Oak Creek Power Plant, also known as South Oak Creek, 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, dispatchable generation, or by a collection of smaller intermittent e ...

, coal- and natural gas-fired,

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

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 generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

located on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

Oak Creek, Wisconsin Oak Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Milwaukee County, it sits on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is located immediately south of Milwaukee. The city is one of the fastest growing in Milwaukee County and ...

. Oak Creek Power Plant along with Elm Road Generation Station make up the entire Oak Creek Generating Site. The plant was built for an initial cost of $246 million. It is located on over of land on the border of Milwaukee and Racine counties. Advanced Air Quality Control Systems (AQCS) were installed in 2012 for $750 million on all four generating units. In 2009, it was listed as the third largest generating station in Wisconsin with a net summer capacity of 1,135 MW. The plant consumes between 6,000 and 6,400 tons of coal daily depending on system demands. In 2018, the plant was listed as the fifth largest generation station in Wisconsin with an annual generation of 4,767,153 MW-h, behind Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant (10,128,796 MW-h)
Elm Road Generating Station
(7,913,698 MW-h),

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

(6,641,670 MW-h), and Port Washington Generating Station (5,829,109 MW-h). On November 6th, 2020 - A plan was announced that includes the retirement of the 1,100-megawatt South Oak Creek coal plant in southeastern Wisconsin over the next five years. Units 5 and 6 at South Oak Creek would be shut down in 2023 while units 7 and 8 will be shut down by 2024.

Expansion

In 2005, two 615-megawatt coal-fueled units were constructed just north of the existing Oak Creek facility. Unit 1 began commercial operation on February 2, 2010. with Unit 2 following in 2011.

Units

Electricity Production

In 2021, Oak Creek Power Station (South Oak Creek Power Plant and Elm Road Generating Station combined) generated 12,180 GWh, approximately 19.46% of the total electric power generated in Wisconsin (62,584 GWh) for that year. The South Oak Creek Power Plant (coal only) had a 2021 annual capacity factor of 61.65% and the Elm Road Generating Station (coal only) had a 2021 annual capacity factor of 69.26%. Subnotes: (1) : Table data reflects electrical generation from coal fuels only ( subbituminous coal, refined coal). The plant also generates a minor amount of electricity (less than 1%) from natural gas. (2) : Major fuel changed from subbituminous coal to refined coal in January 2016. The major fuel changed back to subbituminous coal in March 2022 . Subnotes: 1. Table data reflects electrical generation from all coal fuels only (bituminous coal, subbituminous coal, and refined coal). The plant also generates a minor amount of electricity (less than 1%) from natural gas.

Incidents

On February 3, 2009, six contract workers were injured when coal dust ignited in a 65-foot coal dust silo on the power plant site. They had been preparing the structure for repairs when an unknown source ignited coal dust that had accumulated at the top of the silo. All suffered burns. On October 31, 2011, a bluff area roughly the size of a football field and 200 feet above the level of Lake Michigan eroded, washing mud and debris into Lake Michigan. Close to 100 workers were at the site at the time of the collapse; none were hurt or killed.

References

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External links

Oak Creek Power Plant
(

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) * https://web.archive.org/web/20080513043232/http://www.powerthefuture.net/projects/ocpp.htm * http://www.powerthefuture.net/qa/genqa_ocexpansion.htm Energy infrastructure completed in 1959 Energy infrastructure completed in 1961 Energy infrastructure completed in 1965 Energy infrastructure completed in 1967 Energy infrastructure completed in 1968 Buildings and structures in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Racine County, Wisconsin Coal-fired power stations in Wisconsin