BRISTOL — A community forum held by Robin Energy Storage turned heated Tuesday night — as Wheatland residents came face to face with the company behind a proposed 200-megawatt lithium-ion battery energy storage facility that would be built on farmland near homes and a grade school.
Resident Nora Boss reached out directly to TMJ4 News — calling it a surprise meeting — and asking us to attend. We've been following this story since February.
This is not the first time this community has pushed back. Back in February — dozens of residents packed a Wheatland town board meeting after learning the project they thought had been stopped was still moving forward. The town's planning commission had voted against the project — but Robin Energy Storage withdrew its application and told TMJ4 it planned to resubmit.
WATCH: Wheatland residents came face to face with the company behind a proposed battery facility
Tuesday night — residents showed up ready for answers.
"We need you to help get the word out. We still have residents in this area that do not know what’s going on here," Boss said. "Why is this foreign conglomerate so determined to destroy our little rural community when there’s other places they could build this that it wouldn’t affect anyone."
At stake — a project that residents like Chad Toedter say poses serious safety concerns for their neighborhood and the grade school nearby.
"We don’t want it, we want transparency and they want to basically stonewall us because they think we’re a small community and we don’t know what we’re talking about," Toedter said. "We’ve done a lot of research on this and you know we’re going to continue going forward."
Kenosha County recently adopted Wisconsin's first battery energy storage ordinance — which could play a key role if Robin Energy resubmits its application. Under the ordinance — facilities must sit at least 100 feet from homes and 25 feet from agricultural or commercial land.
Our Kenosha County Reporter spoke with Jan Porvaznik, the Director of Project Development at Robin Energy Storage.
"I think we understand first of all, the emotions tied to a project that’s new, that’s a technology that people don’t understand well. It is very understandable from our standpoint that this is the dynamic, this is the situation we’re facing. We are evaluating, as I said in the meeting, other paths to move forward with the project, including the state process."
This community says they will be watching every step of the way. TMJ4 News will continue to follow this story as it develops.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
