Alliant Energy announces plan for its first utility-scale battery installations at solar farms in Wood, Grant counties
Karl EbertAlliant Energy on Friday announced plans to add its first utility-scale battery storage systems to solar energy farms in Wood and Grant counties.
The lithium iron phosphate batteries would provide a combined 175 megawatts of storage, enough to power 180,000 homes for four hours.
That means a reserve power supply would be available during times of high use or when other generating facilities are offline. On a daily basis, the batteries also will allow the company to manage power distribution by storing energy during the night, a time of low energy use, and releasing it during the day when there's greater demand, Alliant spokesperson Tony Palese said.
He said it's "trying to be smarter about when we can generate the most cost effective energy and deliver that energy."
Palese said Alliant accelerated its plan for building battery storage following passage earlier this year of the federal Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation provides new tax credits for battery storage facilities that Alliant intends to use to help finance the installations.
“Alliant Energy is well-positioned to accelerate the development of this energy storage capacity in Wisconsin," David de Leon, president of Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin energy company, said in a statement. "For customers, this means greater reliability and long-term affordability as we transition toward a cleaner energy future.”
More:Six more solar farms approved for Alliant Energy in Central Wisconsin, enough to power 100,000 homes
Wood County solar project recently wrapped up
These would be utility's first large-scale battery installations. Alliant has been running a pilot battery program with units of less than 5 megawatts at three locations in western and central Wisconsin.
The announcement comes just days after Alliant completed construction of the 150 megawatt Wood County Solar Project in the town of Saratoga. The 1,200-acre solar array can generate enough electricity to power 40,000 homes.
Work recently got underway on the Grant County solar project on a 1,400-acre parcel in the town of Potosi. The 200-megawatt installation is expected to be completed in late 2023.
Alliant Energy intends to build more utility-scale solar farms in Wisconsin
The Wood and Grant county projects are part of the company's plan to build a dozen utility-scale solar farms in Wisconsin as it pursues a goal of eliminating coal-powered generation within four years and becoming a net-zero carbon dioxide producer by 2050.
Alliant's coal powered Edgewater Generating Station in Sheboygan is expected to shut down in 2025 and its Columbia Energy Center in Portage is scheduled to close in 2026. Both of those timelines were pushed back this year amid concerns about maintaining an adequate power supply.
The company's plan to add battery storage in Grant and Wood counties was submitted to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Friday. Approval is expected to take up to a year.
Palese said the Wood County battery installation is expected to be completed in late 2024 and the Grant County project would go online the following year.
Contact Karl Ebert at kebert@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @karlwebert.