What drives energy reliability?

A lot goes into keeping electricity flowing reliably all day, from generation to high-voltage substations to local distribution lines. What actions do energy companies -- like Alliant Energy -- take to improve reliability?

Diverse energy mix

Our diverse energy mix, a combination of natural gas, coal, hydropower, wind, solar and energy storage, provides electricity at all times of the day. When the sun shines and the wind blows we use renewable resources to generate a lot of zero-emission, zero-fuel-cost energy. We use energy storage to capture this energy when it’s abundant and release it when it’s needed later. Fossil fuels like natural gas help us make up gaps.

Building a diverse energy mix means we don’t rely on any single source to provide all our power. It also helps us minimize risks of supply chain and weather events. With generation facilities spread across the communities we serve, it’s less likely a single event will affect multiple generation sites.

Renewable energy in a fuel mix also creates economic benefits for the communities we serve such as shared revenue and tax payments.

Distribution system

Power lines run all the way from local substations to connect every home and business in our communities to the electric grid.

With more than 1 million electric customers across Wisconsin and Iowa, many in rural communities, we have approximately 43,000 miles of power lines in our distribution system. That's like traveling I-80 from New Jersey to California more than 14 times!

To prevent common obstacles like trees, wind and ice from damaging poles, some energy companies are undergrounding, whenever it’s financially feasible. Underground cables experience 15 times fewer outages than overhead lines.

With approximately a quarter of our distribution system underground as of 2023, we’ve already seen the average customer have 25% fewer outages than in 2013.

Learn more about the actions we take to improve reliability at alliantenergy.com/poweringwhatsnext.