We Energies Delays Retiring Aging Oak Creek Coal Units. Again
Critics call it 'outdated, expensive and harmful' decision for ratepayers.
The Oak Creek Power Plant and Elm Road Generating Station, in Oak Creek, Wis., near Milwaukee, are coal-fired electrical power stations. Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Watch
We Energies is once again delaying the retirement of two aging coal units at its Oak Creek Power Plant.
Units 7 and 8 at the plant, which went into service in the 1960s, had been scheduled to retire at the end of this year. They will now remain open through the end of 2027.
The retirement of those units has been pushed back a few times already from 2024 to 2025 and then from 2025 to 2026.
Two older coal units at the Oak Creek plant went offline in 2024 after a one-year delay.
The delay comes as energy use in the region is expected to skyrocket due to data center projects under construction. Testimony filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin says powering data centers in Mount Pleasant and Port Washington could double We Energies’ energy demand by 2030.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, We Energies’ parent company said the decision to postpone the retirement of units 7 and 8 is based on providing “reliability and affordability for We Energies customers.”
“This past winter the Midwest power market experienced tightened energy supply and higher energy costs during the extreme temperatures,” the filing states. “Keeping units 7 and 8 available will better position We Energies to serve customers with safe, reliable and affordable energy.”
Brendan Conway, a spokesperson for We Energies, said via email there have been many examples in recent years, including in January when temperatures “plunged well below zero,” when having power available was “critical to keeping customers safe.”
The company’s SEC filing also says the extension of those units will “serve as a bridge” until new dispatchable energy generation resources come online in late 2027.
Last year, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin gave We Energies the OK to build new natural gas plants in Milwaukee County ‘s Oak Creek and the town of Paris in Kenosha County. According to the PSC, the Oak Creek gas project is expected to be completed by the winter of 2027 or the summer of 2028.
Environmental groups have been critical of We Energies for delaying the retirement of its Oak Creek coal plant several times.
Amy Barrilleaux, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Clean Wisconsin, said the newest delay comes down to a lack of planning. She said coal is a major contributor to climate change and releases pollutants that can be harmful to those who live near the plants.
“We Energies still clinging to this outdated, expensive and harmful way to produce electricity in this day and age is really outrageous,” she said. “The fact that the utility has not been able to plan well enough to move to more affordable and cleaner ways to produce energy quickly should be surprising and extremely disappointing to everyone.”
Jadine Sonoda, campaign coordinator at Sierra Club Wisconsin, said We Energies continues to invest in fossil fuels, even beyond coal.
In addition to the natural gas plants approved last year, the utility is looking to purchase a pair of proposed plants in Kenosha and Walworth counties.
“There are more ways to be reliable than building new gas plants that are really expensive,” Sonoda said. “I think their actions speak much louder than their words, in this case, just showing that their priorities are their profit and keeping these really expensive facilities open to the detriment of the whole community.”
While We Energies’ parent company has pledged to stop using coal as a fuel source by the end of 2032, Barrilleaux said the decision to delay the retirement of the coal units at Oak Creek highlights the lack of anything holding utilities to their clean energy goals or climate pledges.
“There’s nothing binding a power company in Wisconsin to follow any of those things,” she said.
Barrilleaux also said she’s skeptical this will be the last time the retirement of the aging coal units is postponed.
“I don’t think anybody has any confidence that they’re going to retire this coal plant in 2027,” Barrilleaux said. “There’s no reason to be confident in that at all. Year after year, We Energies has shown that it can’t get its plans together enough to make that happen.”
We Energies delays retirement of aging Oak Creek coal units to the end of 2027 was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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