Our Climate Commitment

Join us in working toward net-zero carbon electricity by 2050.

Our climate is changing. This reality is recognized by climate scientists around the world. At MGE, we share the urgency of many in our community who want to work together to create a more sustainable future as quickly as we can. 

By working together – to be energy efficient, to support renewable energy, to advance cleaner transportation – we can achieve net-zero carbon electricity for our customers by 2050. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified carbon neutrality by 2050 as a benchmark for limiting global warming to 1.5-degrees Celsius. MGE's goal is based on the latest climate science, and our strategies—clean energy, energy efficiency and conservation, and the electrification of other end uses, such as transportation—are the same as those identified by the IPCC. If we can go further faster toward our goal by working with our customers, we will.

With your support, we are working aggressively to decarbonize our energy supply mix. Since announcing clean energy goals under our Energy 2030 framework just four years ago, we have developed a number of renewable energy projects to serve our customers—and we're not done yet.  

• Our first Shared Solar project in Middleton came online in January 2017.
• In 2018, we purchased a 16-megawatt (MW) share of the Forward Energy Center wind farm in Wisconsin.
• Our 66-MW Saratoga, Iowa, wind farm began generating in early 2019.
• Construction is underway on two large-scale solar projects, Two Creeks Solar and the Badger Hollow Solar Farm, totaling 100 MW.
• MGE has a proposal to purchase another 50 MW from phase two of the Badger Hollow Solar Farm. 
• We're expanding our Shared Solar program with a 5-MW solar project at Morey Field in Middleton.
• We're partnering with Dane County to build 9 MW of solar at Dane County Regional Airport.

As the IPCC states in its October 2018 report, carbon neutrality will require technologies to develop further and become more cost-effective. We are working with scientists at the UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies for expert input and analysis as we chart our pathway to net-zero carbon electricity for our community. 

MGE's roots in the Madison area date back more than 150 years. Together we share not only this great community, but we share long-held values and ambitious goals. Join us in working, growing and charging our own unique path forward. 

Sincerely,

 

published: Sep-13-2019