Wisconsin Wind Farm
Summaries
Blue Sky Green Field
Go to full project information page on Blue Sky Green Field
Placed in service in May 2009, the Blue Sky Green Field wind project consists of 88 Vestas V82 turbines, each rated at 1.65 megawatts. At 145.2 megawatts (MW), Blue Sky Green field is currently the state’s largest windpower project. Half of the turbines are in Calumet and the other half are in Marshfield. The turbines are situated on the Niagara Escarpment, which in this part of Fond du Lac County parallels Lake Winnebago’s eastern shoreline.
Blue Sky Green Field is owned and operated by We Energies (WE), a Milwaukee-based investor-owned electric utility. The wind turbines are interconnected to a 345 kilovolt line owned by the American Transmission Company. The line, one of the principal extra high voltage lines supporting the eastern Wisconsin grid, runs in a north-south direction through the project zone, connecting the Forest Junction and Arcadian substations. Electricity from Blue Sky Green Field’s turbines is transported underground to the Cypress Substation, where it is stepped up to transmission strength and fed into the Forest Junction-Arcadian line. The substation is located about one mile east of the project’s operations center on County Highway W, near the hamlet of Johnsburg.
Cedar Ridge Wind Energy Center
Go to full project information page on Cedar Ridge
Placed in service in December 2008, the Cedar Ridge Wind Energy Center consists of 41 Vestas V82 turbines, each rated at 1.65 megawatts (MW). At 67.65 megawatts, Cedar Ridge is, as of January 1, 2011, the state’s third-largest windpower project. Twenty-three of the turbines are situated in the Town of Eden, while 18 are within the Town of Empire. The project is bounded by County Highway UU on the west, U.S. Highway 45 and County Highway B on the south, County Highway W on the east, and County Highway T on the north. Cedar Ridge is owned and operated by Wisconsin Power & Light (WPL). Both WPL and its parent company, Alliant Energy, are headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. WPL’s service territory includes the City of Fond du Lac and parts of the project site.
The electricity from Cedar Ridge’s turbines flows through a network of underground cables to a new substation, where it is stepped up to transmission-strength voltage and fed into a nearby 138-kilovolt line owned by the American Transmission Company. The substation is situated in the north side of the project area, in the Town of Empire, between the Ohmstead and Mullet River substations. On the south side of the development stands Cedar Ridge’s operations center, located on U.S. Highway 45 one-half mile east of Eden. Cedar Ridge is located approximately seven miles northeast of We Energies’ two Vestas V47 wind turbines along U.S. Highway 41, eight miles northeast of Invenergy’s 129 MW Forward Wind Energy Center and eight miles south of the 145 MW Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center, also owned and operated by We Energies.
Glacier Hills Wind Energy Center
Go to full project information page on Glacier Hills (photo courtesy of We Energies)
Anticipated to be fully operational in December 2011, the Glacier Hills Wind Park will consist of 90 Vestas V90 turbines, each rated at 1.8 megawatts (MW). At 162 MW, Glacier Hills will be the state’s largest windpower project. Fifty-four of these turbines are situated in the Town of Randolph, and the remaining 36 in the Town of Scott. State Highway 73, which runs north from Columbus through the village of Randolph, forms the eastern boundary of the project, while County Road P defines the southern edge. Most of the turbines that make up the north end of the project are south of County Road E. The project’s 90 turbines are configured in four distinct clusters: one is entirely in Randolph southeast of the village of Friesland; the second is mostly in Randolph west of Friesland and north of S.H. 33; the third, straddling Scott and Randolph, parallels County Road E to the north and west of the second cluster; and the fourth is entirely in Scott south of S.H. 33.
The electricity generated at this installation is transformed to a voltage level of 34.5 kilovolts by transformers adjacent to each turbine. Underground collector circuits connect strings of turbines to the central substation, where the electricity is stepped up and fed into an existing 138 kilovolt line running through the project area in an east-to-west direction. The substation is located near the intersection of S.H. 33 and County Road H, in the town of Scott. The project construction field office is situated just south of the substation along County Road H.
Glacier Hills is the first utility-owned wind project not located on the Niagara Escarpment. The nearest commercial wind project to Glacier Hills is Invenergy’s 129 MW Forward Energy Center straddling Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties about 25 miles to the northeast.
Rosiere Wind Farm
Go to full project information page on Rosiere
Placed in service in June 1999, the Rosiere wind project consists of 17 Vestas V-47 turbines, each rated at 660 kilowatts. Nine of the turbines are located in the Town of Red River and eight are in the Town of Lincoln. The turbines are situated on the Niagara Escarpment, which bisects Kewaunee County along a north-northeasterly axis. The Rosiere installation is owned and operated by Madison Gas & Electric (MGE), a Madison-based investor-owned electric utility.
The energy from the turbines feeds the local distribution lines owned by Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS). Once that energy reaches the nearest substation, it is stepped up to transmission voltage and exported to MGE’s control area. At 11.2 megawatts (MW), Rosiere is the largest of the three utility-owned wind projects constructed in 1999.
Montfort Wind Farm
Go to full project information page on Montfort
Placed in service in July 2001, the Montfort Wind Energy Center consists of 20 GE 1.5 MW turbines located in the Town of Eden in Iowa County. The project is divided into two arrays running east to west. The larger of the two arrays, numbering 17 turbines, parallels U.S. Highway 18 between Cobb to the east and Montfort to the west. The smaller string runs along County Highway B about one mile south of the larger array. In the parking lot of the Tower Junction restaurant, on the north side of U.S. Highway 18, stands an informational kiosk directly in front of the westernmost turbine.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company buys the output from the larger array, while Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin subsidiary (WPL) takes power from the trio of turbines to the south. The energy from both sets of turbines flows west through underground cables into the Montfort substation owned by American Transmission Company. The Montfort project was originally developed by Enron Wind Energy Company in 2000 and sold to FPL Energy (now NextEra Energy) in early 2001. From 2001 until 2008, the Montfort facility was the newest and largest commercial windpower installation in Wisconsin.