Tom Metcalfe, President of Wisconsin Utilities says, “We expect to save customers about $1 billion over a 20-year period.”

The city doesn’t know exactly how much customers will save thanks to the solar farm, but officials do say that they will see a drop in their energy bill.

Although much of Wisconsin is very forested and has many state parks and state / national forests, only 10 percent of the state’s energy is green. Of this green energy, around 40% comes from hydroelectricity, 33% is generated using wind, 25% comes from biomass (which really is not green), and just 2% comes from solar energy. So, 0.2% of Wisconsin’s energy comes from the sun. This new solar farm will hopefully change that low number.

The state of Wisconsin has reduced its emissions by 50% since 2005, and is on track to reduce them even more in coming years. City officials say that the solar farm will push Milwaukee closer to its “25 by 25” goal of having 25% of its electricity produced by renewable energy sources by the year 2025.