations-old family farm which could soon have solar panels installed nearby or right next door, he might feel differently about the project.
In early 2025 NextEra will submit an application to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for a permit to build the project.
