Columbia Energy Center is a

base load The base load (also baseload) is the minimum level of demand on an electrical grid over a span of time, for example, one week. This demand can be met by unvarying power plants or dispatchable generation, depending on which approach has the best m ...

sub-bituminous coal Sub-bituminous coal is a lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon. The properties of this type are between those of lignite, the lowest grade of coal, and those of bituminous coal, the second-highest grade of coal. Sub-bituminous coal ...

-fired,

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

located south of

Portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

in the Town of Pacific,

Columbia County, Wisconsin Columbia County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 58,490. Its county seat and largest city is Portage, Wisconsin, Portage. The county ...

. Ownership is 46.2% Wisconsin Power and Light Company (

Alliant Energy Alliant Energy Corporation is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, providing power in Iowa and Wisconsin. History Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) expanded greatly in the late 1920s to include operatio ...

), 31.8%

Wisconsin Public Service Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, commonly known as WPS, is a utility company headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The company serves more than 450,000 electric customers and more than 333,000 natural gas customers in 27 counties in eas ...

(

Integrys Energy Group Integrys Energy Group, Inc. was an American energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed by the merger of WPS Resources Corp. and Peoples Energy Corp. on February 21, 2007. The chairman, President, and chief executive offi ...

), and 22%

Madison Gas and Electric Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE) is the primary subsidiary of MGE Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGEE). As a regulated utility, it primarily serves the Madison, Wisconsin metropolitan area with electricity, gas and green energy options. History Th ...

(MGE).

History

Columbia Energy Center was built in the early 1970s. Unit 1 went online in 1975 and Unit 2 went online in 1978, with nameplate capacities of 512 MW and 511 MW, respectively. In 2009, faced with environmental regulations regarding future operations, the owners of Columbia Energy Center invested in upgrades to the plant. The owners submitted an Electric Generation Expansion Analysis System (EGEAS) summary report to the

Public Service Commission of Wisconsin The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin is an independent regulatory agency responsible for regulating public utilities in the energy, telecommunications, gas, and water companies located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2021, the agency ...

on April 2, 2009. The report presented the results of a planning and scenarios analysis to support Wisconsin Power and Light, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, and MGE's joint application for a Certificate of Authority (CA) for the installation of emission controls at the facility. Although not required by law, the Commission held a hearing on the matter of the upgrade after several parties, including the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), Clean Wisconsin (Clean WI), and the Sierra Club, filed a joint request to intervene. Columbia's owners were granted a Certificate authorizing the installation of air emissions reductions systems and associated equipment on March 11, 2011, at an estimate cost of $627 million. Construction began on April 16, 2012, and was completed in December 2014 at a total cost of $589 million. On February 2, 2021, Alliant Energy, the majority owner and operator of the Columbia Energy Center announced the plant will shut down by 2025. On June 23, 2022, Alliant announced that CEC's decommissioning date would be delayed until mid-2026, due to the ongoing supply chain issues and to hedge against an energy shortage in upcoming years, with CEC mainly being in service during peak periods. MGE then pushed back the retirement date of both units to June 2026. In December 2024 the date was further pushed back to 2029, to allow for conversion to natural gas.

Future plans

After receiving a $30 million federal grant, Alliant Energy announced it would build a 20 MW / 200

MWh A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...

storage system on the site, similar to a prototype in Italy. The storage system is a novel closed-system

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

technology that converts the gas to liquid and back again at 75% efficiency, depending on demand. An application to construct, own, and operate the system was filed on August 7, 2024 with the Wisconsin PSC.

Peregrine Falcons

An active peregrine falcon nest has been located on the stack of Unit 1 since 2006. The nest has produced over 60 peregrine falcon young in that time (3.3/yr).

Electricity generation

In 2023, Columbia Energy Center generated 4,211 GWh, approximately 6.6% of the total electric power generated in Wisconsin (63,216 GWh) for that year. The plant had a 2023 annual capacity factor of 46.99%.

References

External links