Alliant Lays Out $2 Billion Capital Plan to Shrink Environmental Footprint

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE:LNT) (Madison, Wisconsin) plans to invest over $2 billion to reduce its environmental footprint, mainly its emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), mercury and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), over the next 15 years, the company says.

The utility holding company, with operating units in Iowa and Wisconsin, plans to make these investments to lower its CO2 emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030. These planned capital outlays also will lower emissions of SO2, mercury and NOx. The new investments include building or expanding gas-fired generators, expanding windfarms and installing pollution-control equipment on coal-fired generators. All told, Alliant Energy and its subsidiaries plan to build about 1,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind generation capacity as well as approximately 1,350 MW of gas-fired generating capacity.

"Alliant Energy has been taking actions for many years to reduce emissions and this CO2 target is consistent with the clean energy path we've been following," Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Kampling said in a statement accompanying the recent release of the company's annual sustainability report.

Capital investments made over the last decade have lowered the company's SO2 and NOx emissions by 68%, mercury emissions by 78% and CO2 emissions by 22%, Alliant Energy said. In addition to the planned reductions of CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, these planned investments will further lower the company's emissions of SO2 and mercury by 90% by 2020. By that same year, NOx emissions also will be reduced by 80% compared to 2005.

Alliant's major planned capital projects include:

• Expanding its Riverside Energy Center by adding a 650-MW combined cycle gas-fired unit. This $725 million project, scheduled to begin construction early next year, should be operating by early 2020. AECOM (NYSE:ACM) (Los Angeles, California) is providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to this project, which is located in Beloit, Wisconsin.
• Building a grassroot 600-MW gas-fired generator in Marshalltown, Iowa. Construction of the $700 million project kicked off this year, and it is scheduled to finish early next year.
• Expanding its Bent Tree Windfarm in Hartland, Minnesota. Construction of the 200-MW, $330 million unit addition expansion is scheduled to begin in mid-2018, and the project is eyeing a late-2019 in-service date.
• Expanding its Whispering Willow Windfarm, located in Iowa Falls, Iowa. The 200-MW unit addition, with total investment value (TIV) of about $260 million, is scheduled to begin construction in early 2018. By yearend 2019, the turbines are expected to begin turning. A request for proposal (RFP) for a general contractor (GC) is scheduled to be released during the first quarter of 2017.
• Installing a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system on Unit 2 of the coal-fired Columbia Energy Center, located in Pardeeville, Wisconsin. This $150 million project kicked off construction earlier this year. Construction is expected to be completed in early 2018. This project will reduce NOx emissions by 50% and bring the unit into compliance with federal emissions standards.
• Installing a SCR system on Unit 1 of the coal-fired Ottumwa Generating Station, located in Ottumwa, Iowa. This $95 million project is scheduled to begin construction early next year and be completed by late 2018.

The company also is spending over $200 million on a variety of smaller endeavors, including: demolishing coal-fired power plants in Iowa and Wisconsin; bringing coal ash-handling facilities at one of its Iowa power plants into compliance; replacing a coal pulverizer at one of its stations; upgrading a turbine at one of its units; and constructing small solar power generation stations.

"Alliant Energy and its subsidiaries will be investing heavily to clean up its generating portfolio over the next few years," commented Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the global Power Industry. "A lot of this spending is being driven by federal and state regulatory action, but the declining cost of constructing renewable energy generation is another factor in the company's capital decision-making."

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