The Willmar Municipal Utilities Commission on Nov. 13 approved moving forward with two projects, one to increase generation capacity and the other to invest in additional transmission.
The demolition of the Willmar Power Plant has begun, as crews started tearing down the facility this week. Parts of the power plant are approximately 100 years old.
Members of the Willmar Municipal Utilities Commission took one last tour of the power plant to analyze if there is anything left worth keeping. Many items with historic value have been salvaged ahead of the planned demolition of the plant next year.
All in all, 2021 was a good year for Willmar Municipal Utilities, as it was able to provide power to its customers 99.999% of the time, hitting the yearly goal for the provider. WMU continues to work on a variety of electrical projects including installing new street lights in downtown Willmar, switching all lights in the city to LED, upgrading substations and working toward the upcoming demolition of the power plant.