WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Utility leaders in Wausau say they plan to apply for a conditional use permit to build a solar array in the Village of Maine to help power the city’s drinking water treatment plant.
Public Works Director Eric Lindman says this comes on the heels of Village leaders implementing an ordinance regarding potential solar arrays in their municipality. “We’ll be working on that conditional use permit within the next few weeks. We will have to walk through their process step by step to put that information together and submit it for their consideration.”
He notes that submitting that application would be the start of the discussion. That will likely lead to several meetings with leaders in Maine before they have enough information to make a final decision. “Whether it’s a complete application or they need more information, eventually they would determine whether it would go to the Village Board for formal approval or disapproval.
“But, the city is going to prepare the information and submit it to the Village. Then I’m anticipating a meeting with [their] staff before consideration of whether it goes to the Village Board,” added Lindman.
The proposed array would be on land that Wausau owns within the Village.
Building on that land would allow for a bigger array that would remain further out of site for residents in the neighborhood near the plant. Many in the group are against putting an array on city-owned land directly adjacent to the plant because of concerns about aesthetics and impact on property value. Lindman says they have to know more about how much a larger array on the land in Maine would cost and how much of the facility’s utility bill would be offset by the generated power.
“What we are looking at right now are the cost comparisons. It is going to cost us more to build to the north, but if we can build a larger array is that going to get our return on investment down to what it would be if we kept a smaller array within the city limits,” added Lindman.
Lindman notes that all of these discussions are preliminary. No decision has been made on where or if the city will move forward with an array to power the plant. He made his comments following a meeting of the city’s Solar Array Task Force, which is scheduled to continue discussions through next spring. The Task Force has also been holding regular meetings on the topic with the neighborhood group to keep them informed of the process.
