Wisconsin Energy Corporation - History

History

• 1896 The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company was formed as a subsidiary of the North American Company to provide interurban rail service in a 12,000-square-mile (31,000 km2) area of southeastern Wisconsin. In time, the company began selling electricity not needed to power the interurban trains to individuals and businesses.

• 1919 Experiments at the company's East Wells Power Plant (then called Oneida Street Plant) in downtown Milwaukee, proved that use of pulverized coal reduced the cost of producing electric power and conserved fuel.

• 1921 Wisconsin Electric Power Company is formed by the North American Company to build and operate the Lakeside Power Plant in St. Francis, Wisconsin. Lakeside was the world's first power plant to burn pulverized coal exclusively.

• 1935 The first of five 80-megawatt units at Port Washington Power Plant was brought on line. From 1935 to 1948, Port Washington was the most efficient coal-fueled power plant in the world.

• 1938 The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company and Wisconsin Electric Power Company consolidated.

• 1941 Wisconsin Electric purchased Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company and Wisconsin Michigan Power Company, which also had been under the North American Company.

• 1946 Wisconsin Electric becomes an independent company, no longer part of the North American Company.

• 1953 Wisconsin Electric placed into service the first 120-megawatt unit at Oak Creek Power Plant. Seven additional units were completed through 1968.

• 1970 Wisconsin Electric's 908-megawatt Point Beach Nuclear Plant began operation and gained a world-wide reputation for efficiency.

• 1980 Wisconsin Electric placed the first 580-megawatt unit at Pleasant Prairie into service. A second unit was added in 1985.

• 1987 Wisconsin Electric restructured, establishing Wisconsin Energy Corporation and the Wispark, Wisvest and Witech subsidiaries.

• 1994 Wisconsin Energy purchased Lake Geneva-based Wisconsin Southern Gas Co. and merged it into Wisconsin Natural, which subsequently merged with Wisconsin Electric in 1995.

• 1998 Wisconsin Energy bought ESELCO, parent company of the Edison Sault Electric Company, based in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

• 2000 WICOR, a Milwaukee-based holding company of Wisconsin Gas, became part of Wisconsin Energy, creating the largest electric and natural gas provider in Wisconsin. The corporation also announced a 10-year plant to invest US$7.0 billion to build five new power plants, to upgrade existing plants and to improve its electric distribution system.

• 2002 Wisconsin Electric and Wisconsin Gas began doing business as We Energies.

• 2004 Wisconsin Energy sold the non-energy assets of WICOR for US$850 million as part of its strategy to divest its non-core businesses.

• 2005 The American Transmission Company was formed by Wisconsin's major utilities.

• 2005 Construction of two 615-megawatt coal-fired units began at the Oak Creek Power Plant site. The same year, the first of two 545-megawatt natural-gas-fueled units began commercial operation at Port Washington Generating Station.

• 2007 Wisconsin Energy sold Point Beach Nuclear Plant to FPL Energy for approximately US$924 million, with We Energies entitled to the output for the life of the plant.

• 2008 The Blue Sky Green Field Wind Farm began operation on a 10,600-acre (43 km2) site with 88 turbines (145-megawatt capacity) in Wisconsin's Fond du Lac County.

• 2009 We Energies received approval to construct and operate the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Wisconsin's Columbia County. The company also announced plans to build a biomass generating facility at the Domtar paper mill in Rothschild, Wisconsin.

• 2010 The first of two 615-megawatt coal-fueled units at the company's Oak Creek expansion site attains commercial operation on Feb. 2. Wisconsin Energy completed the sale of Edison Sault Electric Company to Cloverland Electric Cooperative. In May, construction began on the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County.

• 2011 The second of two 615-megawatt coal-fueled units at the company's Oak Creek expansion site attains commercial operation on Jan. 12. Glacier Hills Wind Park began operating 90 turbines in the towns of Randolph and Scott in Wisconsin.