The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) is considering We Energies' plan to build more than $2 billion of new natural gas infrastructure in southeast Wisconsin.

The PSC recently held a pair of public hearings allowing state residents to weigh in on We Energies’ plans to build a roughly $1.2 billion natural gas plant and a more than $456.3 million liquefied natural gas storage facility in Oak Creek. 

The new natural gas plant in Oak Creek would essentially replace aging coal units at the South Oak Creek power plant. Two of those units came offline last year, and the remaining two are scheduled to come offline this year. The projects are necessary to meet future energy needs and support economic growth while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

We Energies describes the natural gas plants as necessary to meet rising energy demands from industrial development in the region, including multiple planned data centers in southeast Wisconsin that require substantial amounts of electric power. A natural gas plant emits about half of the CO2 of a coal-burning plant.

The investments in Oak Creek represent the largest portion of the utility’s more than $2 billion plan to build natural gas infrastructure in southeast Wisconsin. The plan also includes a roughly $300 million natural gas plant in Kenosha County and a more than $200 million gas pipeline in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee Counties. 

The coal-fired Elm Road Generating Station on the company’s Oak Creek campus is expected to be converted to natural gas in a separate project as We Energies’ parent company works to stop using coal by 2032.