Solar power project planned for Jefferson County that will generate enough electricity for about 20,000 homes

Another large solar power project — the third announced in less than a year — is planned for Wisconsin.

Dairyland Power Cooperative on Monday said it agreed to buy the output of a 149-megawatt solar power project planned for Jefferson County.

The project is projected to cost more than $100 million and is planned for about 1,000 acres near the Towns of Jefferson and Oakland. It would generate enough electricity for about 20,000 residences if approved by the Public Service Commission.

Dairyland, based in La Crosse, provides wholesale electricity to 24 rural electric cooperatives and 17 municipal utilities in four states.

The generation and transmission cooperative will buy power under a 30-year contract, said Deb Mirasola, a spokeswoman for Dairyland.

The project, known as Badger State Solar, will be Dairyland's first large solar project. The cooperative buys a total of 178 megawatts from wind projects in Wisconsin and Iowa.

Ranger Power, a company based in New York City, will develop, own and operate the project planned for Jefferson County.

Ranger Power, which develops solar projects in the Midwest, has contracts to lease more than 1,000 acres for the project, said Jeff Rauh, project representative.

Construction would begin in 2020 and the project would begin generating power in 2022 pending local and state approvals.

“This project is indicative that there has been a significant drop in the cost of solar,” Rauh said.

The cost of solar projects has dropped about 80 percent in the past eight years, he said.

In May, Wisconsin Public Service, a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group, and Madison Gas and Electric announced plans to invest a total of $390 million in two solar power projects that will produce 300 megawatts of electricity.

Those project will be in Iowa County, near the villages of Montfort and Cobb, about 12 miles west of Dodgeville, in southwestern Wisconsin, and in the Town of Two Creeks and the city of Two Rivers, near the Point Beach nuclear power plant, in northeastern Wisconsin.

The projects are being developed by Invenergy, a Chicago firm, and NextEra Energy, based in Juno Beach, Florida, and the parent company of Florida Power & Light Co.

Invenergy plans to build an additional 150 megawatts, for a total of 300 megawatts, in Iowa County.