Alliant Closes Federal Loan Package to Support Power Generation and Storage
Key Facts
A federal loan package for Alliant Energy has closed to support projects including new natural gas-fired plants and energy storage systems, as well as upgrades to existing generating facilities. The closing marks a development from the U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement in January 2025 of two conditional loan-guarantee commitments, since that earlier announcement was an initial financing stage and did not mean the loans had been completed. The department had linked those commitments to clean energy and storage projects in Iowa and Wisconsin. The closed package also includes natural gas projects, expanding its scope compared with the plan described in the earlier announcement. The financing is intended to support electricity infrastructure in the two states, while Reuters reported that its potential effect on electricity costs could take years to emerge, given that the loans extend over decades.
In its announcement dated January 16, 2025, the Department of Energy said its Loan Programs Office had issued two conditional commitments totaling more than $3 billion. The department estimated that the associated projects could add about 2,000 megawatts of clean energy and storage over the following decade. The plan at the time included deploying wind power and storage batteries in Iowa and Wisconsin, according to the department’s statement. It also said the proposed financing would carry a lower interest rate than conventional capital markets financing. But the commitments announced at the time remained conditional, distinguishing them from the current loan closing.
Alliant serves about 1,010,000 electric customers and 435,000 natural gas customers in Iowa and Wisconsin, according to a company statement published in October 2026. The customer base provides context for the scale of the utility’s operations in the two states targeted by the projects. In its second-quarter 2026 results, the company said higher revenue requirements as its two operating companies’ asset bases grew contributed to results. Interstate Power & Light and Wisconsin Power & Light each contributed $0.09 per share. The company added that higher earnings from project investments and increased retail electricity and gas sales, adjusted for the effect of weather, supported results, while higher operating and maintenance, financing and depreciation expenses offset those gains.
Alliant is scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 29, 2026, after the market closes, followed by an earnings review call on October 30 at 9 a.m. Central Time. The company’s shares, which trade under the ticker LNT, closed at $70.04 on October 27, 2026. The third-quarter results will be the company’s first scheduled financial update since the loan package closed.