We Energies, Wolverine to end joint venture at Presque Isle Power Plant

Posted by Lake Superior Community Partnership on December 19, 2013

MARQUETTE, Mich. – We Energies and Wolverine Power Cooperative announced today the two companies have decided to end their joint venture at the Presque Isle Power Plant. The joint venture would have resulted in joint ownership of the plant by We Energies and Wolverine along with the installation of state-of-the-art emission controls.

“Since the time we first agreed that joint ownership of the plant would be beneficial to both companies and their customers, business conditions in Michigan have changed dramatically,” said Allen L. Leverett, executive vice president of We Energies. “As a result, the benefits we had hoped to achieve through the joint venture are simply no longer available.”

“We’re disappointed to end the joint venture with We Energies, yet that has become the best option for the parties,” said Eric D. Baker, president and CEO of Wolverine. “We believe the joint venture would have brought economic and environmental benefits for the region along with helping to ensure energy reliability.”

At this point We Energies intends to complete a System Support Resources Agreement with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator for the output of the Presque Isle Power Plant. This agreement is expected to have a one-year term. We Energies will now evaluate long-term options for the plant, including the possibility of establishing a process to solicit other potential buyers for some or all of the plant’s capacity.

Wolverine is a generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Cadillac, Mich. It supplies power to five distribution electric cooperatives and two Alternative Electric Suppliers in the Lower Peninsula.

We Energies serves more than 1.1 million electric customers in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and 1.1 million natural gas customers in Wisconsin. We Energies is the trade name of Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Gas LLC, the principal utility subsidiaries of Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE: WEC). Visit We Energies at we-energies.com and Wisconsin Energy at wisconsinenergy.com.