Wisconsin makes electricity in more ways than most people expect. Coal and gas stations sit on the Lake Michigan shore, hydroelectric dams work the Wisconsin, Fox, Flambeau and Menominee rivers, paper mills run their own generating units, and wind turbines turn across farm country. Our Wisconsin directory covers 253 of these facilities, from a gas turbine in Kaukauna to a wind project in Fond du Lac. This page explains who regulates them, how the picture changes between metro and rural areas, and how to reach the right organization when you have a question, a complaint, or a plan to visit.

Who Oversees Power Plants in Wisconsin

Wisconsin has no single power plant office where you can walk in and get answers. Responsibility is split among several bodies, and knowing which one handles your issue saves time.

Utilities fall into three groups. Investor-owned companies such as We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, Wisconsin Power and Light, Madison Gas and Electric and Xcel Energy's Northern States Power-Wisconsin serve most customers. Dozens of municipal utilities, including Kaukauna Utilities, run their own distribution and sometimes their own generation. Electric cooperatives serve many rural areas and often buy power from generation cooperatives.

A facility in our listings may belong to a utility, a city, a paper company or a wind developer. That owner, not the street address, tells you who to call.

Metro and Rural Wisconsin: Where the Plants Are and Why

Geography explains the map. A plant needs water for cooling or hydropower, a way to receive fuel, and a connection to transmission lines. In Wisconsin that points to river valleys, the Lake Michigan shoreline and the cities that use the most power.

The Fox Valley Corridor

Outagamie County leads the state in our database with 15 listings, and the Fox River is the reason. The river drops sharply on its way to Green Bay, and mills used that fall for power long before the grid existed. The legacy shows in Kaukauna Gas Turbine on Elm Street, Appleton Coated Locks Mill Power Plant in Combined Locks, Kimberly Mill on South Walnut Street in Appleton, and Fox Valley Energy Center on Millview Drive in Neenah, which sits in Winnebago County. Downstream, Brown County adds Depere Energy Center Power Plant on North 5th Street in De Pere and Consumer Operations on South Broadway in Green Bay.

Madison and Dane County

Dane County has 13 listings, and Madison alone has 10, more than any other Wisconsin city. Blount Street, at 717 East Main Street, is a reminder that power was once generated close to the downtown isthmus. Urban sites like this face different pressures than rural ones. Noise, emissions, redevelopment and neighborhood zoning all come up, so city and county channels matter alongside state review.

Milwaukee and the Lake Michigan Shore

Milwaukee County has 12 listings. The best known is Oak Creek Generating Station at 4801 East Elm Road, a large thermal station on the lakeshore south of Milwaukee that draws on Lake Michigan for cooling. Fcpc Renewable Generation, on West Potawatomi Circle in Milwaukee, shows the smaller, newer side of the metro mix. Farther up the shore, Point Beach near Two Rivers is Wisconsin's only operating nuclear plant, since Kewaunee Power Station closed in 2013.

Paper Towns, Dams and the North

The Wisconsin River runs through Wood County, which has 11 listings, including Biron Mill at 621 North Biron Drive in Wisconsin Rapids. Paper manufacturing built this valley, and mills here have long made their own steam and electricity. Further north, Park Falls has six listings, among them Flambeau Lower Project on 1st Avenue South in Price County. Danbury Dam Power Plant sits on the St. Croix River in Burnett County, and Ladysmith Dam on Worden Avenue East serves Rusk County. In these small communities the contact may be a company office in another town rather than a staffed counter at the site.

Hydro, Biomass, Wind and Solar in Wisconsin's Listings

The word power plant covers very different operations, and the type affects who regulates it and what you can see from the road.

Hydroelectric sites are the most visible. Little Quinnesec Falls Hydro Project Power Plant in Niagara uses the Menominee River, which forms part of the border with Michigan, so it falls under FERC licensing. Dam operators set water releases, and conditions below a dam can change quickly.

Biomass and cogeneration units burn wood residue or other fuel to make steam and power together. Rothschild Biomass Cogen Facility on Grand Avenue in Rothschild, in Marathon County, is one example. Facilities like this are usually tied to an industrial host and run under DNR air permits.

Wind and solar projects spread across farmland. Blue Sky Green Field Wind Project in Fond du Lac County and Cashton Greens Wind Farm in Monroe County are in the database, along with Lafayette Dpc Solar on County Highway S near Chippewa Falls. On the Mississippi, Dte Stoneman Generating Station in Cassville serves as a reminder of the river-town thermal plants in Grant County.

How to Reach the Right Wisconsin Power Plant Contact

Start with the owner. Look up the facility by city or county, then confirm who operates it. Match your problem to the right body:

For an outage or a billing question, call your retail utility, not the generating site. If you have tried the utility and still dispute a charge, the PSC's consumer affairs staff can review a complaint against a regulated utility. For smoke, discharges, fish kills or dam concerns, contact the DNR. For zoning, noise or a proposed project in your township, start with your county zoning office and the town board.

If you plan a visit, call ahead. Power plants are secure sites, and unannounced visitors are usually turned away. Hydro projects often have public fishing and boating areas, but stay out of posted zones near intakes and spillways. Before any digging on or near a plant property or a transmission easement, call 811.

