Caledonia planning commission defers recommendation decision for now
A data center campus is being proposed outside Milwaukee in Caledonia, Wisconsin.
As reported by WPR and others, the Village of Caledonia planning commission met this week to discuss rezoning 244 acres from A-2, Agriculture, to M-1, Light Manufacturing, allowing for the development of a data center. The commission voted to delay making a recommendation for the project in order to gather more information.
The site is located west of WE Energies’ Oak Creek coal power plant, along Douglas Avenue and Botting Road. Village documents refer to the development as “Project Nova.”
According to the Racine County Eye, site concepts show three data center buildings and a 15-acre electrical substation could be developed. Further specifications or project timelines weren’t shared.
We Energies owns the land, and engineering firm Dewberry Engineers is the company filing for the rezoning, but details on which data center operator might be involved were not shared.
The village, located some 17 miles south of downtown Milwaukee in Racine County, saw more than a dozen residents speak out during the planning commission meeting this week.
The commission is set to vote on a recommendation at a meeting later this month.
The 1,000-acre Oak Creek generating site is composed of two power plants: Oak Creek Power Plant (OCPP) and Elm Road Generating Station (ERGS). The coal-powered Oak Creek plant totals 610MW across two steam turbines, while the Elm Road site totals 1.2GW of capacity across two turbines.
Built in the 1960s, the Oak Creek turbines were due for retirement this year, but We Energies recently announced they would be used through until the end of 2026. The Elm Road Generating Station, which came online in the early 2010s, is set to be converted from a coal plant to a natural gas plant.
Microsoft is present in Racine County. The likes of Meta, QTS, Vantage, Ark, Involta, and others are present or developing facilities across Wisconsin.
