On a long, straight stretch of Seminole Highway in Fitchburg, bikers and drivers encounter an arresting sight: tens of thousands of gleaming solar panels on either side of the road, tilting in unison to follow the sun over the course of the day.

The panels, which provide 20 megawatts of renewable electricity to the local community, are part of O’Brien Solar Fields, a collaborative partnership between the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a range of businesses and agencies that joined forces under the aegis of Madison Gas and Electric’s Renewable Energy Rider.