WFU Testifies in Favor of Community Solar Bill

On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, WFU Government Relations Director, Michelle Ramirez-White submitted testimony to the Senate Committee on Transportation and Local Government on SB 559, which would authorize community solar programs in Wisconsin.

The bill would allow the establishment of community solar programs in Wisconsin through which retail electric customers of investor-owned utilities may subscribe to a community solar facility and receive credits to their electric bill. The bill also allows entities that, besides owning or operating a community solar facility, do not otherwise directly or indirectly provide electricity to the public to offer community solar subscriptions.

See WFU's full testimony below:

Chair Tomczyk and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to comment on behalf of the Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU) in support of  Senate Bill 559, relating to authorizing community solar programs, allowing customers of investor-owned utilities to subscribe to solar facilities and receive bill credits. 

Wisconsin Farmers Union, founded in 1930 in Elk Mound WI, is the second largest general agricultural organization in the state. WFU supports small and medium size family farmers and rural communities. The membership represents a wide array of farm types: conventional, organic, dairy, grain, livestock, and specialty crop producers.

Wisconsin Farmers Union supports community solar generation and encourages communities to offer such programs to local citizens. These projects can be done almost anywhere and are often placed on small portions of farmland. They can provide another, more palatable option for farmland owners who are facing  the sale of large parcels of their land to developers or to larger-scale renewable energy projects. 

The opportunity created by this bill to access smaller solar projects that are supported by the community provides a new potential  income stream to family farmers in Wisconsin, and can help preserve the majority of prime farmland for agricultural production. And importantly to rural communities, the bill also puts local control of these projects back into the hands of the communities which they are in, allowing farmers and other rural landowners to keep their own independence, while expanding income streams, which ultimately helps keep these operations in production.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on this proposed legislation.

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Find more details on WFU's community solar policy in the policy book.