DOE to loan up to $5.1 billion to Alliant Energy for Iowa and Wisconsin energy projects

Alliant Energy Corporation has closed a $5.1 billion loan package with the U.S. Department of Energy to fund power generation and energy storage projects in Wisconsin and Iowa. 

A news release from the DOE said the loan would help to “strengthen grid reliability in Iowa and Wisconsin” by adding more than 2.6 gigawatts of power generation capacity and delivering electricity cost savings of more than $1 billion to ratepayers in both states. 

A spokesperson for Alliant said if the company accesses the full lower-interest loan package from DOE, the projected lifetime-adjusted interest savings would result in Iowa customer savings of $800 million and Wisconsin customer savings of $400 million. 

Alliant said with the 30-year loans, the company may pursue: 1.6 GW of new natural gas generation; 240 megawatts, or MW, of increased capacity at existing natural gas facilities; 1 GW of energy storage; and 2 billion cubic feet of liquified natural gas storage. The news release notes the company is not limited to pursuing only those projects. 

Lisa Barton, the company’s president and CEO, said Alliant is making “smart, forward-looking investments to deliver safe, reliable and cost-effective energy.”

“This federally backed financing helps lower the cost of building the generation and critical energy infrastructure our customers depend on, while strengthening the grid and supporting long-term savings,” Barton said in a news release. “We are focused on meeting growth responsibly, maintaining affordability and creating lasting value for customers and communities across Iowa and Wisconsin.”

Alliant’s earnings reports show the company anticipates 60% load growth by 2031, and that it has contracted at least 3.4 gigawatts of demand from data centers. 

Alliant has planned several new natural gas generating plants in Iowa, including the Bobcat Energy Center in Marshalltown which a spokesperson for Alliant said is one of the projects the company may pursue, but is not limited to, with the DOE loan. 

On its website pages for the Bobcat, Riverhawk and Morgan Valley Energy Centers, Alliant specifies that the additional generation is not being built to serve data centers. A clean energy group and a group fighting the Morgan Valley plant, however, allege the utility is using data centers – and their anticipated energy load demands – as an excuse to build the plants. 

The Morgan Valley plant is slated for Linn County, where data centers from Google and QTS are in the works and where Alliant has existing investments. Linn County supervisors voted recently to deny a rezoning request from Alliant to build the natural gas plant, though the decision could be overruled by the Iowa Utilities Commission. 

The Department of Energy has also agreed to loan up to $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy to help restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear energy plant in Linn County. Google has contracted with NextEra to purchase more than 90% of the energy generated at the nuclear plant.

A spokesperson with Alliant said the company may also use the loan to support battery energy storage system, or BESS, projects including one in the works in Lansing and two BESS projects underway in Wisconsin. The lithium-ion battery storage facilities charge when energy is plentiful and can help supplement energy when demand is high. 

The spokesperson also noted the liquefied natural gas storage facility being built in Rock County, Wisconsin, as a potential project supported by the loan.

DOE said the loan to Alliant would help advance President Donald Trump’s directive to “safeguard the reliability and security of the United States’ electric grid.” 

The executive order notes that the nation is experiencing an “unprecedented” surge in electricity demands that is driven by “artificial intelligence data centers and an increase in domestic manufacturing.”

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the loans through the DOE’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing are “delivering” on the president’s promise to lower energy costs and “unleash the full potential of American energy.”

“These investments will drive down energy costs for families and businesses in Iowa and Wisconsin, strengthen our nation’s electric grid, and fuel American prosperity for decades to come,” Wright said in the news release.