We Energies plans new 750MW natural gas plant in Fox Valley
We Energies filed an engineering plan for the 750-megawatt Fox North Energy Center, a proposed natural gas power plant at its existing facility in Wrightstown, Wisconsin. The utility says the project would meet rising electricity demand and improve grid reliability, while environmental groups criticize the expansion of fossil-fuel generation amid growing demand from data centers.
We Energies has proposed the 750-megawatt Fox North Energy Center at its existing gas-fired plant in the village of Wrightstown and filed an engineering plan with Wisconsin regulators. The filing begins the regulatory review process, but it does not include a construction cost estimate, and We Energies has not said whether the plant would directly serve a data center.
The proposal comes as Wisconsin regulators project a 40% increase in electricity demand by 2032, driven in part by three large data center developments. We Energies says the plant would support energy needs and regional grid reliability, while Clean Wisconsin’s energy and air manager Ciaran Gallagher argues that the state’s rush to build gas plants is linked to data center demand and could increase costs for ratepayers and worsen climate change.