By City Times staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Wood County officials hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 21 to celebrate the county’s SolSmart Gold designation and the installation of the first county-owned solar array.

The event took place at the Nepco County Park Shelter in Wisconsin Rapids, where the solar array was installed.

“We start a new chapter in the history of Wood County – a new exciting chapter in the history in Wood County,” said Wood County Chair Doug Machon before the event. “How we do that is we are going to embrace technology that makes us fiscally stronger. We are going to embrace technology that improves our public health. We are going to embrace technology that lets us expand workforce development. Finally, we are going to embrace technology that is going to make us more resilient in the face of ever-increasing climatic chaos.

“Thanks to the outstanding leadership of our renewable and sustainables committee and the parks department, (the) project at Nepco Lake along with our newly acquired SolSmart Gold designation and the proposed $150 megawatt utility scale solar array in Saratoga, it is going to ensure the Wood County remains at the forefront of photovoltaic technology advancement in the state of Wisconsin.”

Nepco County Park is located at 1410 Griffith Ave, Wisconsin Rapids.