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MADISON — Wisconsin has historically lagged behind its Midwestern neighbors in clean energy production.
Minnesota has five times the wind capacity and more than 16 times the solar capacity of Wisconsin, according to a report by the Environmental Law and Policy Center.
But environmental activists said that’s starting to change. Amy Barrilleaux, with Clean Wisconsin, is expecting the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to approve about 11 clean energy products in 2026 alone. She said that’s more in one year than usual.
“We do rely more on coal than a lot of our neighbors, so this is a good thing to try to get us away from those harmful fuels that we have been using,” said Barrilleaux.
She said a bitter cold snap this winter showed how Wisconsin’s reliance on coal and natural gas for energy production puts more of a cost burden on consumers.
“It caused a terrible strain on natural gas supplies, so here in Wisconsin we saw the prices in our energy bills go up, because it’s a commodity, you see the prices go up, and we are feeling that in a lot of ways right now with fossil fuels,” said Barrilleaux. “The important thing for people to understand is that we don’t have commodity prices on wind or on solar, and that’s what makes these sources for energy now the least expensive ways to get energy in Wisconsin.”
There’s been a push statewide for solar energy production. The Darien Solar Energy Center in Walworth and Rock counties became fully operational last year. It has more than 600,000 solar panels and can power roughly 75,000 homes. It’s a joint project serving customers of Wisconsin Public Service, Madison Gas and Electric and We Energies.
We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said the company is investing billions in new solar and wind projects to replace fossil fuel plants. 
“Once they are built, they take very little maintenance,” said Conway.
However, the cost of building all this clean energy infrastructure is part of the reason Wisconsinites pay some of the highest electricity rates in the Midwest.
“They cost at the front end, but in the long term, we expect they will help to keep customer bills down because they don’t require fuel,” said Conway.
Barrilleaux said there’s another way clean energy is more cost-effective.
“Wisconsin spends $14 billion a year bringing energy from other states, because we don’t mine for coal, frack for gas, or drill for oil here. So, we have to ship or pipe it all in from other states,” she said. “But we do have the unlimited natural resources of wind and sun.”

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