We Energies Plans a 750 MW Gas Plant in Wrightstown for Late 2032, But Gives No Cost and No Customer

We Energies filed an engineering plan with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in early October 2026 for a 750 MW natural gas power plant. The utility calls it the Fox North Energy Center. It would sit at the existing gas-fired Fox Energy Center site in the village of Wrightstown, in the Fox Valley. POWER reported on October 13 that construction would not begin until 2029. The utility expects commercial operation in late 2032 if it receives the needed regulatory approvals.

The engineering plan did not include a cost estimate. A We Energies spokesperson declined to give a construction cost to Wisconsin Public Radio. Spokesperson Brendan Conway said the plant would improve grid reliability and meet growing demand. “The engineering plan marks the first step in the review process,” Conway said. He said the utility will give more information in regulatory filings in the coming months.

What the filing does not say

We Energies has not said whether the Wrightstown plant would serve a data center. The new station would stand next to the existing 619 MW Fox Energy Center, which has run since 2005. Ciaran Gallagher of the nonprofit Clean Wisconsin told WPR the proposal is a 750 megawatt combined cycle power plant. She said that design runs continuously, unlike the plants We Energies won approval for in southeast Wisconsin. Environmental groups count it as the seventh new gas plant proposal in Wisconsin in roughly two years.

Why It Matters

The state’s own forecast explains the push. In July, the Public Service Commission released a draft Strategic Energy Assessment. It projects peak demand will grow from 14.2 gigawatts to more than 20 gigawatts by 2032. The draft ties more than 72 percent of that load to three data center developments. We Energies will serve two of them, the Microsoft campus in Mount Pleasant and the Oracle campus in Port Washington. Alliant Energy will serve the Meta data center in Beaver Dam.

The same draft lists utility plans for 5.4 gigawatts of new natural gas plants or upgrades to existing gas plants. Fox North adds to a long gas list in the state. We Energies plans to spend more than $2 billion to acquire two Invenergy gas projects in Kenosha and Walworth counties, with a combined capacity of roughly 1,500 megawatts. Invenergy also wants to build two plants in Calumet County with a combined 1,900 megawatts. One of those, Union Depot, is also a 750-megawatt plant designed to run continuously, and Invenergy targets 2031 for both. Without a cost or a customer in the Fox North filing, ratepayers cannot yet judge what this plant adds to their bills.

Sources

• POWER Magazine, We Energies Unveils Plan for New 750-MW Gas-Fired Plant in Wisconsin (October 13, 2026)
• Wisconsin Public Radio, We Energies plans new 750MW natural gas plant in Fox Valley (October 9, 2026)
• Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin energy demand to rise 40 percent by 2032, driven by data centers, draft report finds (July 7, 2026)
• WXPR, Draft report shows data centers could dramatically increase electric demand in Wisconsin (July 14, 2026)
• Wisconsin Public Radio, Energy developer planning nearly 2 gigawatt natural gas plants in northeast Wisconsin (September 1, 2026)

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