Integrys opens Wisconsin coal plant

WAUSAU, WISCONSIN - Wisconsin Public Service Corp's new 525-megawatt coal-fired Unit 4 at the Weston power plant in Wisconsin has entered commercial service, minority owner Dairyland Power Cooperative said.

The plant is near Wausau in north-central Wisconsin about 200 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

Wisconsin Public Service, a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group Inc of Chicago, is the majority owner and operator of the plant. Dairyland owns a 30 percent interest in the unit which cost $774 million and will help serve the region's growing demand for power.

Construction began in October 2004.

With 800 homes per megawatt on average served in Wisconsin, the plant will be able to power about 420,000 homes.

Dairyland, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, owns more than 1,000 MW of generating capacity in Wisconsin and provides wholesale electricity to 25 member distribution cooperatives and 19 municipal utilities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.

Integrys owns more than 1,500 MW of generating capacity, and distributes electricity to 485,000 customers and natural gas to almost 1.7 million customers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.