As part of National Clean Energy Week, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers stopped in Hager City on Monday, September 23, to visit Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services' (PPCS) new solar array, Trenton Solar at Truttmann Field. The 2-megawatt array can produce enough electricity to power 525 homes. Using 12 acres of land, the array includes more than 4,000 bifacial panels, each 550 watts, that operate with an axis tracking system to follow the sun and maximize generation.

PPCS partnered with the Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation, OneEnergy, and West Cap on the project so that a portion of the renewable energy from the Trenton Solar at Truttmann Field benefits the cooperative's lower-income members.

During the visit, Evers also commended Pierce Pepin for its work in investing in renewable energy and expressed his appreciation for the co-op's efforts to expand broadband in the region.

“They (electric co-ops) are saints, in my humble opinion,” Evers said. “The co-ops in western Wisconsin, and almost all of rural Wisconsin too, they've done the work; obviously, they're doing solar, and also, I can remember going to many places up and down western Wisconsin that the only folks that would do broadband were the co-ops, and they're doing it.” Evers reiterated that cooperatives have done a great job and that he respects the co-ops in Wisconsin. “They're doing a great thing,” said Evers.

“We're in an area where three years ago we had a lot of broadband deserts, where we didn't have great access, and through public funding largely coming through the Public Service Commission and the American Rescue Plan Act funds, we've been able to build about 1,200 miles of fiber, passing by 10,000 locations,” said Nate Boettcher, president and CEO of Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services. “And now, as a result of that, today, every one of our members will have access to high-speed fiber optic Internet at their home or business.”