PARIS, Wis. -- We Energies wants to build a $300 million natural gas-powered generating facility in Kenosha County, citing growing demand while companies expand in southeast Wisconsin.
The utility submitted plans to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for a 128-megawatt facility in the town of Paris. The proposed facility will use seven reciprocating internal combustion engines, known as RICE, which can be started and stopped quickly.
The facility will have the potential to emit more than 590,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, an environmental report showed.
We Energies is considering three potential locations for the Paris facility inside the town of Paris, with one proposed site and two alternatives, plans showed. The proposed 14-acre site is roughly two miles east of the existing Paris generating station. The property was previously used as farmland.
The utility will also have to build a natural gas pipeline, between 500 and 1,500 feet depending on where it builds, to supply fuel to the proposed facility.
We Energies wants to start construction in February 2025 after securing state approvals and permits, plans showed. If the utility gets approval, including from the Public Service Commission, the project is expected to be completed by July 2026.
Utility officials said the facility will deliver energy to demanding customers when renewable resources aren't available.
"Having fully dispatchable resources such as RICE generators, combustion turbines and [battery energy storage systems] can help the applicant to ensure energy availability for customers at all hours when intermittent resources such as solar PV or wind may not be available," utility officials wrote.
The project surfaces as industry grows in southeast Wisconsin, such as the Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant. A confidential company also submitted plans for a data center in Kenosha. In early December, medical firm Eli Lilly and Company announced intentions to build a $3 billion facility expansion in Pleasant Prairie.
Both members of the public and organizations such as Clean Wisconsin, Renew Wisconsin and Sierra Club filed comments opposed to the project due to concerns over cost, energy burden and impact to the environment. Both Kenosha County and the city of Milwaukee filed motions to intervene, citing concerns about how plant exhaust will be handled and the impact of the project's costs in ratepayer bills respectively.
"A significant, costly expansion of fossil fuel burning plants should require more serious exploration of alternative investment options that complement statewide clean energy and sustainability goals," wrote Molly Collins, the advocacy director for the American Lung Association in Wisconsin, in a letter to the PSC. "The full costs of the project to the economy and healthcare should be included in the impacts of the project and considered when comparing alternatives," she added.
Paris residents shared concerns about potential disturbance to their property and the town of Paris also filed in opposition, concerned with how the project might impact local farming practices. The town opted for We Energies to build the facility at one of the alternative sites.