Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group, the parent company of We Energies, announced recently that it plans to shut down its coal power plant in Pleasant Prairie.
The facility, which has two units, one that went online in 1980 and the other in 1985, has 158 employees. A spokeswoman for the company said most of the employees are expected to be reassigned to other facilities and some of them are expected to retire.
Changes in the energy market are driving the company’s decision to close the Pleasant Prairie facility, according to WEC spokeswoman Cathy Schulze. The falling cost of natural gas and renewable energy sources has made some coal facilities less efficient by comparison. In addition, demand for energy is static, so WEC doesn’t need the capacity provided by the Pleasant Prairie facility.
The closure of the Pleasant Prairie power plant is good news for several reasons. Shutting down a coal power plant eliminates a source of air pollution. WEC spokeswoman Amy Jahns said government environmental regulations were not a factor in the company’s decision to shut down the Pleasant Prairie facility. It’s great to hear that a good business move for WEC will also be good for the environment.
WEC plans to remove all of the buildings and equipment from the Pleasant Prairie site. That would free up a 425-acre property for future development in an area that is already a development hotbed.
The closure of the plant is part of WEC Energy Group’s goal to reduce its carbon emissions by 40 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. It is just one of several coal plants that have been shut down or converted to natural gas by the company. In 2015, WEC converted its power plant in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley from coal to natural gas. The We Energies power plant in Port Washington was converted from coal to natural gas in 2008. The company plans to shut down coal power plants in Sheboygan, Green Bay and Presque Isle, Michigan. The Michigan facility will be replaced with two new natural gas facilities, Schulze said. The company also plans to add a solar energy facility in Wisconsin by 2020.
That will leave WEC Energy Group with only three coal power plants, in Oak Creek, Rothschild and Portage, according to Jahns. No changes are planned for those facilities.
The coal plant closures and conversions are part of WEC Energy Group’s strategy to reduce costs and be a good environmental steward, Jahns said. The company wants to diversify its power sources, including the three coal plants, which remain important. Having a diverse power plant lineup will help WEC improve its energy reliability and keep costs lower for customers, she said.
It remains to be seen if our We Energies bills will really go down, but it’s still good to know that WEC Energy Group considers cleaner energy sources good for business.
