Three Western Wisconsin public schools will soon benefit from Dairyland’s Solar for Schools initiative. This summer, 12 kilowatt (kW) solar installations will be constructed on-site at Alma Area School (K-12), Cochrane-Fountain City School (K-12) and De Soto Area Middle & High School.

Dairyland issued a Request for Proposals for the projects in fall 2015, seeking an experienced contractor to procure, install and maintain a fixed-panel, pole-mounted solar system at each school. Regional contractor ABLE Energy Co. (River Falls, Wis.) will begin construction shortly, with plans for each solar installation to be operational by the start of the school term in fall 2016. Renewable energy produced by the solar arrays will help power the schools, partially offsetting the current energy use by the facilities. All three schools are near Dairyland power plant facilities located within its cooperative service territory.