Power plant facilities in Wisconsin include a mix of federal, state, and municipally owned generation assets that contribute to the region's overall electricity supply. Wisconsin's energy mix and the number of publicly owned facilities reflect the state's natural resources, regulatory environment, and historical development of its utility infrastructure.

Power Plant locations are available in 134 cities across Wisconsin. They are spread across 56 counties.

Areas with the highest concentration of power plant locations include Madison, Kaukauna, Oak Creek, often reflecting proximity to water resources, fuel supply infrastructure, or industrial demand centers.

Residents of Wisconsin who are customers of a municipal or public power utility can contact their local power authority for billing assistance, energy efficiency programs, and information about planned outages or infrastructure upgrades in their service area.

Power Plant by Counties

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Residents of Wisconsin who receive electricity service from a publicly owned utility can visit or contact that utility's customer service office to learn about outage reporting, billing options, and energy assistance programs. For information about a specific power generation facility in Wisconsin, contacting the state's public utility commission is often the best starting point.

Browse Power Plant by county across Wisconsin to find the nearest location.

Seasons, Grids and Local Context for Wisconsin Power Plants

Wisconsin's climate shapes how its plants run. Cold winters bring ice to rivers, which affects hydroelectric output and dam operations. Spring snowmelt raises flows, and summer afternoons usually bring the highest electricity demand as air conditioners run. If you are researching a site, it helps to know which season you are asking about.

Most of the state sits inside the footprint of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which coordinates generation across many states, and American Transmission Company owns much of the high-voltage network in Wisconsin. A plant in Marinette or Oak Creek therefore feeds a regional grid rather than only the town around it. That is why your electric bill is set by your utility's rates, while the plant down the road may serve customers far away.

The northeast shows the range well. Marinette County has 10 listings, including Wisconsin Public Service Corp - West Marinette Power Plant on West Cleveland Avenue and the Little Quinnesec Falls hydro project at Niagara on the Menominee River. Farther west and south, Chippewa Falls, Cassville and Cashton host solar, thermal and wind facilities in very different settings. When a listing has no phone number, use the county and city pages to find neighboring offices, then ask the owning utility for the correct public contact.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin is the main approval body for new generation. Under section 196.491 of the Wisconsin Statutes, a large electric generating facility of 100 megawatts or more needs a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity before construction begins. Smaller projects follow different PSC procedures, and many wind and solar proposals also need local zoning or conditional use approval. The Department of Natural Resources separately handles air, water and wetland permits and reviews environmental effects. If you want to comment on a proposed plant, watch for PSC hearing notices and county board agendas in the area where it would be built.

Call the utility that serves your address, not the generating plant. In much of eastern Wisconsin that is We Energies or Wisconsin Public Service. In Madison it is Madison Gas and Electric, in parts of the northwest it may be Xcel Energy, and many rural homes belong to an electric cooperative. Municipal utilities, such as the one in Kaukauna, handle their own outages. Your bill lists the company and its outage number. If a line is down, stay well away from it and call 911. Plant addresses in our directory are physical sites, and staff there usually cannot dispatch repair crews or restore your service.

Some utilities and mill operators host tours or open houses, but there is no statewide schedule, and most plants do not accept walk-in visitors. Power plants are treated as critical infrastructure, so expect advance booking, photo ID and required safety gear. Call the owner's community relations office first. Hydroelectric sites are often easier, because many FERC licenses require public access to boat launches, fishing areas or trails near the dam. Even there, obey posted restricted zones. Water flow below a dam can change suddenly, which is a real danger for anglers and paddlers. Never enter fenced areas or cross intake barriers.

Wind projects of 100 megawatts or more go to the PSC for a certificate. Smaller wind energy systems are permitted by the local county or town under statewide standards in Chapter PSC 128. These standards limit how far local governments can go on noise, shadow flicker, setbacks and decommissioning, so the rules apply in a similar way across the state. Our listings include Blue Sky Green Field Wind Project in Fond du Lac County and Cashton Greens Wind Farm in Monroe County, whose listed phone is 608-654-7828. If you live near a proposed project, your county zoning office and the PSC's public docket are the best sources.

Kaukauna has eight listings, the most of any Wisconsin city outside Madison. The main reason is the Fox River, which falls sharply through the area. That drop powered mills long before electricity, and the town has a long history of municipally owned electric service. Kaukauna Gas Turbine, at 305 Elm Street in Outagamie County, is one named example. Paper and pulp operations along the Fox Valley also kept on-site generation, which is why nearby Combined Locks, Appleton and Neenah appear in the directory too. Search by city first, then check the county page to see neighboring facilities.

Wisconsin law requires you to contact Diggers Hotline, the state's 811 service, at least three working days before most excavation. Call 811 or file a request online, and utilities will mark buried lines at no charge. Overhead and high-voltage lines are not marked this way, so keep equipment, ladders and irrigation pipe well clear of them. Generation and transmission sites often sit on easements that restrict buildings, tall trees and fences, even on private land. Before planning a shed, pond or driveway near a plant or line, ask the utility that holds the easement, and check with your county zoning office as well.