Brownfield & Retired Power Plant Sites in Wisconsin
47 catalogued brownfield and retired-generation sites in Wisconsin, listed by former capacity. Each carries an existing utility-scale grid interconnection that a new datacenter load may be able to re-use.
At a glance
What kinds of former sites are in Wisconsin?
By former use, the list includes 16 natural gas, 11 coal, 9 oil, 4 biomass, 4 landfill, 2 hydroelectric and 1 other categories. Recorded retirement dates run from June 2001 to November 2024, with 23 retirements in 2015 or later. 45 of 47 sites with a measured distance sit within 2 miles of a transmission substation.
How does Wisconsin compare with other states?
Wisconsin ranks 13th of 50 states and DC by number of brownfield and retired-generation sites, out of 2,085 nationally. By recorded capacity (5,502 MW) it ranks 18th, against 289,280 MW across all states. The state also has 3,340 scored datacenter candidate sites, 12 of them classed as brownfield sites, averaging 55.4 on the 0–100 DC Readiness scale.
Where in Wisconsin are these sites?
- Milwaukee County · 3
- Brown County · 3
- Rock County · 3
- Dane County · 3
- Outagamie County · 3
- Marathon County · 2
- Chippewa County · 2
- Wood County · 2
- Washington County · 2
- Kenosha County · 1
- Sheboygan County · 1
- Vernon County · 1
- Ozaukee County · 1
- Grant County · 1
- Buffalo County · 1
- Douglas County · 1
- Manitowoc County · 1
- Ashland County · 1
- Price County · 1
- Juneau County · 1
- Barron County · 1
- Burnett County · 1
- Eau Claire County · 1
- Vilas County · 1
All brownfield and retired plant sites in Wisconsin
| Site | Former use | Capacity | Retired | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Prairie | coal | 1,235 MW | 2018-04-01 | Kenosha |
| South Oak Creek | coal | 618 MW | 2024-05-01 | Milwaukee |
| Pulliam | coal | 580 MW | 2018-10-01 | Brown |
| Edgewater | coal | 420 MW | 2018-09-01 | Sheboygan |
| Genoa | coal | 346 MW | 2021-06-01 | Vernon |
| Port Washington Generating Station | coal | 340 MW | 2004-09-01 | Ozaukee |
| Rock River | gas | 319 MW | 2020-06-01 | Rock |
| Nelson Dewey Generating Station | coal | 227 MW | 2015-12-01 | Grant |
| Weston | gas | 218 MW | 2023-06-01 | Marathon |
| Alma | coal | 181 MW | 2014-10-01 | Buffalo |
| Superior Generation Energy Center | gas | 170 MW | — | Douglas |
| Consumer Operations LLC | coal | 116 MW | 2021-09-01 | Brown |
| Wheaton | oil | 106 MW | 2024-01-01 | Chippewa |
| Manitowoc | biomass | 96 MW | 2017-12-01 | Manitowoc |
| Blount Street | coal | 88 MW | 2011-12-01 | Dane |
| Wisconsin Rapids Pulp Mill | biomass | 72 MW | 2024-10-01 | Wood |
| Elk Mound | gas | 71 MW | — | Chippewa |
| Blackhawk | gas | 50 MW | 2010-04-01 | Rock |
| Sheepskin | gas | 42 MW | 2020-06-01 | Rock |
| Kimberly Mill | gas | 35 MW | 2009-01-01 | Outagamie |
| UW Madison Charter Street Plant | biomass | 22 MW | — | Dane |
| Bay Front | biomass | 20 MW | 2019-05-01 | Ashland |
| MMSD Jones Island Wastewater | gas | 18 MW | 2013-07-01 | Milwaukee |
| Northern States Flambeau | gas | 16 MW | 2017-12-01 | Price |
| Juneau | oil | 16 MW | 2017-03-01 | Juneau |
| Milwaukee County | coal | 11 MW | 2016-04-01 | Milwaukee |
| Barron | oil | 8 MW | 2024-11-01 | Barron |
| Port Edwards Mill | oil | 7 MW | 2013-03-01 | Wood |
| Danbury Diesel | oil | 7 MW | 2022-12-01 | Burnett |
| Domtar Paper Company Rothschild | gas | 6 MW | 2022-01-01 | Marathon |
| Seven Mile Creek LFG | gas | 4 MW | 2017-05-01 | Eau Claire |
| Eagle River | oil | 4 MW | 2011-10-01 | Vilas |
| Oneida Casino | oil | 4 MW | 2011-06-01 | Brown |
| Rhinelander Mill | gas | 4 MW | 2012-12-01 | Oneida |
| Winnebago County Landfill Gas | gas | 4 MW | 2024-03-01 | Winnebago |
| New Badger | hydro | 4 MW | 2012-05-01 | Outagamie |
| Lake Area Landfill Gas Recovery | gas | 3 MW | — | Washburn |
| Capitol Heat and Power | gas | 3 MW | 2011-05-01 | Dane |
| Beloit Coal Ash Landfill | landfill | 2 MW | — | — |
| College Avenue Landfill | landfill | 2 MW | — | — |
| Argyle | oil | 2 MW | 2003-09-01 | Lafayette |
| Old Badger | hydro | 2 MW | 2012-05-01 | Outagamie |
| Omega Hills Gas Recovery | gas | 1 MW | 2001-06-01 | Washington |
| WPPI Hartford DG | oil | 1 MW | 2020-04-01 | Washington |
| Sky Park Solar | landfill | 1 MW | — | — |
| MATC PV Evaluation Lab | landfill | 1 MW | — | — |
| Refuse Hideaway Landfill | superfund | 0 MW | — | — |
Frequently asked questions
How many retired power plants are in Wisconsin?
GridCensus lists 42 retired power plant sites in Wisconsin from EIA-860 retirement records. 38 have a recorded retirement date, 23 of them in 2015 or later.
What is the largest retired power plant or brownfield site in Wisconsin?
Pleasant Prairie in Pleasant Prairie is the largest by recorded capacity, at 1,235.2 MW. It is followed by South Oak Creek (618 MW) and Pulliam (580.2 MW).
Which power plant in Wisconsin retired most recently?
Barron has the latest recorded retirement date in the state, November 2024, with 7.7 MW of capacity.
Which county in Wisconsin has the most brownfield and retired plant sites?
Milwaukee County has the most, with 3, followed by Brown County with 3.
How many EPA brownfield sites in Wisconsin have completed cleanup?
5 of the 5 EPA-tracked sites listed for Wisconsin are recorded as cleanup complete.
Looking for a specific record? The directory lists every brownfield site, A to Z.
More on Wisconsin, and states with similar counts
- Datacenter candidate sites in Wisconsin· 3,340 sites
- Electric substations in Wisconsin· 768 named
- Brownfield candidate sites nationwide
- Brownfield sites by state
- Brownfield sites in Ohio· 52 sites
- Brownfield sites in Kansas· 46 sites
- Brownfield sites in Michigan· 54 sites
- Brownfield sites in Indiana· 45 sites
About this data
Source: EIA-860 retired generating units and EPA RE-Powering America's Land contaminated-site records, as published March 6, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Brownfield and retired power plant sites in Wisconsin”, https://gridcensus.com/brownfield-sites/wisconsin (data as of March 6, 2026).
Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for brownfield sites in Wisconsin is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.