TOWN OF HARTLAND — An AES proposal to bring a 75 MWac solar facility that would generate enough power to fuel about 18,000 Wisconsin homes annually to the Town of Hartland has faced community questioning, but AES aims to leave no question unanswered.

“It’s an economic driver, so it provides opportunities locally and regionally,” AES Isabelle Creek Development Director Frank Krawczel said. “Another thing is tax revenue. Oftentimes our projects pack a pretty high punch for what they’re able to generate locally for the township and county. The big thing is that they don’t draw from local resources either in a significant way compared to the value that they do bring.”

AES estimates the project will generate $8 million for Pierce County and $6 million for the Town of Hartland while creating around 200 jobs during peak construction. Krawczel said solar farms are a generally cheap energy source that do not require a significant amount of public infrastructure, but can create large sums of revenue for towns and counties.

Krawczel also mentioned this project will allow landowners to keep land within the family rather than permanently selling it.

“We’re not submitting a permit application any time soon here. In fact, we’re not going to submit this year in 2025,” Krawczel said. “We got the indication from folks at the open house that people felt a little blindsided, and that’s fair. At a certain point, you have to break the news.”

Some Hartland residents took to the town hall both for the open house and for the April board meeting to express their opposition for the project.

The timeline for the project includes a permitting timeline from 2025-28, construction from 2029-31 and an estimated 30-year operation period kicking off in 2031 if approved.

“The project will likely lease around 1,000 acres due to forested areas and other areas of avoidance, but aims for 550 buildable acres of privately-owned land for the project. This is equivalent to .4% of farmland in Pierce County, Wisconsin,” the AES website states.
The three main steps Krawczel cited for why the Town of Hartland was the choice were its proximity to transmission infrastructure and finding available and feasible land.

“First key is looking at transmission that’s available,” Krawczel said. “And then from there it’s understanding what buildable land is within the area, and then from buildable land, understanding which landowners are willing to work with us.”

AES is seeking to build the trust of the community. They are aware some people in the community were caught by surprise from the project, but they are working to ensure everyone has a better understanding of it by the time they apply for a permit.

“Our thing would be to earn the trust before it’s ever built, and to be honest with you, before we even submit an application,” Krawczel said. “There’s obviously concerns locally. Some are solar broadly, some are a little more specific to the project. We want to be able to answer the questions, make sure they know this is a clean and safe technology, and it will be a quiet neighbor.”

The goal for AES is to focus on communication and educate neighbors on what is going on.

A concern that came up at the April Town of Hartland board meeting was how changes in administration at the federal level lead to changes in how profitable the project is. If the project cannot afford to continue on after being built, some residents believe Hartland and the county will be left to clear it out.

“At least from our perspective, we’re just trying to build a project and help meet the energy demand for the future,” Krawczel said. “It is a fairly cheap source of energy. We’re not going to build this project if it’s not economically competitive.”

More information is available at www.aes.com/isabelle-creek-solar where there is an FAQ page built around questions received at the open house. They are encouraging people to reach out to 534-248-8930 or WIStakeholderrelations@aes.com to ask questions about the project. The FAQ page will continue to be updated as more questions come in.