Availability of Final Environmental Impact Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impact, and Conclusion of Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act Process
UW Kegonsa Research Campus Solar and Agricultural Research
University of Wisconsin – Madison
3725 Schneider Drive, Stoughton, WI

This is a notice for the April 21, 2022 release of the Final Environmental Impact Assessment (FEIA) Report and associated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s proposed Kegonsa Research Campus Solar and Agricultural Research Project. This release denotes the conclusion of the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act process for this project. Further permitting that would commence would be conducted by the project development team under separate processes.

SunVest Solar LLC, in conjunction with Wisconsin Power and Light (DBA Alliant Energy), and University of Wisconsin-Madison, and on behalf of the University of Wisconsin System Administration, retained Ayres Associates to conduct this process in accordance with the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA), Wisconsin Statutes 1.11, and UWSA guidelines (Board of Regents’ Resolution 2508, November 6, 1981).

Project Background

The proposed project site is located on UW-Madison-owned property referred to as UW Kegonsa Research Campus (KRC), near 3725 Schneider Drive, west of Highway Hwy 51 and Lake Kegonsa, between McFarland and Stoughton in the Town of Dunn. The KRC site includes the Physical Sciences Lab (PSL), and a research and development laboratory on approximately 280-acres of UW-owned property. The proposed project site is currently leased for agriculture use and zoned General Farmland Preservation (FP-35), and is adjacent to Transitional Agriculture (AT-35).

Proposed Project Action

This project proposes to develop a 2.25 Megawatt (MW) solar array co-located with agricultural research on up to 15-acres of the Kegonsa Research Campus. The solar array would be set back approximately 800 feet from Schneider Drive on land currently leased for agricultural crop production. The northern portion and other areas of the property not included in this development would continue to have agriculture crops in the near term. The design team is in the process of determining the best use of land beneath the solar array that would combine opportunities for agricultural research to be co-located with the new solar array. New three-phase electrical distribution and fiber lines to interconnection points are incidental to this work.

The customer-hosted, tariff-based solar facility will be owned and operated by Wisconsin Power and Light on land leased from UW-Madison on behalf of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. The project is funded by Wisconsin Power and Light.

Copies of the documents are available online at: https://bit.ly/AyresKRC or through the Ayres project portal www.ayresprojectinfo.com and selecting “UW-Madison Kegonsa Research Campus Solar Project.” These will be available until May 31, 2022.

March 24 DEIA Public Meeting Files
Video Recording of DEIA Virtual Meeting
Slide Deck of Presentation
Meeting Info From GoToMeeting

Click Here to View:
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) (117 Kb, PDF)
UW KRC Solar FEIA Report (Text only) (790 Kb, PDF)
UW KRC Solar FEIA Report Appendices (42,107 Kb, PDF)
UW Madison Kegonsa Research Campus Draft EIA Report (36,866 Kb, PDF)
UW KRC DEIA Combined appendices (699 Kb, PDF)
Comment Form (23 Kb, Word File)
UW-Madison Hosted Website on KRC Solar and Agricultural Research Project