Renewable Resources at a Glance
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Alliant Energy's generation portfolio currently includes over 450 megawatts from renewable and alternative energy sources in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through future ownership of wind farms, we'll more than double that. We classify renewable energy sources according to their size: small (less than 100 kilowatts), medium (100 kilowatts to 10 MW) and utility-scale (greater than 10 MW). Customers with small projects typically sell electricity to our utilities when their systems are producing excess energy, and buy energy when their renewable energy source isn't producing power. |
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Medium-size projects that generate electricity using landfill gas, biogas from anaerobic digesters or other distributed generation technology are gaining in popularity because they reduce waste products.
As for utility-scale projects, wind farms and hydroelectric operations are the only renewable energy sources we use that are currently capable of producing more than 10 MW.
Wind is our company's main renewable energy source. We're fortunate that two of the three states in our service territory, Iowa (5.5%) and Minnesota (4.6%), lead the nation in the percentage of their state's electricity that comes from wind energy.
View a map showing our renewable generation sources by fuel type and total capacity (PDF).
Second Nature
More than 17,000 residential and business customers in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have chosen to support the growth of renewable energy through their membership in Alliant Energy's Second Nature program.
The portion of electricity the customers choose to support through their premiums is purchased from renewable sources within Alliant Energy's service territory and added to the power grid to replace energy that would be otherwise generated from fossil fuel sources.
During 2008, Second Nature participants supported more than 58 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy.