City of Wausau Continuing to Explore Possibility of Solar Array at New Drinking Water Treatment Plant

Friday, September 29th, 2023 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The city of Wausau is continuing to explore the possibility of a solar array to provide some of the required power for the city’s new drinking water treatment plant.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Public Works Director Eric Lindman says the idea is still in the information-gathering stage, with the newly formed Solar Array Task Force leading the way.

“Their mission really is to put together information, develop concepts, and [find out] what’s feasible. Then, they’ll make a recommendation back to the utility commission.” That information-gathering phase will include a public survey which right now is limited to residents of the neighborhood near the drinking water plant.

But soon the whole city will be able to get involved by taking the survey on the city website. He says any feedback will be helpful. “We really just want people to spend a few minutes and take that. We want to understand where people’s feelings are towards solar. This is really the first [project] that the city is stepping into, but I can see this in different areas, on different city-owned buildings,” said Lindman.

One of those potential projects is the proposed public works garage which could be designed with solar in mind to offset some of those costs and also allow the city to add electric vehicles to its fleet. But for now, the focus is on the water plant, which is one of the city’s biggest users of electricity.

He says it could also help stabilize expenses for the utility at a time when the city’s water rates have taken a significant increase. “If this happens, if everything works out, it will hopefully help mitigate future rate increases by offsetting our operational costs.

“We want to connect the solar array directly to the user of the power,” added Lindman. Lindman was one of the presenters at Wednesday’s meeting, which was held at NTC. Others in attendance were Alders Chad Henke and Gary Gisselman, Water Works Commissioner John Robinson, and Mayor Katie Rosenberg.

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