In the near future, a major solar power plant near the Rhineland will generate enough electricity to power 1,500 homes.

This is roughly equivalent to one-third of the city.

This is part of a movement to bring local solutions to climate change to Wisconsin communities.

The solar power plant is located between Boyce Avenue and Highway 17, close to Lake Julia. It covers an area of ​​50 acres and will install 21,000 solar panels.

On a clearly cloudy day in October, skid steer loaders and other heavy machinery were bustling around the construction site, pushing head-high supports into the ground and using horizontal rails to top them.

"Every one of them, what you see, is a torque tube," Forrest Howk explained while looking at the infrastructure. "That torque tube will go under the panel. A motor will turn the entire row."

The panel will follow the sun through the sky, absorbing the maximum amount of sun rays. An additional receiver at the bottom of the panel will allow them to collect solar energy reflected from the snow in winter.

Howk is the project manager of OneEnergy Renewables, the company responsible for promoting the project.

The Hodag Solar project is the largest of OneEnergy's 15 sites in the state.

"These projects do three things. First, they help decarbonize the grid. Second, they provide local resources to meet local energy needs," Howk said. "Third, it helps the country achieve energy independence."

For Wisconsin, energy independence is a particularly important concept.

Unlike other states, there are no coal mines or natural gas reserves.

“There are no fossil fuel resources in Wisconsin. Everything it consumes must be imported from another state or country,” said Michael Vickerman, policy director of RENEW Wisconsin, a non-profit organization based in Madison.

The desire to become more energy independent is one reason for the rise of solar energy in the state.

Most importantly, for consumers, solar energy is no longer an environmentally conscious but expensive option.

Vickerman said it has now crossed the economic threshold to achieve fiscal rationalization.

"The cost of solar energy has dropped rapidly over the past decade," he said. "As it did, larger projects can now be considered instead of projects suitable for residential and commercial roofs."

Vickerman hopes that projects like Hodag Solar will help the state achieve Governor Evers' goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

At the Rhineland plant, as machines move soil and build infrastructure, OneEnergy employees are doing something simpler.

Four employees methodically planted 200 small coniferous trees.

“The OneEnergy team from Madison actually came to the site this week and we are planting trees on the southern boundary of the site,” Howk explained.

Trees will provide a visual buffer between some houses and the solar field. After being slightly boycotted by neighbors worried about aesthetics, the company agreed to the measure.

In terms of technology, the project was temporarily hit by the disruption of the global supply chain, a villain familiar to consumers today.

"Now, the modules that are going to enter the project have been delayed. The project schedule has been compressed. We hope to make this project online before Christmas. But when the modules arrive, we will do whatever we want," Howk said.

Howk said that despite the slight delay, the enthusiasm for the project has not diminished. People want to feel that they are dealing with global issues such as climate change by doing something locally.

"In order to be able to place a project in a power generation community, you can point to it and say,'some of the energy in our community comes from there. I know it comes from the sun.' I think this is not only educational, but I think it is a Kind of empowerment," he reflected.

On a personal level, Hawke said that he feels powerful in what he does every day.

He grew up in Bayfield and found in a school project that the port’s ice season had fallen by 30% in the last century.

This understanding prompted him to enter undergraduate and graduate studies, and eventually pursue this career-fighting for the earth from here in Wisconsin.

"Seeing the climate in your backyard-it takes a long time to get a degree and so on, but trying to find a way where you can develop solutions in Wisconsin to help combat climate change is really personal motivation ,"He said.

Once the panels are active, the solar field will last for 20 or 30 years.

During this period, the soil below can rest.

After that, OneEnergy will seek to eliminate its footprint. The equipment will be taken away and the fields can be restored to agricultural production.