Solar power in Wisconsin In 2026, Wisconsin rooftops can accommodate approximately 37 GWs of solar capacity and produce 44,183 GWh of electricity, nearly 70% of the statewide generation in 2019.
Net metering
Net metering (or net energy metering, NEM) is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated. This is particularly importa ...
is available for systems up to at least 20 kW, and excess generation is credited at retail rate to customers next bill. Some utilities allow net metering up to 100 kW. For Xcel customers, kilowatt credits are rolled over monthly and are reconciled annually at avoided cost. Best practices recommend no limits, either individually or aggregate, and perpetual roll over of kilowatt credits.
A 2016 estimate indicates that a typical 5 kW solar array installed in Wisconsin will pay for itself in 13 years and go on to provide an additional profit of $18,860 during its 25-year life. Wisconsin's
renewable portfolio standard requires 10% renewable sources for electricity by 2015.
Implications
In 2007, Wisconsin's largest solar array was the 44.4 kW array on the
Urban Ecology Center
The Urban Ecology Center is a nonprofit organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their mission is to educate the Milwaukee community about the environment, conservation, sustainability, and other issues related to urban ecology, as well as to preser ...
in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
.
In 2011, the largest array was the 360 kW parking lot array in
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
owned by
Epic, which is being expanded to 2.2 MW. A 3.177 MW array is planned for a distribution center in
Oconomowoc
Oconomowoc ( ) is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The name was derived from Coo-no-mo-wauk, the Potawatomi language, Potawatomi term for "waterfall." The population was 15,712 at the 2010 census. The city is partially adjacen ...
.
In June 2016, the 2.3 MW Rock River solar project near
Beloit became the largest solar farm in Wisconsin.
The KI convention center located in Green Bay, WI currently (as of 2013) has the largest solar PV installation in Northeastern Wisconsin. The new 115-kilowatt array comprises 480 PV solar panels.
As of May 2014 there are about 2,250 homes powered by solar energy in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin ranks 24th in the nation for the number of solar jobs. Between 2012 and 2014, Wisconsin has added 800 jobs in the solar industry.
Water Treatment Facilities
In Superior, WI the cities wastewater treatment plant has installed four So-larBee units to provide adequate aeration without the use of the cities 75-hp units. After this installation the 75-hp blower units could be completely shut off during no-flow periods and in result the city of Superior saved $18,000 per month.
Statistics
ImageSize = width:420 height:240
PlotArea = width:350 height:150 left:40 bottom:40
AlignBars = late
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:6
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:month increment:1 start:0
TextData =
pos:(15,220) textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:hrs
pos:(205,25) textcolor:black fontsize:S
text:Month
pos:(90,230) textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:Milwaukee Sun Hours/day (Avg = 4.53 hrs/day)
Colors =
id:yellow value:yellow
PlotData=
width:20 textcolor:black
bar:Jan color:yellow from:0 till:3.32 text:3.32 shift:(-10,55)
bar:Feb color:yellow from:0 till:3.96 text:3.96 shift:(-10,60)
bar:Mar color:yellow from:0 till:4.28 text:4.28 shift:(-10,65)
bar:Apr color:yellow from:0 till:5.11 text:5.11 shift:(-10,75)
bar:May color:yellow from:0 till:5.58 text:5.58 shift:(-10,75)
bar:Jun color:yellow from:0 till:5.88 text:5.88 shift:(-10,80)
bar:Jul color:yellow from:0 till:5.66 text:5.66 shift:(-10,80)
bar:Aug color:yellow from:0 till:5.60 text:5.60 shift:(-10,80)
bar:Sep color:yellow from:0 till:5.19 text:5.19 shift:(-10,75)
bar:Oct color:yellow from:0 till:4.34 text:4.34 shift:(-10,60)
bar:Nov color:yellow from:0 till:2.96 text:2.96 shift:(-10,45)
bar:Dec color:yellow from:0 till:2.49 text:2.49 shift:(-10,40)
:Source: NREL
See also
*
Wind power in Wisconsin
Wind power in Wisconsin started in 1990 with the installation of the Lincoln Turbines wind farm, and contributes to the state's renewable portfolio standard established in 1998. In 2016, Wisconsin had a wind generating capacity of 648 megawatts ...
*
Solar power in the United States
Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2021, utility-scale solar power generated 115 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 2.8% of electricity in t ...
*
Renewable energy in the United States
According to preliminary data from the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy accounted for about 12.6% of total primary energy consumption and about 19.8% of the domestically produced electricity in the United States in 2 ...
References
External links
Renewable energy policies and incentives
{{Energy in the United States
Energy in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...