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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Wisconsin Rapids is considering a new solar farm. It’s a small project on city owned land along the Wisconsin River. It would provide electricity for between 1,000 and 1,500 homes.
It will come up for a public hearing for the necessary rezoning on December 1st. Residents should oppose it.
Why?
Because there’s a dirty little secret about solar. The solar panels are only good for 20 years or so, and are expensive and dirty to take out of service. If any of the materials inside the solar panels leach into the river, the water will be contaminated.
A project like this misses the point. Green power: wind, solar, hydro, geo-thermal, isn’t ready for prime time. It is expensive compared to coal or natural gas, and can’t meet our needs on cloudy days or days when the wind isn’t blowing.
Wisconsin Rapids residents should remember this. The old Verso paper mill has been closed for years, and with it went family-supporting jobs. Finally there was a redevelopment plan to turn it into a data center. But earlier this year those plans fell through. Why did the developer pull the plug? Because there wasn’t enough power to run the proposed facility. The local utility said if it met the site’s power requirements, there might not be enough generating capacity for other industrial needs. So, the entire project is dormant.
This is a case of misallocation of resources. Data centers are power thirsty. They are also one of the top economic development sectors in the entire state. These types of projects are coming; the only question is where. We need to focus much less on small green energy projects, and focus on ideas that meet the much greater needs of our energy future.
Chris Conley
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