Mid-Size Solar - The Messy Middle

5 hours ago

7 min read

Constructing 5 MW of Solar on 23 Acres and Sharing the Story in Outagamie County

Written by Tara Greiman, Director of Conservation and Stewardship, and Erin Lenninger,

Northeast WI Conservation Coordinator

There’s plenty of strong debate happening across Wisconsin around solar energy. “They’re taking all our farmland!” “What about our water?” “We need renewable energy!” “Let farmers choose what to do with their land!” Facebook groups are lit up, town and county board meetings are sitting through hours of comments, surveys are flying back and forth, and a lot of people are leaning into the civic engagement practices that make a healthy democracy. However, those mixed reactions, passionate perspectives, and sometimes heated arguments can throw out misinformation and highlight the lack of understanding about the development and decision-making process for energy generation.

One challenge that we often see as we’ve been educating around energy topics across the state is the invisibility, and thereby unknown nature, of our energy infrastructure. Most Wisconsinites have taken electricity for granted as something that will always be there when they need it, without thinking about where it comes from and how it gets to their outlets. When a new generation project comes to a neighborhood, it’s not received as necessary for the beloved electricity we use every day; it’s seen as a needless, ugly, annoying addition to a perfectly functioning invisible system.

While many WFU members have rooftop solar (and if you want to join them, check out MREA’s Grow Solar group-buy program), most are unfamiliar with solar projects the next size up. Seeing that as a problem, members Kevin and Jill Fermanich kindly hosted a tour mid-construction of the 23 acres they’re leasing to OneEnergy Solar for a 5 MW project. Their goal was to help people understand the timeline, the decisions they had to make, and the impacts to the land.

Answering Questions

This tour was unique in that it allowed community members to take a look at the project site during the construction phase and allowed attendees to directly ask questions of the many companies involved. This is very hard to get access to and we are so grateful for the chance to help the public see the messy middle of this process. Site developer, One Energy Renewables, had multiple staff involved in planning this event, including the project manager, a vegetation specialist, and a development director. They also included their construction contractor, Pieper Power, and even their subcontractor for earth moving and grading. WFU’s own Erin Lenninger facilitated planning meetings and promoted the event.

The intention of this midday tour was to speak particularly to the farm decision-making process, to show the lived experience of installing solar, and give space to honestly address the ecosystem impacts. The site touches two counties, so staff from Outagamie County Planning & Zoning were present to speak to the zoning and permitting process, and a Waupaca County Land & Water Conservation technician spoke about wetland enhancements planned around the solar site. The depth of expertise on the farm that day allowed for almost any question to be answered, and attendees received a well-rounded look at what really happens to put in renewable energy generation at this scale. Questions ranged from property tax implications to how far down the pilings go (10 feet below ground, 5 feet above).

The Farmer Perspective

*WFU members and landowners Kevin and Jill Fermanich shared the history of the farm, their decision-making process to install 23 acres of solar panels, and what the first phases have felt like so far.*

Starting in their restored barn, the Fermanichs shared a bit about the history of their family farm, their concern and care of the land, and their plan to steward it well into the future. They noted that the intended field was not always productive, already had existing high voltage transmission lines coming through, a county highway that is very noisy, difficult access for equipment, and a local fish and game club with a shooting range nearby. They spoke plainly about the amount of time and thought that went into their decision to install solar. Ultimately, they decided this was the best way to steward the land for the coming decades.

Developer Perspective

One Energy Renewables Development Director Peter Murphy then spoke about the process and considerations from the developer's perspective including grade of the land, connectivity to the grid, and landowner attitudes. He also identified details of the installation, how much grading is done, what the panels are made of, and the decommissioning plan.

“We have a decommissioning plan that we submit and it describes the way that the modules, torque tubes, I-beams, inverters, transformers, everything comes out of the site,” he said.

In his opinion, this plan and the solar array will act as a protector to the soil for the 30 - 50 year lifespan of the project while also hosting native pollinator habitats.

Permitting & Local Governance

The group also heard from Outagamie County Zoning Administrator Isaac Uitenbroek about how the county worked to create a solar ordinance to better prepare it to handle this and subsequent requests. He shared that this project was the first of two (in the 5-6 MW scale) that have been or are being permitted in the county.

“In late 2024, 2025 we got the county solar ordinance put together through the zoning committee and the county board so we can address these uses,” he said. "One of the biggest hurdles we’re seeing is the lack of information and education on what it is.”

He further shared that recently two local towns had recommended denial for a solar permit with some concerns but that “in a permitting world, that is not a valid reason to deny an application.”

Most sites of this size move through the county and are done through a conditional use process. This county-level process requires a pre-application meeting between the developer, property owner, town staff, and county staff where they go over the project proposal, permitting requirements, and look at concerns. It next moves through a town process, usually a planning commission or town board, for their recommendation. At this scale (5 MW), final permitting authority rests with the county. For larger projects over 100 MW, final authority rests with the state through the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Uitenbroek reminded people that a conditional use permit is not a method of saying yes or no to a project, but rather, it sets conditions for an applicant to meet. The county often hears frustration when soliciting a town’s recommendation, since the county “isn’t going to listen,” however, he responded by saying that in the past they have been able to identify the main concerns and turn those into conditions for the developer.

“An outright ‘we don’t want it’ denial doesn’t give staff at the county level anything to really go on," he shared. "It’s important to get that feedback through.”

Visiting The Construction Site

Tour attendees walk down to the solar site to view the construction and see the areas of planned water catchment and wetland enhancement along the western side of the project area. This summer tour was during the construction and the "ugliest" phase of the project.

Once questions were answered, it was time for a site visit using the access road created by the developer to handle equipment and deliveries. This led down past existing corn and hay fields to a parcel tucked back near a busy county highway (and the Waupaca County line). There, the 40 attendees heard from the building and engineer team leads about the construction process and schedule. One community member asked about out-of-state labor coming in for the work. But officials were able to confirm that the workers onsite were from Wisconsin (though from the Sheboygan area, not Outagamie County). Erosion control measures and regulations were discussed while a worker was spotted out doing those exact scheduled checks. Questions were also asked of the decibel level when driving the pilings into the ground. Peter Murphy shared that if near the pilings, it is indeed very loud! However, at 750 feet from the piling, the decibel level is 65, about the noise level of a busy coffee shop.

Tour attendees discuss transmission lines, labor force, construction timelines, grading, erosion controls, county inspections, decibel levels, and more while viewing the construction site where solar panels will soon be installed.

The group ventured a little further around the north edge of the construction site and saw adjacent areas where wetland enhancement water management techniques will be applied with county engineering. The Fermanichs also plan to enroll part of the parcel in the Conservation Reserve Program. These measures will ensure that water movement across the landscape will be managed properly and benefit habitat and drainage concerns during heavy rains.

Kevin Fermanich explained, “What I think is cool is we will have habitat, fixing carbon into the soil. We’re going to be pulling the sun into electricity that we are going to use efficiently and we should have almost zero runoff here.”

All project partners praised landowners Kevin and Jill for their cooperation, communication, as well as their desire to demonstrate whole farm sustainability.

The tour happened during what is very likely its most ugly stage. This wasn’t meant to show just how beautiful these arrays are or convince anyone there is no impact to the land, but show exactly how that impact is treated along the way. It is one point in the timeline and today it looks different than on that hot day in July. In a few months, it will be fully installed and one year after that, the vegetation will have taken off and it will be buzzing with life. Kevin and Jill have offered to invite people back to see the finished site and to create continued opportunities to ask questions and have conversations.