Alliant Energy Eyes Wind, Solar Projects as NGCC Plans Move Forward

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Public-utility parent company Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE:LNT) (Madison, Wisconsin) is edging toward the renewable-energy market as it continues to develop several major natural gas-fired, combined-cycle (NGCC) projects. Higher electric and gas sales revenue brought total revenue in the second quarter to $754.6 million, up 5.2% from second-quarter 2015. Industrial Info's project database is tracking $2.21 billion in Alliant projects in the company's Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin service areas.

Construction, acquisition and related expenditures stood at $500.8 million, a 6.8% increase from the same period last year. "We are finding that some of our planned capital projects are coming in below the original forecast, and we expect to reprioritize and in some instance delay certain other capital expenditures that have not yet begun," said Pat Kampling, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Alliant, in a quarterly earnings call. "We will update our capital expenditure plan as part of our third quarter earnings release. We do not anticipate that these changes to our capital expenditure plan will cause a change in our long-term earnings growth rate projections of 5% to 7%."

Wisconsin Power & Light, Alliant's Wisconsin subsidiary, is at work on the $725 million Riverside Energy Center in Beloit, Wisconsin. The natural gas-fired, combined-cycle (NGCC) project is expected to begin construction later this year; earlier this summer, AECOM was chosen as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. Nearby, Hanwha Q CELLS USA is planning to construct a solar-photovoltaic (PV) facility that will assist with Riverside's auxiliary power needs; the Wisconsin subsidiary has agreed to purchase power from the facility under a 10-year agreement, after which it has the option to purchase the solar PV facility, according to Beloit Daily News. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Riverside Energy Center and its accompanying solar PV project.

Another NGCC project is the $700 million Marshalltown Generating Station in Marshalltown, Iowa, which is under construction and set to be completed next year. Interstate Power and Light Company, which is Alliant's Iowa subsidiary, is constructing two 200-MW Siemens AG SGT6-6000G combustion turbine generators, two Nooter Ericksen supplementary fired heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG) and a 200-MW Siemens SST-900 steam turbine generator. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

HDR Incorporated (Omaha, Nebraska) is performing engineering services on Riverside's Solar PV project and the Marshalltown project, as well as several other NGCC power stations; to read more, see July 26, 2016, article - HDR Incorporated's 10 Top-Valued Projects Span LNG and NGCC Plants, Power and Rail Lines.

Alliant also is considering a $330 million expansion of the Bent Tree Windfarm in Hartford, Minnesota. The project, which would be run by the Wisconsin subsidiary, would use 122 Vestas V82-model wind turbine generators, each with a capacity of 1.65 MW, or a set of turbines with similar capacity. But the project still is in its analysis phase, and likely would not begin seeking permits until early next year. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

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