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Macquarie Group unit wants to bring 150-MW solar project to Wisconsin

Savion LLC, a solar and energy storage unit of Macquarie Group Ltd.'s Green Investment Group Ltd., is pursuing a 150-MW solar project in Wood County, Wis.

According to a Savion presentation, the project would be situated on 1,200 acres in Saratoga — a town with a population of just over 5,000 located about 200 miles northwest of Milwaukee — and would be able to power about 40,000 homes.

An interconnection agreement with the Midcontinent ISO is expected to be executed in November 2020, according to Savion. Company officials anticipate that project construction will begin in late 2021 and conclude up to 10 months later, with commercial operations potentially starting in 2022.

Savion said the site for the project was chosen in part based on its proximity to an already existing 138-kV transmission line. The company also was attracted to the location because of what it calls "significant existing vegetative visual screening" and a lack of significant environmental issues, although several environmental studies — including one addressing potential impacts on threatened and endangered species — are still in progress, according to the presentation.

Macquarie acquired Savion and its 6,000-MW solar and storage project development pipeline from Enel Green Power North America Inc. when that company was divesting itself of certain holdings acquired through its purchase of Tradewind Energy Inc.

Dan Forbes, chairman of the Saratoga Plan Commission and a town board supervisor, said in an interview that the project would be located on a plot of land owned by the Wysocki Family of Companies. The land previously had been slated to house a dairy, but Forbes said the necessary licensing for that project was never granted. A representative from Wysocki did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A public meeting on the proposal will be held in Saratoga on Sept. 25.