The company plans to have invested $1.8 billion in cost-competitive renewable energy by the end of 2020. It expects the new wind farms will create hundreds of construction and other jobs while generating tens of millions of dollars in additional property taxes to communities and payments to landowners.
"Our wind energy initiatives help keep rates competitive, enhance our environmental stewardship and drive economic growth in our communities," said Doug Kopp, president of Alliant Energy's Iowa energy company.
Construction has already begun on the first of several of the planned wind farms, starting with Upland Prairie Wind Farm, located in Clay and Dickinson counties in northwest Iowa. This 300-MW project is Alliant Energy’s largest individual wind farm incorporating 121 GE turbines. Later this year, construction is expected to start at English Farms Wind Farm, located in Poweshiek County in central Iowa.
