Cedar Rapids, Iowa - (February 24, 2025) - Published in the Corridor Business Journal, Business Insights Column by May Farlinger
Recently, Alliant Energy, in collaboration with the City of Cedar Rapids, officially confirmed QTS will be building a data center campus in Cedar Rapids. This new business to our community is a digital infrastructure leader that designs, builds and operates world-class data centers at scale across the globe. Their Cedar Rapids campus will bring a minimum $750 million investment to the community.
The QTS campus will be located at Big Cedar Industrial Center and Alliant Energy is incredibly proud to partner with them on the opportunity. Let me connect the dots for everyone, as maybe some readers are wondering why and how we, a well-known utility company, are part of this economic development opportunity.
To help facilitate the connection of our customers and prospective customers, investments made by Alliant Energy accelerated opportunities for Cedar Rapids’ energy infrastructure and economic development. We take pride in powering progress and enabling success for businesses, like QTS. We understand the critical role that reliable and cost-effective energy plays in economic development and Big Cedar was specifically created for opportunities like the ones we are seeing come to fruition.
Iowa’s energy position nationally is very competitive. In a recent Common Sense Institute report data showed that from 2011 to 2023, Iowa’s Energy Competitiveness Index rank improved from 15th to fourth best in the nation. That is attractive to growing businesses.
We also have a robust backbone and transmission system, thanks to partners ITC Midwest, which together, the combination provides businesses with the level of resiliency and reliability needed. It is a competitive market, make no mistake. They have options in where they put down roots. Communities and energy providers willing to work with them are important and that was made evident with the QTS opportunity.
As the QTS project and similar others have been reported on, the Alliant Energy economic development team and I have received many questions from our existing customers. Most want to know: Does Alliant Energy have enough energy load to support the large load customers at Big Cedar as well as my ongoing energy needs?
The answer is, as an essential service provider in communities across Iowa, we are acting now to best manage costs and meet customers’ energy supply needs for decades to come, as cost-effectively as possible. Our resource plan identifies the need to add resources to our balanced portfolio, including wind, natural gas and storage to serve increasing customer load and to meet reliability needs for all customers.
We are planning for our customers, to ensure we’re ready to manage the rapidly changing energy landscape. We take pride in operating our system as efficiently as possible. Our investments in new technology will further enhance efficiency and system operations and Alliant Energy is open to considering all cost-effective resource options.
Additionally, when economic development opportunities like this come to fruition, it helps to grow the energy load – which is the greatest tool for helping with customer affordability. When we grow, everyone wins. By increasing the number of electrons we sell, we're able to spread our fixed costs out among more kilowatt-hours - helping to keep base rates stable. Our regulatory framework in Iowa allows us to keep base rates flat for at least five years while supporting new generation projects and economic development.
We look forward to working with QTS, and others, to support their operations and drive economic development in this community. Together, we can ensure their new facility thrives, creating opportunities, fostering innovation and further solidifying our region as a destination for forward-thinking companies.
These partnerships are just one more way Alliant Energy serves customers and builds stronger communities. We are excited to be part of their journeys and look forward to a bright future together.
May Farlinger is President of Alliant Energy's Iowa energy company & Vice President of Energy Delivery.
Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: LNT) provides regulated energy service to approximately 1 million electric and 430,000 natural gas customers across Iowa and Wisconsin. Alliant Energy's mission is to deliver energy solutions and exceptional service customers and communities count on – safely, efficiently and responsibly. Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) and Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL) are Alliant Energy's two public energy companies. Alliant Energy is a component of Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index and the S&P 500. For more information, visit alliantenergy.com and follow Alliant Energy on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X.