At full capacity, the Vista Sands Solar Project is expected to generate enough electricity to power over 200,000 Wisconsin homes.

The Vista Sands Solar Project proposed for Portage County received approval Thursday from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.

The solar project will be the largest of its kind in Wisconsin and among the most powerful in the country, generating nearly 1.3 gigawatts of electricity, a spokesperson for the project said Thursday afternoon in a news release. At full capacity, Vista Sands Solar will generate enough electricity to power over 200,000 Wisconsin homes.

More than half of the project, being built by Doral Renewables, will be in the Portage County town of Grant and most of the rest will be in the town of Plover, with a small section in the village of Plover. The county and communities will receive a total of $6.5 million a year in payments from the project.

“We are thrilled with the approval of the Vista Sands Solar Project by the PSCW,” said Jon Baker, vice president of development at Doral Renewables and project manager for the Vista Sands Solar Project, in the release. “This milestone marks an exciting new chapter for clean energy in Wisconsin.”

Baker went on to say that with years of careful planning and community engagement, approval of the project represents an opportunity for local economies in Portage County and a major step forward for Wisconsin in achieving its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The company is leasing the land from the owners, mostly farmers. It gives the farmers the chance to diversify their sources of income. Doral will remain the owner of the project. Once it reaches the end of its lifespan, the company will remove the panels and the land will still belong to the farmers.

Be Wisconsin: Pink elephant. Talking cow. Potato masher. Visit the ‘world’s largest’ things of Wisconsin

Be Wisconsin: 5 cozy, small-town Wisconsin coffee shops for a dose of hygge in the winter

Several conservationists and wildlife advocates had raised concerns about the project’s proximity to the Buena Vista Grassland State Wildlife Area, home of the state’s largest population of threatened prairie chickens, calling for one-half and one-mile setbacks between the solar arrays and the prairie chicken booming grounds.

The final Environmental Impact Statement on the project also cited concerns about the proposal’s likely negative impacts to the prairie chickens, even if mitigation suggestions are followed. The Department of Natural Resources and Public Service Commission’s final EIS, released July 15, did not require those benchmarks, however.

Vista Sands Solar says it will not construct any panels within 500 feet of greater prairie chicken booming grounds identified by the Wisconsin DNR, according to the project’s website.

Between 5,700 to 7,900 acres of agricultural lands in the vicinity of the Buena Vista Wildlife Area will be restored to grasslands, according to the project website. Vista Sands Solar’s ecologists have designed a seed mix that will be used across the project area, creating a suitable environment for both native wildlife and solar energy generation, according to the website.

Clean Wisconsin, an organization that works to combat climate change and pollution in the air, water and land, submitted analysis to the Public Service Commission that shows Vista Sands is also likely to have significant water benefits in Portage County, boosting aquifer levels and reducing contamination in the water-depleted Central Sands region. The solar farm is anticipated to take 56 high-capacity wells out of normal operation and will greatly reduce the estimated 3 million pounds of fertilizer and 73,000 gallons of insecticide currently spread across the project area every year, according to Clean Wisconsin.

“Today, the PSC approved the biggest step toward curbing Wisconsin’s carbon emissions in the state’s history,” Katie Nekola, Clean Wisconsin general counsel, said in a news release. “This is significant because Wisconsin cannot meet its carbon reduction goals or contain customer costs without acknowledging and indeed embracing the need to invest in the least-cost, cleanest generation available.”

Vista Sands Solar also was designed to avoid waterways and no impacts to drainage are anticipated in the project area, according to its website.

Doral representatives stated in 2023 they hoped to have the necessary approvals for the project by the end of 2024. It will take about two years to build the project.

Vista Sands Solar will bring a total capital investment of nearly $2 billion and create approximately 500 jobs during construction and about 50 permanent jobs, stimulating local economic activity that will benefit local businesses, according to a spokesperson for the project.

Contact Karen Madden at kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KMadden715, Instagram at @kmadden715 or Facebook at facebook.com/karen.madden.33.