LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (Dec. 20, 2018) – Xcel Energy is pleased to announce that construction of the second Solar*Connect Community project is underway.
The solar garden, part of Wisconsin’s largest community solar garden program, is being built on about seven-acres of land near Highway 33 just west of Cashton by OneEnergy Renewables, a leading developer of community and utility-scale solar projects across the country.
Subscribers support locally sourced community solar
The first of three community solar gardens began generating clean, renewable energy in October 2017 in Eau Claire and now La Crosse area subscribers will have community solar just down the road.
“As one of the first subscribers to the Solar*Connect Community program, we are excited to see the start of construction of the second garden in the greater La Crosse area,” said Dan Kanis, president, Nelson Agri-Center in Viroqua. “We had been looking at ways to use renewable energy to power our business, and this program allowed us to do that without having to build the infrastructure on our property.”
Lower cost subscriptions still available
Subscribers pay a one-time fee to subscribe to the program and in turn receive a credit on their monthly electric bill based on the solar energy production of all the gardens in the program. The cost to build solar facilities continues to come down, benefiting all new and existing subscribers and Xcel Energy still has limited space available and will offer it to electricity customers in Wisconsin until the program is fully subscribed.
Xcel Energy is also moving forward with a third and final garden in Ashland, which is expected to be built in 2019. The Cashton area garden is expected to be in service in early 2019.
For more information, visit xcelenergy.com/SolarConnectCommunity.
For more information about OneEnergy Renewables, visit www.oneenergyrenewables.com (external link).
# # #
About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
