Alliant Energy begins on 675MW solar portfolio in Wisconsin

• United States utility Alliant Energy has begun building work on a 675MW portfolio of solar projects in Wisconsin after securing approval from state authorities.

The portfolio, revealed by Alliant last year and including six plants, was green-lighted by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in April.

The energy has gotten Burns & McDonnell to construct the 50MW Bear Creek and also North Rock projects in addition to the 150MW Wood County plant, with structure deal with all 3 beginning this summer.

Building and construction deal with the 150MW Onion River as well as 75MW Crawfish River setups will certainly be accomplished by Ranger Power from autumn 2021, while NextEra Energy Resources has actually been gotten to construct the 200MW Grant County project, which is anticipated to break ground in springtime 2022. The 6 projects are slated for conclusion in 2022 and also 2023.

Alliant is still waiting for a choice from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on its 2nd set of 6 solar projects, which were introduced in March and also have actually a combined ability of 414MW. The business asserted that as soon as all 12 plants are accepted and functional, it will certainly come to be the largest owner and operator of solar power in Wisconsin.

"This investment in solar will supply our consumers with trusted, eco-friendly energy for years to find," said David de Leon, head of state of Alliant Energy's Wisconsin energy company.

The firm expects its two Wisconsin solar portfolios to develop 2,000 building jobs and also provide around US$ 300 million in earnings to neighborhood communities and landowners over project lifespans of 30 years.

In neighbouring Iowa, Alliant Energy last year introduced its Clean Energy Blueprint for the state that will certainly see it amount to 400MW of solar by 2023 as part of efforts to remove coal from its generation fleet by 2040. The energy is also exploring just how battery storage space can improve reliability in the state and expects to amount to 100MW of distributed energy resources, such as community solar and energy storage systems, by 2026.