Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) has received approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to expand its shared solar program by building a new project in the City of Middleton.
A 5 MW solar array will be built at the Middleton Municipal Airport, also known as Morey Field. Seventy percent of the array will serve MGE’s shared solar (i.e., community solar) program, which provides residential and business customers across MGE’s electric service territory the opportunity to power their home or business with locally generated solar energy. Customers reserve a portion of the electricity produced by the array; subscribers to the voluntary program can purchase up to half of their annual electricity use with solar.
The City of Middleton and the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District will use the remaining 30% under a separate program.
“An expansion of shared solar is another step toward meeting our goal of net-zero-carbon electricity by the year 2050,” says MGE’s chairman, president and CEO, Jeff Keebler. “We look forward to building on the program’s success and to welcoming new shared solar participants.”
Construction and operation of the project are expected to begin in the summer and fall, respectively.
MGE’s other shared solar project is a 500 kW array located on the roof of Middleton’s Municipal Operations Center. It began serving customers in January 2017.
Photo: Corey Coyle [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]
