Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company has announced the Upland Prairie Wind Farm, a 300 MW project in Clay and Dickinson counties in northwest Iowa.
The company, having finalized an agreement with Apex Clean Energy, says major construction on the wind farm will begin in spring 2018.
Alliant Energy’s Iowa utility subsidiary, Interstate Power and Light Co., uses the trade name of Alliant Energy. The utility, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, provides electric service to 490,000 retail customers and natural gas service to 220,000 retail customers.
The 121-turbine Upland Prairie Wind Farm’s annual energy output would power the equivalent of 130,000 homes per year. In addition, over the life of the project, it would provide more than $40 million in local tax benefits, as well as approximately $45 million in landowner payments.
Alliant Energy received approval in 2016 to add up to 500 MW of wind energy. The company requested a similar expansion from the Iowa Utilities Board again this year. The combined projects would represent a $1.8 billion investment and would add up to 1 GW of new wind generation in Iowa. Together, that’s enough to power up to 430,000 Iowa homes a year, the company says.
“We are bringing more clean and cost-competitive wind energy to our customers,” comments Doug Kopp, president of Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company. “If our second wind expansion project is approved, one-third of our energy in Iowa will be from wind, starting in 2020.”
