WEC moves up date to stop burning coal, reaffirms 2024 shutdown for first Oak Creek units - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WEC moves up date to stop burning coal for electric power generation

WEC moves up date to stop burning coal, reaffirms 2024 shutdown for first Oak Creek units
Karl Ebert

WEC Energy Group expects to stop using coal as a power source by 2032, three years earlier than previously expected.

During an earnings call on Tuesday, WEC Energy Group executives presented the utility's plan to become coal-free in eight years, beginning with the shutdown next year of a pair of coal-powered generating units at its We Energies subsidiary's Oak Creek Power Plant.

Other coal-fired units will be retired between 2025 and 2031, resulting in the elimination of more than 1,700 megawatts of generating capacity, equal to the consumption of more than 1 million homes. To help make up for that, the company unveiled plans for an additional $1.4 billion in spending on new sources of renewable energy that, combined with $5.4 billion previously announced, is expected to bring an additional 3,800 megawatts of wind, solar and battery power online over the next five years.

That includes large solar farms that are under construction in Kenosha, Walworth and Iowa counties as well as new developments that have not been publicly announced.

Meanwhile, the company will invest in "enhancing fuel flexibility" at newer generating units in Oak Creek and at the Weston Power Plant in Marathon County that will burn a mix of natural gas and coal. With those improvements, WEC expects to be using coal as a backup fuel only by the end of 2030 and to fully phase out its use two years later.

Big investments in natural gas coming

To get there, it also will spend an additional $1.3 billion on new natural gas-powered generating facilities. Natural gas generation is considered a bridge to carbon-free energy production that can provide on-demand power for times of peak electricity demand or reduced output from renewable energy resources.

"Over the next five years we will continue to make great progress in transforming our power generation fleet and reducing carbon dioxide emissions," WEC Energy Group CEO Gale Klappa said. "In the plan, for example, we're making a significant commitment to new solar, wind and battery storage, as well as modern efficient natural gas generation and (liquefied natural gas) storage."

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Klappa said the new investments are needed to replace the coal plants, ensure that the company can meet its goal of an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and reliably meet growing demand from large new customers in southeast Wisconsin such as Microsoft and Haribo.

He called the newer generating units that will remain in service in Oak Creek, which began operating in 2010 and 2011, a "critical" part of the electricity supply for the state and Midwest.

"We're on track to do what we need to do to to continue the life of that asset for a long period of time with much lower emissions," he said.

Restated commitment to ending coal after early delays

Tuesday's announcements should put to rest speculation that the company would delay retirement of it's coal-powered generating facilities for the second time in as many years.

When it announced a plan in 2020 to retire the Oak Creek generating plants beginning this year, We Energies estimated the move would save $50 million a year in operational and maintenance costs. At the time, the company said it would replace the four units' 1,100 megawatt generating capacity with a $2 billion investment in 800 megawatts of solar power, 100 megawatts of wind power, 300 megawatts of natural gas power and 600 megawatts of battery storage.

However concerns about whether the Midwest had adequate winter power generating capacity, coupled with supply chain issues that delayed the renewable energy projects, led We Energies to postpone the Oak Creek retirements.

Similarly, Alliant Energy pushed back a plan to retire the Edgewater Generating Station in Sheboygan from the end of 2022 to 2025, and delayed the shutdown of Columbia Energy Center, near Portage, from 2024 to 2026. Alliant shares ownership of the Columbia Energy Center with WEC subsidiary Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Madison Gas and Electric Co.

According to a timeline that still requires some elements of regulatory approval:

- Units 5 and 6 at Oak Creek, completed in 1959 and 1961, will be retired in May.
- Units 7 and 8 at Oak Creek, completed in 1965 and 1967, will be retired in late 2025.
- Columbia Energy Center, completed in 1975, will be retired in June 2026.
- Weston Power Plant Unit 3, completed in 1981, will be retired in late 2031.

A timetable for retiring the Weston unit had not previously been announced.