BELMONT — A meeting will be held for opponents of the Uplands Wind wind farm project in the Belmont Convention Center Aug. 15.

“Preserving and Protecting Our Rural Legacies” is touted as a “fact-based presentation” covering such subjects as local control, “honesty” from the wind farm developers, “habitat priority” and public health.

The meeting is being held by “neighbors jointly opposed to further industrial-scale wind development in Southwest Wisconsin,” according to meeting organizers.

According to opponents of the proposed area wind farm projects, all the projects, if approved, would place more than 200 wind turbines in an area bracketed by Montfort to the north, Rewey to the south, the Town of Clifton to the west and Edmund and Linden to the east.

The Aug. 15 meeting is the third large-scale meeting that has been held to harness opposition to wind farm projects. A meeting in spring 2023 led to several towns in Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties adopting moratoriums on wind farm projects, and then passing health and safety ordinances to regulate wind farms more stringently than state law.

Another meeting in March discussed grid tie lines, which connects parts of wind farms to high-voltage transmission lines. Project opponents say those grid tie lines would be the same height as the Cardinal-Hickory Creek power transmission lines between Cassville and Montfort.

The Uplands Wind project is the largest of the proposed area projects. Pattern Energy, the developer of Uplands Wind, submitted a map to the Federal Aviation Administration in April that shows 181 possible locations for the 600-megawatt $1 billion project.

The interactive Google map can be viewed at https://bit.ly/UplandsMap. The FAA map, which is accessible on the FAA Obstacles database, has more specific possible locations for Uplands Wind turbines than Upland’s PSC pre-application for the project Sept. 27.

According to the FAA map, three wind turbine locations are immediately west of the Platte Mound and two are south of the Mound between Lafayette County B and U.S. 151. Other locations are near Belmont Mound State Park.

The Uplands Wind project generated controversy when project opponents circulated a map based on the PSC application that showed wind turbines immediately west of the Mound. Representatives for Pattern Energy said the map was preliminary and that the company would not place turbines or project infrastructure in state parks or “certain sensitive areas like the Platteville Mound.”

The FAA map groups Uplands Wind’s turbine locations in several areas. The largest group of locations in this area are 14 between Belmont and Leslie north of U.S. 151, nine east of Belmont south of 151, and 20 locations between Elk Grove and Belmont north of Wisconsin 81 and east of the UW-Platteville Pioneer Farm.

The map shows another 20 locations north and south of Mifflin and east of Rewey. Another five locations are along U.S. 151 between Belmont and Mineral Point.

The largest group of locations in the project are east of Mineral Point and northwest of Yellowstone Lake State Park in an area bracketed by Wisconsin 39 and Wisconsin 23.

Another 22 locations are south of Cobb and Edmund. A smaller group of locations is east of Dodgeville in an area bracketed by U.S. 18/151 and Wisconsin 191. 

There are no wind turbine locations in eastern Grant County, but the proposed project includes infrastructure as far west as Annaton and areas north-northwest of Platteville.

Pattern’s PSC pre-application said Uplands Wind would have 134 to 180 turbines from 492 to 640 feet tall.

Uplands Wind is one of four wind farm projects at various stages of the approval process. 

Allete Clean Energy is proposing the Whitetail Wind project in the Town of Clifton, which would install 21 2- to 4.2-megawatt wind turbines to generate 70 megawatts of power.

The application lists the towers as 410 to 650 feet tall from ground to the tip of the top blade, with rotor diameter of up to 492 feet. The application says that Whitetail Wind is negotiating with a wind turbine supplier “and will confirm the final number and model(s) of turbines” for the project when negotiations conclude.

The Whitetail Wind application said Allete has “formal leases/easements” with landowners for more than 5,000 acres in the 12,793-acre project site.

Seven turbines are slated to be located on Wisconsin 80, five on Rock Church Road, four on Grant County E, two on Old 80 Road, one on New California Road, one on Hickory Grove, and one off Hopewell Road, according to the application. Two meteorological towers also would be built on four locations — two off County E, one north of Crow Branch Lane and one west of 80 just south of the north Livingston village limits.

Whitetail Wind does not require a CPCN from the PSC because the project is smaller than 100 megawatts, according to the application.

Four opponents of filed an appeal of Grant County approval of Whitetail Wind with the state Public Service Commission. Among other claims the plaintiffs claimed that Allete divided the project specifically to avoid needing PSC approval.

●  The Badger Hollow project would use 17 to 19 turbines at the blade tip height would be 574 to 656 feet tall depending on the kind of turbine used, according to the PSC filing.

The turbines would be located in a jagged line from east of Cobb to south of Cobb to the American Transmission Co. Hill Valley substation in Montfort, then south past Livingston to northeast of Rewey. The Hill Valley substation is part of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek power transmission line project.

The Badger Hollow Project is designed around Allete Clean Energy’s Red Barn Wind Farm, which has been operating for more than a year. The Red Barn Wind Farm is south of U.S. 18 from near Preston to Montfort, with 28 turbines producing 92 megawatts of electricity, sold to Madison Gas & Electric and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., according to Allete’s web site.

●  Liberty Utilities, a subsidiary of a Canadian utility, is proposing a 30- to 40-turbine project, with turbines up to 656 feet tall, to generate 200 megawatts of electricity.

The proposed project area is south of U.S. 18 west of Wisconsin 133 and along Wisconsin 35/133 and generally west of Grant County J.

Liberty Utilities has another 300-megawatt project proposed south of Fond du Lac. The two projects are Liberty Utilities’ first Wisconsin projects. The company has a 202-megawatt wind farm in Logan County, Ill., south of Peoria.

The two projects are proposed to be built and operational late this decade

More information on the Aug. 15 meeting is available by emailing info@no-uplands.com.