Alliant Energy is about to begin construction on six new solar projects in central Wisconsin that will generate enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes annually once completed. The utility has received approval for the projects from the Public Service Commission. 

The projects are Albany Solar in Green County, Beaver Dam Solar in Dodge County, Cassville Solar in Grant County, Paddock Solar in Rock County, Springfield Solar in Dodge County and Wautoma Solar in Waushara County. 

Consistent with its commitment to sustainable energy and to global climate science, Madison Gas and Electric will reduce carbon at least eighty percent by 2030 as it works toward achieving net-zero carbon electricity by 2050. Under its Energy 2030 framework, announced in 2015, the company set a goal of forty percent carbon reduction by 2030, one of the first such goals set by a utility and in alignment with the Paris Agreement on climate change. 

Since then, the company has said it fully expects to achieve carbon reductions of at least sixty-five percent by 2030. In 2019, MGE established its goal of net-zero carbon electricity by mid-century, consistent with climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and analysis of the company’s goal by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. 

The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that blocked a controversial transmission line’s crossing through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge.  

The U.S. DOJ filed the appeal June 8 on behalf of federal agencies that granted approvals for the 345-kilovolt Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line. American Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative are building the line that would run 101 miles from Dane County to Dubuque County in Iowa.

  Xcel Energy has announced that has been elected to the company’s Board of Directors effective immediately. Burkhart is an accomplished executive with decades of experience in human resources compensation, culture, and diversity, equity and inclusion. She currently serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer at Comerica Incorporated, a major financial services company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. She is responsible for leading the bank’s people strategy and organization for the $94 billion company. Prior to her current role, Burkhart served as Senior Vice president and Director of Compensation. She joined Comerica in 1997.

American Transmission Company has announced that Scott J. Lauber, President and Chief Executive Officer of WEC Energy Group, has joined ATC’s Board of Directors, replacing J. Kevin Fletcher who retired from WEC Energy Group on June 1, 2022. Eric Lundberg, ATC’s Vice President of Finance, was named the company’s Treasurer, a title previously held by Mike Hofbauer, ATC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Lauber was named President and CEO of WEC Energy Group and appointed to the company’s Board of Directors in February 2022. He became President — We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, Michigan Gas Utilities and Minnesota Energy Resources in January 2022, and President, Upper Michigan Energy Resources in February 2022. In the president roles, Lauber is responsible for business operations for WEC Energy Group’s utilities in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Lauber joined Wisconsin Energy Corporation in 1990 and has held positions of increasing responsibility, including financial manager, distribution operations, and manager, corporate accounting and budgeting.

The state’s utility regulators want Wisconsin’s energy efficiency program to play a larger role in cutting carbon emissions as part of efforts to combat climate change.

The Public Service Commission has voted 2-1 for the state’s Focus on Energy program to play a greater role in cost-effectively cutting carbon emissions while continuing to emphasize energy savings. However, Republican lawmakers are wary. 

Commissioners have supported research, planning and investment of resources that would set Focus on a path toward playing a larger role in promoting replacement of fossil fuels with electricity to reduce emissions and energy costs.

The commission stopped short of fully changing Focus on Energy’s goals, opting instead to treat the next four years as a “transitional period” in which the program maintains an emphasis on energy savings while also making “measurable progress” toward reducing carbon emissions.

The Public Service Commission has awarded $10 million in funding from the Energy Innovation Grant Program. The grants went to forty-six projects that reduce energy consumption and demand, install renewable energy and battery storage technologies, and create comprehensive energy plans. Applications for this grant cycle were due on January 14, 2022. The PSC received 105 applications requesting more than $31 million in funding.

“I am thrilled with the grants that were funded today, which will support manufacturers, farms, local governments, schools, nonprofits, and residents across Wisconsin invest in innovative clean energy projects and save on energy costs,” according to PSC Commissioner Tyler Huebner. “The Energy Innovation Grant Program is a vital resource to help in our statewide efforts to keep energy affordable and reduce carbon emissions.”

At WEC Energy Group's virtual annual meeting of stockholders Executive Chairman Gale Klappa and President and CEO Scott Lauber highlighted how the company is building a bridge to the future with aggressive environmental goals and a focus on affordable, reliable and clean energy. They also emphasized how the company's focus on efficiency and financial discipline, along with favorable weather and a solid economic recovery in the region, resulted in record net income and earnings per share.  

