LIVING HERE
Environmental groups push for public comments over proposed Darien gas plant.
The Foundry Ridge Energy Center is a proposed 324-megawatt natural gas peaker plant planned by Chicago-based developer Invenergy. Located in the Town of Darien, the facility aims to provide responsive power during spikes in electricity demand. If approved by the state, construction is slated to begin in 2026, with the plant operational by 2028.
The proposal has drawn significant local concern and opposition from neighboring farmers and environmental groups. It is designed to burn natural gas as a “peaker plant,” running primarily during periods of high electrical demand, and will tie into existing high-voltage transmission lines. The developer projects the plant will generate nearly $940,000 annually in local town and county taxes.
Residents have raised alarms over potential impacts on air quality, water wells, and the rural character of the farming community, sparking public petitions and packed town board meetings. The final decision for the project rests with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, which conducts environmental reviews and manages the public comment process. As the state’s Public Service Commission moves toward its main public hearing in July on a proposed power plant in Darien, two state environmental watchdog groups are pressing the public to express concern over the project.
Both the Sierra Club of Wisconsin and Clean Wisconsin are pushing residents regionally to sound off at a PSC hearing July 16 over developer Invenergy’s construction permit application for the 324-Megawatt Foundry Ridge gas plant proposed near Highway 14 and Interstate 43 in Darien. By comparison, Foundry Ridge would provide about half the power-generating capacity of Alliant Energy’s gas-fired Riverside Energy plant in the town of Beloit. It would be owned and operated by We Energies as part of a plan to boost power capacity to the grid, and it comes amid the buildout and completion of Microsoft’s Fairwater data center, a more than 1,000-acre hyperscale AI data center that has begun operations in Mt. Pleasant. It could break ground later this year if approved by the PSC.
