JCE Co-op’s energy primarily comes from several sources. The electricity JCE Co-op distributes is purchased primarily from Dairyland Power Cooperative (Dairyland) and Prairie Power, Inc. (PPI).
Dairyland Power Cooperative
Dairyland is an electric transmission and transmission cooperative, created in 1941 to be the wholesale power provider to its member electric cooperatives. Today, Dairyland continues to deliver power to 24 member distribution cooperatives and 27 municipal utilities throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
Dairyland generates electricity by using both traditional and renewable energy resources to provide safe, reliable and affordable electricity. Dairyland owns and operates several power plants utilizing an “all of the above” strategy: hydroelectric, natural gas, coal, landfill gas and solar generation.
Dairyland's Resource Mix
Prairie Power, Inc.
PPI, headquartered in Springfield, provides access to wholesale electricity to its 10 member cooperative owners. Prairie Power primarily supplies energy in our Geneseo service area. PPI owns approximately 190 MWs of oil and gas-fired peaking units; and 88 distribution and transmission substations to serve its members. PPI is also one of nine public utility partners in the Prairie State Generating Company (PSGC), a limited liability corporation responsible for the ownership and operation of the Prairie State Energy Campus (PSEC). The PSEC is a 2-unit 1,600 megawatt supercritical electric generation station that came on line in 2012. PPI owns an 8.22% share of the output of the two units at PSEC, providing 135 MWs of low cost, clean coal generation to PPI and its members.
Illinois Public Energy Agency
The Illinois Public Energy Agency (IPEA) provides combined purchasing savings for wholesale natural gas supply and related services to municipal and other entities (such as JCE Co-op) that own their own natural gas system. IPEA offers natural gas supply and associated services required to keep these systems at their competitive peak.