Overview

Resources and Consumption

Wisconsin has some renewable energy resources but lacks more conventional fossil fuel resources. Several rivers that cross the State provide hydroelectric power potential, and the State's high corn production allows Wisconsin to produce substantial amounts of ethanol. Wisconsin’s population and energy consumption are about average among U.S. States. The industrial sector leads total State energy consumption. Energy-intensive industries in Wisconsin include forest products and metal casting.

Petroleum

Wisconsin has one small refinery on Lake Superior. It receives crude oil supply from the Lakehead Pipeline System, which originates in western Canada and delivers crude to eastern Ontario and throughout the Great Lakes region. Refineries in the metropolitan areas of Chicago and Minneapolis provide petroleum products for most of Wisconsin's market. The southeastern corner of Wisconsin requires the use of reformulated motor gasoline blended with ethanol. Wisconsin produces a substantial amount of ethanol at several ethanol plants in the southern and central portions of the State.

Natural Gas

Natural gas markets in Wisconsin receive supplies primarily from Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, with the remaining gas coming from Canadian sources. The ANR Pipeline, Northern Natural Gas Co., Viking Gas Transmission Co., the Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America, and Guardian Pipeline, all of which run through a major hub in Joliet, Illinois, provide most of the natural gas supplied to Wisconsin. The Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company pipeline transports natural gas from Canada across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan and delivers most of the gas back to Canada at the Michigan/Ontario border. Wisconsin's residential and industrial sectors lead the State's natural gas consumption. Natural gas dominates the home heating market, as roughly two-thirds of Wisconsin households use natural gas as their primary fuel for home heating.

Coal, Electricity, and Renewables

Coal typically fuels about two-thirds of Wisconsin's electricity generation. Nuclear reactors and natural gas-fired plants supply most of the remaining generation, and electricity transfers from other States satisfy the rest of demand. About four-fifths of the coal used in Wisconsin arrives by railcar from Wyoming. Two nuclear power plants, located on Lake Michigan, supply about one-fifth of Wisconsin’s electricity generation. The Unit 1 reactor at the Point Beach nuclear plant is one of the oldest operating reactors in the United States. Small hydroelectric facilities also contribute electricity to the grid, and wood is the State's next most-used renewable energy resource. Renewable energy sources contribute almost 5 percent of Wisconsin’s total electricity generation. In 2006, Wisconsin adopted a renewable portfolio standard that requires utilities to produce 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources – including solar, wind, hydroelectric power, biomass, geothermal technology, tidal or wave action, and fuel cell technology that uses qualified renewable fuels – by 2015.

Per capita electricity use in Wisconsin is somewhat less than the national average, due in part to heavy reliance on natural gas for home heating. Just over one-tenth of Wisconsin households rely on electricity as their primary energy source for home heating.