2021 Company Highlights:

• Named one of America's most responsible companies by Newsweek Magazine.
• Developed the largest five-year capital plan in company history, including nearly 2,400 megawatts of new renewable capacity to serve customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service.
• Announced industry leading environmental goals with an operating plan to achieve them.
• Sixty percent reduction in CO2 emissions from electric generation by the end of 2025.
• Eighty percent reduction in CO2 emissions from electric generation by the end of 2030.
• Net methane neutral in natural gas distribution operations by the end of 2030.
• Announced a plan to exit from coal for power generation by the end of 2035, with minimal use by the end of 2030.
• Strengthened the diversity of company leadership, 36 percent of senior vice president and above positions filled by women or minorities compared to 29 percent at year-end 2020.
• Achieved $270 million in spending with diverse suppliers.
• Returned $855 million to WEC Energy Group stockholders through dividends.
• Increased dividends in January 2022 by 7.4 percent to an annual rate of $2.91 per share. This marks the 19^th consecutive year of higher dividends.

Alliant Energy Corporation has announced U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) consolidated unaudited earnings per share (EPS) for the three months ended March 31.

“We had a solid start to the year with more than 25 percent of our 2022 guidance midpoint coming in the first quarter, and we are reaffirming our 2022 guidance range of $2.67 to $2.81,” said John Larsen, Alliant Energy Chair, President and CEO. “We are also excited to share yet another major milestone in our purpose-driven clean energy transition, receiving verbal approval today for the remaining 414 megawatts of our nearly 1,100 megawatt proposed solar expansion in Wisconsin.”

WEC Energy Group has reported net income of $565.9 million, or $1.79 per share, for the first quarter of 2022, up from $510.1 million, or $1.61 per share, for last year's first quarter. Consolidated revenues totaled $2.9 billion, up $216.7 million from the first quarter a year ago.

"A colder than normal winter, a strong economy and the performance of our infrastructure segment were the major factors driving our first-quarter results," said Gale Klappa, Executive Chairman. "The year is off to a solid start as we continue to focus on the fundamentals of our business."

Brooke Trammell, who has served as regional vice president for Rates and Regulatory Affairs for Xcel Energy’s Colorado jurisdiction since 2018, has accepted the position of Regional Vice President for Regulatory and Pricing for the Texas and New Mexico system, succeeding Bill Grant who is retiring June 1. Trammell has been with Xcel Energy for almost a decade, starting in Amarillo as a regulatory case specialist in September 2012 before taking the role of rate case manager in 2014.

She left regulatory in 2016 when she was named director for Customer and Community Relations in Texas and New Mexico.

Xcel Energy has reported 2022 first quarter GAAP and ongoing earnings of $380 million, or $0.70per share, compared with $362 million, or $0.67 per share in the same period in 2021.

Earnings reflect capital investment recovery and other regulatory outcomes, partially offset by higher depreciation, interest expense and operating and maintenance expenses.

Utilities seeking to build a transmission line connecting Iowa and Wisconsin are appealing a court decision blocking the Mississippi River crossing and say construction delays could leave the power grid more vulnerable to blackouts, limit clean energy production and lead to higher electricity prices.

Earlier this year, federal Judge William Conley sided with four conservation groups that sued to stop the $492 million Cardinal-Hickory Creek line, finding the environmental review was inadequate and the project is incompatible with the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

American Transmission Company has named Greg Levesque vice president of external affairs and communications.

For the third year in a row, Xcel Energy has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. Xcel Energy is one of only nine honorees in the Energy & Utilities category, and one of only five of those companies in the United States recognized this year. In 2022, 136 honorees were recognized spanning 22 countries and 45 industries.

Madison Gas and Electric, in partnership with We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service subsidiaries of WEC Energy Group, has received approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to purchase solar energy and battery storage from the Paris Solar-Battery Park. MGE will own 20 MW of solar energy and 11 MW of battery storage from the 200 MW solar and 110 MW battery storage facility in Kenosha County, Wisconsin.

“We are working every day toward deep carbon reductions and net-zero carbon electricity by 2050,”according to Jeff Keebler, MGE’s Chairman, President and CEO. “The Paris Solar-Battery Park continues the progress we’ve already made increasing renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions and advancing new technologies to benefit all our customers. MGE’s first addition of utility-scale battery storage is a new and important technology to help us reach our sustainable energy goals.”