Alliant plans 99-megawatt battery unit at retiring Wisconsin coal plant

Energy Storage News:

Utility Alliant Energy will deploy a 99MW/396MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at a coal plant which it will retire in 2025.

Alliant yesterday (1 February) revealed its plans to begin building the Edgewater Battery Project in 2024. It expects the four-hour system to come online shortly after the Edgewater Generating Station coal plant retires in 2025.

The project still needs to be approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW), with which Alliant Energy recently filed its application in which it said the project is “a cost-effective solution that will help meet projected customer needs”.

“This battery system represents the next phase of energy generation that will enable more sustainable growth and greater resiliency,” said David de Leon, president of Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin energy company. 

The project is in addition to a previously-announced plan to deploy 175MW/700MWh of four-hour BESS projects in the Badger State, spread across two sites both co-located with solar PV generation, with a total investment of US$354 million. The utility operates across Wisconsin and Iowa. The projects are part of Alliant Energy’s Clean Energy Blueprint, its two separate plans for each state to decarbonise through deploying solar PV and energy storage.

[Cameron Murray]

More: Utility Alliant Energy plans c.400MWh BESS at retiring coal plant in Wisconsin