Earl F. Wisdom Generating Station is a 119.1 MW natural-gas and fuel-oil plant near Spencer, Iowa. Corn Belt Power Cooperative operates the plant. Basin Electric Power Cooperative owns 50% of the 80 MW Unit 2—40 MW on Basin's 2025 portfolio basis—while the 119.1 MW headline is the current EIA nameplate capacity for the whole two-unit plant. The scoped Unit 2 interest is not presented as ownership of the entire station.
Canonical EIA plant baseline.
plant-1217
Similar plants ranked by technology, capacity, and distance.
Operating generator records and technology attributes reported through EIA-860.
| Generator | Capacity | Technology | Operation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37.5 MW 37.5 MW summer | Natural Gas Steam Turbine Natural Gas · ST | Apr 1960 | Operating |
| 2 | 81.6 MW 76 MW summer | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine Natural Gas · GT | Apr 2004 | Operating |
Monthly EIA generation history and recent market-resource behavior where linked telemetry is available.
Deterministic links to ERCOT market resources, price records, outage disclosures, queue records, and nearby infrastructure. Candidate joins remain labeled until corroborated.
Source-backed project transactions, agreements, land records, permits, and environmental disclosures. Portfolio and adjacent-project facts remain explicitly scoped.
Parties, market resources, and identifiers tied to this asset, with owner, operator, developer, EPC, compliance provider, and interconnecting entity roles kept separate.
Project milestones and public references behind the asset profile.
EIA-860 lists generator 1 with this operating date.
Monthly generation is reported through EIA-923. Capacity factor uses the current EIA nameplate capacity and is shown only for complete calendar years.
| Largest reported plants | Capacity | State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earl F WisdomCurrent | 119.1 MW | IA | |
| Hampton Substation Energy Storage | 1.8 MW | IA |
Portfolio membership follows the latest EIA-860 reporting entity. It does not imply ultimate ownership.
View full reporting portfolioUnit 2, an 80 MW natural gas/fuel oil combustion turbine (GE model 7EA), commenced commercial operation. Joint ownership by Basin Electric Power Cooperative (50%) and Corn Belt Power Cooperative (50%) became effective.
Unit 1 retrofit completed. The unit was converted from coal to natural gas/fuel oil operation. Capacity reduced from 33 MW (coal) to 37.5 MW (natural gas/fuel oil). Conversion scheduled for completion by June 1, 2014.
Southwest Power Pool called on both Wisdom Station units to run several times in July to help meet generation needs across the SPP footprint during prolonged warm weather.
Flood waters encroached on Corn Belt Power's Wisdom Station power plant following excessive rainfall in Spencer, Iowa. Water levels reached 10-plus feet in some areas. The station remained operational despite the devastating flood conditions.
Answered from the published record above. Questions whose inputs this profile does not carry are omitted rather than estimated.
Earl F Wisdom has a reported capacity of 119.1 MW. Source: EIA Form 860M.
Earl F Wisdom is a Natural Gas Steam Turbine, Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine facility in Clay County, IA, participating in the SPP market.
Earl F Wisdom is in Clay County, IA, inside the SPP balancing area.
Earl F Wisdom is operated by Corn Belt Power Coop according to the EIA generator inventory. Reporting membership does not by itself establish ultimate ownership.
Earl F Wisdom reported 7.1 GWh over the twelve months to 2024-12. Figures are net generation as filed to EIA-923.
By capacity, Earl F Wisdom ranks #424 of 825 operating plants of the same technology nationally. It ranks #7 of 16 in IA.
Plants within 25 km, nearest first, regardless of technology. Proximity is straight-line distance between mapped plant coordinates; it does not by itself establish a shared point of interconnection.
