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Alliant Energy plans to develop $750 million solar power project, largest in Iowa

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Alliant Energy says it will invest $750 million in 400 megawatts of solar power generation and 75 megawatts of battery storage in eastern Iowa, making it the state's largest solar project to date.
Wisconsin-based Alliant, through its Iowa subsidiary Interstate Power & Light Co., expects to file a plan Tuesday with the Iowa Utilities Board stating its intent to acquire a planned 200-megawatt installation, part of which would be on the grounds of the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant. The plant, in Palo northwest of Cedar Rapids, is being decommissioned.
Alliant is still assessing where the remaining 200 megawatts of generation capacity would be constructed, Terry Kouba, president of Cedar Rapids-based Interstate Power & Light, told the Des Moines Register.
All 400 megawatts likely would be developed at about the same time, said Ben Lipari, director of project development for Alliant. The Wisconsin-based investor-owned energy provider said 200 megawatts of solar and battery storage is expected to be ready by the end of 2024.

“This is good for our customers, the communities we serve and the environment while powering tens of thousands of homes with solar energy,” Mayuri Farlinger, director of operations at Alliant Energy, said in a statement. “In addition, these projects assure our customers we have a diverse mix of reliable energy generation to meet their ongoing demands.”
The 400 megawatts that Alliant has committed to building would be the state's largest solar project, said Morgan Hawk, an Alliant spokesman.

Once it's complete, about half of Alliant's energy would come from renewable sources, which already include 1,300 megawatts of wind energy, Kouba told the Register.
MORE: Iowa, a leader in wind energy, will see a burst of solar development in coming months.
MidAmerican Energy, Iowa's other large investor-owned utility, has invested heavily in wind, which provides about 80% of its power generation. The Des Moines-based company said this year it's also investing in about 140 megawatts of solar generation.
NextEra Energy Resources owns the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant, along with Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative. Conlan Kennedy, a NextEra spokesman, said the company plans to build the Alliant solar and storage facility in two phases. The first phase, on the plant site, would provide 50 megawatts of generation. The second would add 150 megawatts and the storage facility on 815 acres leased from private landowners.
NextEra has said it ultimately is interested in building three projects near the Duane Arnold site that could generate 690 megawatts of solar energy.

Iowa utilities are investing heavily in renewable energy. The state got nearly 60% of its energy from wind last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But as wind farms have grown across the state, new projects have run into opposition, with lawsuits and moratoriums citing noise, health concerns and visual blight. More recently, Iowa farmers and landowners have expressed concern that solar projects are taking farmland out of production.

More:Scientists urge Iowa to strengthen electric grid as climate change drives more extreme storms

But Alliant also has found some landowners want to "farm solar versus whatever other crops that they farmed previously," Lipari said, adding that residents can choose to bring the "revitalized land and soil" back into production at the end of the project's life in 30 to 35 years.

In addition, he said, the utilities that own the Duane Arnold plant have "very few options for repurposing" the former nuclear site.

 
Alliant Energy plans Tuesday to file a proposal with the Iowa Utilities Board to buy a large-scale solar project near Palo from NextEra Energy and further develop that project into the state’s largest solar and battery storage facility.


The plan calls for NextEra to continue developing 200 megawatts of solar energy and 75 megawatts of energy storage as the first two phases of a planned solar project near the site of the decommissioning Duane Arnold Energy Center.


Alliant would buy the completed project from NextEra, adding another 200 megawatts of solar at a later date, Alliant announced Tuesday morning.


“This is good for our customers, the communities we serve and the environment while powering tens of thousands of homes with solar energy,” Mayuri Farlinger, director of operations at Alliant Energy, said in a prepared statement. “In addition, these projects assure our customers we have a diverse mix of reliable energy generation to meet their ongoing demands.”


As energy costs rise and climate change causes more extreme weather that can disrupt energy delivery, scientists, entrepreneurs and government leaders are considering the best ways to store energy so it’s there when it is needed.


Each year, some share of Iowa’s wind power isn’t delivered to the power grid because demand for power is low at the time. If this energy could be stored and later sold into the grid, Iowa's wind plant owners could make more than $25 million a year, according to a December report from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.


The proposed Duane Arnold Solar Project will create up to 200 new construction jobs, Alliant said. In addition to the jobs, there is ripple effect of wages, tax revenue and other economic activity connected with the projects.


By locating the project at the former Duane Arnold site, Alliant can use power transmission infrastructure already there, the company said.


Once all the new Palo projects are operational, combined with Alliant Energy’s existing 1,300 megawatts of wind generation in Iowa, nearly 50 percent of the company’s total resource mix in the state will be from renewable resources, the company said.


Alliant is on pace to meet this milestone by 2025. The company wants to be at net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.


The Utilities Board’s decision on the Palo project is expected in the second half of 2022, Alliant said.


NextEra, which has operated in Iowa since 1999, said in June it plans to invest $800 million in the solar project, including $50 million paid to landowners over the project’s 30-year life span.


The company’s land leasing phase was nearly complete in June, Project Director Kimberly Dickey said at the time. She said NextEra would not use eminent domain to acquire the land.


Alliant, headquartered in Madison, Wisc., serves nearly 977,000 electric customers and 420,000 natural gas customers in Iowa and Wisconsin. The company already has several solar projects and an energy storage pilot project in Decorah.
 
Outstanding news. I like that they are repurposing the Duane Arnold site, too. It's important to provide a balance of renewables. I'm not 100 percent against nuclear, but industry is moving away, so, let's use the site at least.
 
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