Three of the state’s major utilities are planning to spend almost $2 billion on five renewable energy projects as part of their plans to cut carbon emissions and shift to clean energy.
We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas and Electric filed plans with the Public Service Commission to acquire and build facilities that would cost around $1.9 billion combined. The five projects are expected to power about 250,000 homes. They include 500 megawatts of solar, around 180 megawatts of wind and 100 megawatts of battery storage.
We Energies would own 80 percent of the projects. WPS and MGE would each own 10 percent.
We Energies and WPS, which are owned by WEC Energy Group, plan to invest nearly $8 billion in renewable energy, natural gas projects and storage in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee-based company said it’s part of a larger plan to save customers more than $2 billion over the next two decades.
Utilities say renewable projects will also help reduce costs in the face of new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency that require coal plants to reduce 90 percent of their emissions by 2039.
However, consumer advocates like Wisconsin’s Citizens Utility Board, or CUB, have voiced concerns about the pace and cost of the transition as utilities like We Energies retire coal plants and invest in renewable energy.
The utility is currently asking to raise electric rates 6.9 percent in 2025 and nearly 4.8 percent in 2026, which is due in large part to its energy transition. In a filing, CUB said that means customers would pay about 36 percent more or roughly $40 extra per month on their electric bills in 2026 compared to December 2022.