Alliant Energy to Invest $1.8B for Wind Energy in Iowa

By Anca Gagiuc

Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company, Interstate Power and Light Co., has received approval to increase its wind expansion program from the Iowa Utilities Board. By 2020, the company plans to add 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy in Iowa,  sufficient to power 430,000 Iowa homes.

By the end of 2020, the company plans to raise the investment capital in cost-competitive renewable energy to $1.8 billion. The new wind projects are anticipated to create hundreds of construction and other types of jobs, while generating tens of millions of dollars in additional property taxes to communities and payments to landlords.

Wind projects underway in 2018

Construction already begun on the first wind farm—Upland Prairie Wind Farm in Clay and Dickinson counties in northwest Iowa. The 300-megawatt project is the firm’s largest individual wind farm. It is slated for completion in late 2018, with final testing scheduled for early 2019. The wind farm will consist of 121 2.5- and 2.3-megawatt turbines manufactured by General Electric, able to produce enough energy to power an average of about 130,000 Iowa homes annually.

Later this year, work will begin at the 170-megawatt English Farms Wind Farm in Poweshiek County in central Iowa. The wind facility will consist of 69 turbines and will produce energy for some 50,000 homes.

Combining the expansion with the existing wind farms and market purchases, the company expects wind to become approximately one-third of its total Iowa capacity by the end of 2020.

“Our wind energy initiatives help keep rates competitive, enhance our environmental stewardship and drive economic growth in our communities,” Doug Kopp, president of Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company, said in a prepared statement. “Wind energy is a major part of our transition to a clean energy future.”