By Tom Still
MADISON, Wis. – The town of Rome in northern Adams County is no stranger to development. Once a largely rural county in central Wisconsin, it’s now home to the championship-level Sand Valley golf course and Lake Arrowhead’s homes and recreational cluster.
The likely construction of the 2,409-acre NextEra solar farm and a related power substation on farm and forest land is another matter. Citizen opposition to this project is symbolic of the need for balanced energy sources while meeting growing needs in the power grid – not just for data centers, but for people and industry.
The NextEra solar farm would straddle Highway 13 and stretch into Wood County’s town of Saratoga, also largely rural, and generate an estimated 200 megawatts of electricity with a storage capacity of 200 more. Points of opposition are visual, loss of forest and farmland, safety tied to possible lithium battery fires, health effects on neighbors and more.
The thorniest burr in the civic saddle may be the process itself, which places the power to approve or deny such projects in the hands of the state Public Service Commission while largely bypassing local input. In fact, the Rome developer acquired land from private owners in a piecemeal way that bypassed county and town officials until the end.
“Nobody knows about the contracts until it goes to the PSC, which is three appointed people,” said a staffer for a Wisconsin legislator. “There needs to be more community buy-in.”
With more data centers planned across Wisconsin, more process clashes are likely. Then again, with coal-fired electrical plants in disfavor and natural gas generation also being questioned, what are possible energy sources? Even solar farms themselves are endangered if the Trump administration cancels “Solar for All” grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
It helps to explain why Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and members of the Republican-led Wisconsin Legislature agreed on two bills this summer to encourage nuclear fission and fusion in the state.
One bill would require a study of nuclear energy opportunities and potential nuclear power and fusion sites in Wisconsin. The second would create a Nuclear Power Summit Board to help showcase Wisconsin’s leadership in the industry. The goal is to fill the state’s growing need for carbon-free energy.
There is a strong foundation for growth. The UW-Madison College of Engineering has one of the nation’s few remaining teaching and research reactors. It ranks No. 2 among all U.S. public universities in undergraduate and graduate education in “engineering physics,” a term that captures most nuclear energy programs.
Geek alert: Fission is the splitting of atoms to produce energy, and fusion is the melding of atomic nuclei to create a heavier nucleus, thus releasing energy in the process. It’s the same reaction that powers the sun and other stars.
Fusion companies with Wisconsin roots or operations are SHINE Technologies, Realta Fusion and Type One Energy. Some Wisconsin-based utilities are exploring construction of small modular nuclear fission reactors to power the future.
It can’t stop there, however, if Wisconsin is to maintain its toehold in the fission and fusion worlds. For example, a bill may soon be introduced in the Legislature to provide tax incentives for fusion companies that purchase some tools needed to get over the hump.
Examples are ion cyclotron resonance heating systems, tetrodes, pre-ionization systems, helicon plasma guns and electron guns.
The bill has no fiscal estimate yet, but these are not items a person can buy at the corner hardware store. However, they are essential for developing companies with high hopes for making fusion a reality.
Solar power is not going away, nor are conventional sources such as coal and natural gas – at least, not yet. There should be a push for a safe revival of fission and a commercial future for fusion. To meet tomorrow’s energy needs, Wisconsin and the world need a balance.
Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. He can be reached at tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.