OneEnergy Development, which wants to build a 5-megawatt solar farm on Green Bay’s far east side, couldn’t afford more expensive lease terms that city officials sought to balance opportunity costs, triggering the City Council Feb. 3 to give Mayor Eric Genrich the final authority to award the lease.
The city’s Finance Committee had asked OneEnergy pay $1,000 each year of a minimum 30-year agreement for every acre leased of city-owned land about 2½ miles from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and the rate would go up 2% each year. This was a $200 increase from the $800 amount that was written in a previous draft agreement. The committee had also previously upped the rent for all three years that the company would have to build out its solar farm, from $250 per acre annually in an initial version of the lease to $800, too.
“We can’t offer a higher lease rate,” said project manager Nolan Stumpf to the City Council, citing project costs without further information about the site and the desire to be cost-competitive with other utilities. “So the budgets are − I’ll just be frank − quite tight.”
The proposed solar farm, which would be between 35 and 40 acres, would not have immediate access to Algoma Road; permission would be needed from the state’s Department of Transportation. Should the transportation department deny access, Stumpf said a road would need to be made through surrounding wetlands, which “would be quite costly to engineer.”
Easy access to a substation about a quarter-mile west was also not guaranteed. Developers are required to submit projects to the state Public Service Commission to determine what substation improvements need to be done, if any, to accommodate the proposed project, a cost borne by the developer that was “a black box to us,” Stumpf said. Proximity to the substation was a good indicator that the company could take on such costs, but was not guaranteed, Stumpf said.
“The hope would be to interconnect it straight to the substation, since it’s really close, but we don’t know if there’s room to do that,” Stumpf said, adding the company wasn’t allowed to submit any project to get more information without a signed lease.
What Stumpf could tell City Council members had little to do with the lease itself. All labor was union-contracted, Stumpf said in response to a question by City Council member Jim Ridderbush. He was confident in the lifespan of the solar panels, Stumpf said in answer to City Council member Joey Prestley. Stumpf said he did not have any information on how the much cost-savings residents could hope to see, in response to a question from City Council Jennifer Grant.
Genrich requested the lease be discussed in closed session, as the matter has been during all prior committee meetings. Only City Council member Melinda Eck voted against the request.
The council, following over half an hour of talk behind closed doors, unanimously gave Genrich the power to approve the lease “subject to the terms discussed in closed session.”
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. He also writes a weekly column answering reader questions about Green Bay. Contact and send him questions at 920-834-4250 or jlin@usatodayco.com.

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