IXONIA, Wis. — We Energies is about two months away from activating a new liquified natural gas (LNG) plant in Ixonia.

What You Need To Know

  • We Energies is getting ready to activate a new LNG power plant to more reliably heat homes in southeast Wisconsin

  • The company said this new plant will reduce the chances that an appeal to the public would have to be made to reduce heat consumption

  • The project is expected to cost more than $190 million

Last December, a company that supplies We Energies natural gas had a pipeline malfunction.

That led We Energies to make an appeal to customers to limit the amount of heat they used in their homes.

However, with the new LNG plant, the company is hoping to not make a request like that again.

Andy Hesselbach is the We Energies senior vice president of gas operations. He said the plant’s ability to quickly replenish and send out natural gas will make it more reliable for heating homes when compared to the company’s older LNG plants.

“What that gives you is the ability to generate it and dispatch it more freely when you need it and not hold back to the worst of the worst, which means you could keep more customers and you don’t have to interrupt customers as often as you may have to,” said Hesselbach. “It’s really a safety net so we don’t have to do public appeals.”

Jacob Brennan is the operations manager for the We Energies LNG plant in Ixonia and Bluff Creek.

He said the staff are trained to keep the facilities safe for the community while also serving their intended purpose.

“We’ve been here,” said Brennan. “We’ve done this. It’s in good hands. This is a really good thing for our customers, especially with the way these new ones are structured. The new sites are structured so that this is beneficial, not only for peak days, but in general for cost-saving measurements.”

Hesselbach also explained that Ixonia was the ideal spot because of its access to natural gas.

“It was well located because of the pipelines that come through more between the Milwaukee and Madison area,” said Hesselbach. “It was a good location because of the pipelines that provide the gas. It’s also an interstate highway of pipes that take it east towards the lake, so here, this area as well as going east is the market that it would support.”

The new LNG plant is expected to cost more than $190 million when all is said and done.

We Energies said part of their recent rate hikes was to support projects like this one.

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