Construction of the largest wind farm in the state is complete, with the Glacier Hills Wind Park northeast of Madison online and generating power for We Energies.
With 90 turbines, the Columbia County wind project is expected to generate 162 megawatts of power, or enough over a year's time to power 45,000 homes. We Energies also operates the 88-turbine Blue Sky Green Field Wind Center in Fond du Lac County.
"The completion of Glacier Hills on time and on budget was achieved largely through the talents of Wisconsin companies and Wisconsin labor," Gale Klappa, the utility's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement announcing the wind farm was placed into commercial service.
Wisconsin contractors participating in the project included Boldt Construction, Edgerton Contactors and Michels Corp., with towers manufactured by Broadwind Energy, formerly TowerTech, in Manitowoc.
When all costs are finalized, We Energies said, the project will come in below the target of $363.7 million set by the state Public Service Commission.
The two We Energies wind farms are part of the utility's plan to meet Wisconsin's renewable energy standard, which requires the utility to supply about 8% of its power from renewable sources by 2015.
Construction began this year on another project, a 50-megawatt biomass plant in Rothschild. Once that is comleted in 2013, We Energies will be in compliance with the renewable energy standard, the utility said.
With 1.1 million electric customers, We Energies is the state's largest utility. The biomass project is expected to create more than 400 construction jobs and support approximately 150 permanent jobs related to the plant’s activities.
