We Energies Wins Approval To Build New Natural Gas Plants
Regulators say projects are warranted to meet rising energy demand. Coalition opposes fuel type.
We Energies’ coal-fired Oak Creek power plant in southeast Wisconsin. Chuck Quirmbach/WPR
State regulators have paved the way for We Energies to spend about $1.5 billion to build two natural gas power plants in southeastern Wisconsin.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Thursday approved the utility’s plans to build natural gas plants in the city of Oak Creek in Milwaukee County and the town of Paris in Kenosha County.
The more-than-$1.2 billion natural gas plant in Oak Creek would essentially replace aging coal units at the South Oak Creek power plant. Two of those units came offline last year, and the remaining two are scheduled to shut down this year.
Meanwhile, the new plant in Kenosha County has an estimated construction cost of more than $270 million. It will complement the utility’s existing peaker plant in Paris.
We Energies plans to begin construction this year.
Both plants are part of We Energies’ more than $2 billion plan to invest in natural gas infrastructure to respond to expected increases in energy demand in southeast Wisconsin, driven by the development of power-hungry data centers and industrial growth.
PSC Commissioner Marcus Hawkins said the continued reliability of Wisconsin’s electric grid was top of mind in reviewing the gas plant cases.
“If the lights go out, the ability to bring on additional clean energy is stopped cold in its tracks,” Hawkins said. “The applicant did a really thoughtful analysis of showing how these resources support their reliability and also support the larger investments in new advanced technologies.”
PSC Commissioner Kristy Nieto said We Energies is facing “significant data center development” that’s expected to add the need for about 1,800 megawatts of capacity. She said We Energies is looking to meet 1,228 megawatts of that demand between the Oak Creek and Paris natural gas projects, and it has plans for 4,300 megawatts of clean energy.
In a statement released after the meeting, We Energies President Mike Hooper called the commission’s decision an “important next step” in the company’s efforts to meet growing demand in southeast Wisconsin.
“We are making the grid cleaner and greener while ensuring the lights stay on — no matter the weather — because we know that’s what matters most to our customers,” Hooper said.
Environmental groups, however, decried the commission for approving both plants, saying it locks in decades more of reliance on fossil fuels.
In a statement, Clean Wisconsin attorney Brett Korte said We Energies was using the data center boom as an “excuse to cash-in” by building expensive and harmful gas plants.
“The expansion of tech companies in Wisconsin and across the country may bring welcome economic investments, but that cannot come at the expense of our communities and our environment,” Korte said. “There are ways to ensure these energy-intensive projects are supplied by resources that clean up our outdated and unhealthy energy system.”
State Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, slammed the commission’s decision in a statement, calling it a “slap in the face” to the hundreds of community members who urged the PSC to block the projects in written and verbal testimony.
“Expanding fossil fuel infrastructure deepens our reliance on polluting energy sources for decades more than is necessary,” Larson said. “This will only worsen the climate crisis and will place the heaviest burden on our neighbors already most at risk.”
But PSC chair Summer Strand said demand in We Energies service territory is “expected to grow significantly in the near term” and alternatives wouldn’t be able to meet the need.
“The evidence in this proceeding sufficiently showed that project alternatives such as solar, wind and increases in energy conservation are not technically feasible, nor cost effective options compared to the proposed project, and under these specific circumstances,” Strand said.
An environmental report from the PSC found that the new gas plant in Oak Creek would produce more than 1.3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, but that’s about 3.6 million tons less than the emissions that would be produced by continuing to run the aging coal units.
The Paris project, meanwhile, is expected to produce up to about 590,000 tons of greenhouse gas emission annually, according to an environmental report from regulators.
According to Clean Wisconsin, pollution from the plants could cause between $80 million and $127 million in health costs for the state each year from respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
But Strand said the PSC isn’t allowed to block projects over air pollution concerns as long as projects meet the requirements set in Wisconsin’s air pollution statute.
Public Service Commission approves We Energies’ plan to build new Wisconsin natural gas plants was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
