Alma, WI: Alma and John P. Madgett Power Plants

(Satellite)

Both of these power plants are owned by the Dairyland Power Cooperative.

Street View

JPM Station
$179m, 387 MW

Kurt Schroeck posted
Dairyland Power, Madgett Station, Alma, WS [WI] '80's. Note 1,000 ft. stack.

The northern plant (the right side of the photo below) is Alma and the southern (left side) is John P. Madgett.

Bojidar93, Mar 2017

Actually, it looks like Alma is already history. The only thing that was left in Jun 2018 was a pile of bricks and the smokestack.

Street View, Jun 2018

The above street view must have been taken soon before the stack was demolished because a controlled detonation of 303 pounds of dynamite in 418 holes felled the 700' stack. [History]

(new window)  I wish they had one overview clip with a drone from the side of the whole demolition. Then they could go nuts with various short clips at different angles.

Screenshot
[It appears they used an extended reach excavator with a shear attachment to bring down the building.]

This is more evidence that a satellite image can be quite old.

Satellite

Ken Lundy posted three photos with the comment: "John P. Madgett Generating Station (Alma, WI): Coal train unloading at the plant, 7/29/2020 5PM."

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History

The 350 MW John P. Madgett station went on line in 1979. I can't find any information on what type of pollution controls it has. Dairyland Power Cooperative plans to close its 345 MW plant in Genoa, WI by the end of 2021. That plant generated half of the company's power when it started in 1969. They do plan to build a $700m 525-550 MW natural gas plant in Superior. But it won't open before 2025. [History, StarTribune] The new plant will be a combined cycle plant and should produce 60% less carbon dioxide than a coal-fired plant. [LaCrosseTribune] That article also talked quite a bit about the solar and wind facilities that they plan to buy electricity from. But the solar power is 21 MW and the two wind farms are 80 MW and 98 MW. Let's do the math: (21+80+98)/345 = 58% of the Genoa plant that is being closed. And solar power in Wisconsin can't be reliable. I don't know how reliable wind power is. One advantage of the new natural gas plant is that it can adjust its output fairly quickly to compensate for fluctuations with renewable resources.