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    Mercury Marine, Alliant Energy seeking approval to build 5-MW solar array near Wisconsin HQ

    July 28, 2022
    More than 12,000 solar panels will be installed on this 32-acre Ledgeview Solar Project, which will be developed and constructed by OneEnergy Renewables on a privately owned land in Fond du Lac County. The project still needs state regulatory approval
    Image credit Alliant Energy
    Alliant Energy Solar 62e29024cb100

    Boat engine maker Mercury Marine says it will partner with utility Alliant Energy to build a 5-MW solar array in eastern Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, that will help supply renewable energy to offset Mercury’s energy use in the region.

    More than 12,000 solar panels will be installed on this 32-acre Ledgeview Solar Project, which will be developed and constructed by OneEnergy Renewables on a privately owned land in Fond du Lac County.

    Electricity generated through the new solar facility will be enough to power approximately 1,300 homes annually, and it will offset 10% of the electricity Mercury uses on its Fond du Lac campus.

    “This solar project is good for Mercury, the Fond du Lac community and the environment,” Chris Drees, Mercury Marine President, said. “Our investment in this solar infrastructure, combined with our other solar investments, will provide clean, renewable energy and propel us toward our goal to derive 50% of our electricity usage from renewable sources by the end of 2030.”

    The project still needs review and approval by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Construction is expected to start in spring 2023, with the solar facility likely to commission in October 2023.

    This will be the first project under Alliant Energy’s Renewable Energy Partner program, which is aimed at supporting commercial and industrial customers achieve their sustainability goals.

    Mercury already has installed solar panels at its Fond du Lac world headquarters. The rooftop solar array was commissioned in January last year and can generate enough electricity to power its warehouse operations for another 30 years.

    The company, a division of New Brunswick Corp., also installed an array of 2,000 solar panels at its European headquarters in Petit Rechain, Belgium, in 2017 – which was its first ever solar project. The deployment has helped the European HQ reduce its consumption of electricity drawn from the main grid by 33%. 

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    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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