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>> As to the rising cost of
energy, many people want to

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see an even bigger turn to
renewable sources. Solar

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panel fields and wind
turbines have been cropping

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up next to and on top of
Wisconsin farms for a

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couple of decades now. But
as reporter Steven Potter

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explains, not everyone is
on board.

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>> Chicken Tom
>> Wilcox has farmed the

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same plots of land around
his home in Clark County

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for more than 20 years.
>> Agriculture is good land

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use.
>> He's admittedly old

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fashioned with how he goes
about it.

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>> You got to understand, I
farm like it's 1950.

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>> He uses older equipment
to harvest his hay and

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soybeans, and he mixes his
own corn feed for beef,

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cattle, chickens and
turkeys. And he prefers it

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that way.
>> It's not that we're

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making a lot of money on
these animals. It's the

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lifestyle.
that he feels threatens the

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work of farmers across
Wisconsin. That's the

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increase of renewable
energy projects such as

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wind and solar power. He
says that the acreage used

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for such projects is just
too valuable.

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>> At some point, we're
going to have to decide,

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you know, do we want to use
up all this tillable land?

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And I personally, I don't.
We need to preserve.

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>> Our our valuable
farmland in the state of

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Wisconsin and really
everywhere.

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these developments. Wilcox
leads the volunteer group

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known as Farmland First.
They attend community

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meetings, fairs and parades,
and reach out to public

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officials to stop
developments that have been

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proposed. He says most of
his fellow rural Wisconsin

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residents don't want wind
turbines and solar panel

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fields near them.
>> If you go anywhere

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around here to a public
forum, you wind up being

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like a 90/10 split and the
residents really don't want

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this. And usually the
people that are for it are

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going to get paid.
>> Farmland first is

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actively opposing two
projects nearby.

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>> It's basically a city of
farms, and there's too many

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people here for this kind
of project.

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>> On the other side of
this energy debate, several

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utility companies and clean
energy organizations are

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pushing to have more solar
and wind projects, saying

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we need them.
>> It can be controversial,

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for sure.
>> Alex Beld is with Renew

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Wisconsin. They say
renewable energy projects

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make economic sense.
>> The wind keeps blowing,

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the sun keeps shining.
Those energy sources aren't

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usually impacted by things
like tariffs or, you know,

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global conflict.
>> Proponents also say the

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benefits go beyond just
money.

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>> Even if there wasn't, at
this point, a great

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economic argument to be
made for renewables,

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there's a huge
environmental, health and

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to be made.
>> Beld says his group

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understands there's
resistance.

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>> There are people who
don't want to see the

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landscape change or see
farmland get used for

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something else.
>> But he says the needs

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outweigh the costs.
>> The goal is to, yeah,

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completely transform our
our economy and our energy

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system so that it's all
running on clean energy.

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>> For the utility
companies, renewable energy

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projects are big business.
>> The renewables are a

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great way for us to make
big and positive impacts in

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our communities.
>> Ben Lipari is in charge

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of commercial operations
for Alliant Energy, one of

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the biggest public utility
companies in the state.

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>> We have our wind
portfolio that's growing.

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We have our solar portfolio.
That's established and one

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of the largest operating
solar portfolios in the

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Upper Midwest.
>> He says Alliant strives

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for a mixed menu of energy
production.

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natural gas and coal to
support the around the

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clock energy needs. And
then, as we've been

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committed for a number of
years now, we think that

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there's a critical role for
renewables that don't have

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fuel costs and are able to
complement some of those

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traditional energy sources.
>> Lipari also points to

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local funding generated by
taxing power per megawatt.

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That utility companies are
required to pay.

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>> Let me start with solar.
Over the last few years,

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we've brought 12 utility
scale projects online

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throughout the state.
That's enough power to

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support over 350,000
residential homes and

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businesses in those
communities. That's

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providing critical shared
revenues to support

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community projects over the
life of those projects.

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That's going to support
communities upwards of $150

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million.
are more than 20 large

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utility scale solar panel
fields, and for wind power,

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there are more than a dozen
projects generating

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electricity for utility use.
Steil Lipari acknowledges

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that not in my backyard.
Opposition.

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>> You have certain folks
in the community that would

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rather you cite the project
somewhere else. We spend a

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lot of time with those
community members. We want

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to hear their concerns.
>> Residents can make their

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voice heard about these
projects.

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>> Throughout the entire
review process. There are

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many opportunities for
public participation.

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>> Meghan Sovey-Lashua is
with the Public Service

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Commission of Wisconsin.
The agency that regulates

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utilities in the state. She
says approving any new

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energy project is a very
deliberate, drawn out

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process. Over six months,
the agency conducts reviews,

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holds public hearings.
>> And then there'll be an

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open meeting where the
commission then deliberates.

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After reviewing that very
full record of evidence.

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And then the commission
makes its decision.

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>> One major factor that
the PSC considers with new

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power generation
applications is the state's

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growing need for more
energy. In the SCS draft of

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their new strategic Energy
assessment for 2026 to 2032.

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The demand for power jumps
more than 40%, and more

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than 70% of that increase
is due to three active data

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center developments.
>> If there's a

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construction project that a
utility needs to build to

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serve a data center, that
would come before the

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commission. But the
commission has no authority

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over data centers.
>> The report also predicts

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a significant change in the
types of energy production

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over the next six years. In
all, coal power will

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decline 28%. Natural gas
will increase 14%, wind

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will increase 6% and solar
will increase 11%. Such

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growth in wind and solar
will require more

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landowners to share and
least land.

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>> Three, four, five, six
seven eight.

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>> That's a decision that
Kathy Haas made more than

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20 years ago.
>> I determined number two,

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and there is 41 in the
project.

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she has leased land for one
wind turbine to the Cedar

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Ridge Wind Farm project in
the town of Empire. The

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least payments she and her
neighbors receive has made

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a difference.
>> It's helped a lot of

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farmers, you know, some of
the smaller ones, to be

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able to hang on to their
farms.

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needed is minimal.
>> The wind turbine project,

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it's able. You can farm
right up to it. All you

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gave up was just this small
piece of land to be able to

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develop this project and
add electricity to the grid.

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>> Haas says. There was
opposition to the project

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early on, but that's faded.
>> Once they realize that

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these were going to help
keep our taxes down. You

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know, then it was a little
bit, you know, just so that

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everybody was going to
benefit somehow.

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Everybody's pretty much got
used to them up there.

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>> Still, for farmers like
Tom Wilcox, his opposition

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is steadfast and represents
what he sees is worth

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protecting.
>> You asked earlier if

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there's good places for
this. Yeah. Places where

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crops don't grow and people
don't grow.

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>> Reporting from Clark
County. I'm Steven Potter

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for Here and Now.
>> For more on this and

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other issues facing
Wisconsin. Visit our