KAUKAUNA, WIS — Between Kaukauna and Wrightstown, sits the Fox Energy Center, a natural gas power plant generating power for all WPS customers. The plant was constructed in 2003 by General Electric and began operation in 2005. In 2013, WPS purchased the plant and has been operating it ever since.
"A lot of the folks that worked here before WPS purchased the facility continue to work for us but we have had some folks from out other plants transition here as well." Said Scott Cherveny.
Natural gas is captured in other parts of the United States and Canada. This gas is then sent through a series of interstate pipelines that travel across the country. WPS taps into these pipelines which operates the plant.
"Separate transmission companies supply the natural gas to this facility and then Wisconsin public service purchases that natural gas from those companies to be able to be able to use here at the fox energy center to generate electricity for our customers." Said Matt Cullen.
This power plant is a combined cycle power plant, meaning two ways to generate electricity.First, gas is fed into two combustion gas turbines, similar to an engine on an airplane.
This burns the gas and spins a turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity.
The heat from the back of the turbines which would otherwise escape through the stacks, instead, goes though a boiler that converts water into steam and then turns a steam turbine to make further electricity.
The water used in this plant is not pumped from the ground but rather used water from us.
"We use quite a bit of water here. One unique thing about fox is all of our processed water is actually treated gray water from a sewage treatment plant in Kaukauna." Said Scott Cherveny.
The plant goes through roughly 3 million gallons of water a day. The big cooling towers that you see steam rising from the top are used to cool the steam back to water so then it can be recycled back to create power.
The power generated from the plant is 620 megawatts, enough to power 460,000 customers.But to create that much power, you need quite a bit of fuel. In a single hour of operation, this plant uses 45 times more natural gas than a typical customer would use in a year.
Natural gas is a cleaner energy source than coal plants which helps combat the release of greenhouse gases.
"By operating the fox energy center. We are able to balance reliability with cost to our customers and our strategy to reduce carbon emissions." Said Matt Cullen.
So the next time you flip on a switch you'll know that the power you're consuming is coming from a cleaner energy source.
