Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group, the parent company of We Energies, will shut down its Pleasant Prairie power plant during the second quarter of 2018, the company announced to employees today.
The coal-fired Pleasant Prairie facility has two units, one that went online in 1980 and the other in 1985. The power plant has a capacity of 1,190 megawatts, slightly smaller than the newer units at the We Energies Oak Creek power plant, according to Cathy Schulze, spokeswoman for WEC Energy Group.
The Pleasant Prairie power plant has 158 employees. It had 180 employees in March, while the company was testing a strategy to shut down the plant during low demand months. WEC hopes to reassign as many of the Pleasant Prairie employees as possible to other positions, though some of the employees are at or near retirement age and may opt to retire, Schulze said.
As natural gas prices have fallen and renewable sources of energy have become more affordable some coal plants like the Pleasant Prairie facility have become less efficient by comparison to other sources, Schulze said. That has occurred as the demand for energy has been static, she said.
“The energy market is changing,” Schulze said. “All of those factors contributed to the decision to retire the (Pleasant Prairie) plant.”
WEC Energy Group also plans to shut down coal power plants in Green Bay and Presque Isle, Michigan. The Michigan facility will be replaced with two new natural gas facilities, Schulze said.
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 shut-down of the coal plant in Pleasant Prairie will also help WEC Energy Group achieve its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, Schulze said. The company also plans to increase its use of renewable energy and plans to add a 350 megawatt solar power facility in Wisconsin by 2020. No details have been determined for that facility, she said.
Environmental groups today cheered the news of the shutdown of the Pleasant Prairie coal plant.
“This is a great step for WPS and We Energies’ from coal and toward solar power, and it is a big win for Wisconsin,” the group Clean Wisconsin said in a statement. “They are recognizing that the future of energy is clean, local, and renewable. We’re glad to see WEC looking forward, understanding that switching from dirty fuels like coal to clean energy is the right thing to do both economically and environmentally. With the transition to the future of energy in Wisconsin, our air will be cleaner, our kids healthier, and our state will run more on cost-effective, locally-sourced energy.”
“Today is a good step towards moving beyond coal in Wisconsin,” said Elizabeth Katt Reinders, campaign representative for the Sierra Club. “This welcome announcement is yet another example of the inevitable shift to safer and more cost effective clean energy, and highlights why Wisconsin needs a proactive plan to shift to clean energy and invest in the people impacted.”
Wisconsin Energy Corp. acquired Integrys Energy Group for $9.1 billion in 2015, and the combined company was named WEC Energy Group. The combination with Integrys has created a larger fleet of power plants to evaluate for future use, Schulze said.
Moves to shut down less efficient plants like the Pleasant Prairie facility in favor of natural gas facilities and renewable sources should result in lower energy bills, Schulze said.
“We think in the long run all of these moves will be a cost savings to customers,” she said.
