New Solar Array in Fitchburg to Serve Customers
Tyto Solar, a 6-MW solar project, will serve all MGE electric customers.
Tyto Solar, a new 6-megawatt (MW) solar project along Irish Lane in Fitchburg, is expected to start serving MGE electric customers by the end of this year. Like MGE’s other Madison-area renewable energy projects, Tyto Solar is a distributed energy resource, or DER, which is a generating facility connected to MGE’s distribution system serving all MGE electric customers. It is expected to generate enough electricity to power about 1,200 households each year.
Tyto Solar is one of a number of projects to help MGE achieve our industry-leading carbon reduction goals. Construction continues on the second phase of the Badger Hollow Solar Farm in Iowa County. MGE will own 50 MW of the second 150-MW phase when it’s complete. MGE owns one-third of the first 150-MW phase, which came online in November 2021.
By 2030, every MGE electric customer will have 80% fewer carbon emissions from their electricity use simply by being an MGE customer. MGE is working toward our goal of net-zero carbon electricity by investing in cost-effective, clean energy to serve all customers.
First-of-its-kind energy storage project
MGE and the co-owners of the Columbia Energy Center have been selected for a grant of up to $30 million from the Department of Energy to support the construction of a compressed carbon dioxide long-duration energy storage system. The innovative 20-MW project would be capable of providing more than 10 hours of energy storage.
The added reliability and dispatchability provided by the energy storage would help to further enable MGE’s ongoing transition to greater use of renewable energy. It also would help to manage long-term customer costs because projects like this one enable the partner utilities to store energy to help meet peak demand.
Pending State regulatory approval, construction near the existing Columbia Energy Center could begin in 2025 with project completion in 2026. To learn more, visit mge.com/ColumbiaEnergyStorage.
published: Nov-30-2023