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ALLIANT ENERGY ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2023 RESULTS

Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: LNT) today announced U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) consolidated unaudited earnings per share (EPS) for the three months ended March 31 as follows:

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EPA IS PREPARING AGGRESSIVE NEW RULES FOR POWER PLANT POLLUTION

The Biden administration is planning to roll out aggressive new rules to regulate planet-warming pollution from natural gas power plants, three sources familiar with the plan and who have been briefed on the rules told CNN, in a move that could face fierce legal challenges.
President Biden's Environmental Protection Agency has been exploring ways to tighten the rules for not just new power plants that will run on natural gas, but existing plants too, the sources said. According to the sources, the rules would be more stringent than previously planned regulations, which aimed to control pollution from new natural gas power plants and would have effectively grandfathered existing plants into older rules.

UTILITY REGULATORS APPROVE $649M PURCHASE OF WISCONSIN'S LARGEST RENEWABLE ENERGY PLANT

Three utilities have received approval from Wisconsin utility regulators to buy the state’s largest renewable energy plant.

The Public Service Commission has approved the $649 million purchase of the Koshkonong Solar Energy Center by We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, and Madison Gas and Electric.

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AMERICAN TRANSITION COMPANY ADOPTS SOLO-DRIVER CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE

Introduced and tested in 2019, Solo-Driver Plus was used on a construction project for the first time in its history. The patent-pending foundation installation method installed 80 caisson foundations to support new steel structures for transmission line rebuild project in Adams and Waushara counties.

Set up and driving takes minutes to accomplish with Solo-Driver Plus with very little ground disturbance, making it faster and more environmentally friendly than traditional installation methods.  After the launch of the initial Solo-Driver design in 2015, a team of engineers focused on evolution of the excavator installed caisson concept.  Solo-Driver Plus’s “H” design provided ATC the opportunity to improve drivability and corrosion resistance as well as simplify fabrication, potentially reducing associated costs.  A second variation was also developed and initially tested that has the potential to be used on more heavily loaded structures.

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XCEL ENERGY TAKES MONTICELLO NUCLEAR PLANT OFFLINE TO FIX TRITIUM LEAK

Xcel Energy has powered down its Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant to allow it to more quickly perform the repairs needed to permanently resolve a leak of water containing tritium at the plant. The company does not anticipate any impacts to customers’ electric service from powering the plant down early.

“While the leak has continued to pose no risk to the public or the environment, we determined the best course of action is to power down the plant and perform the permanent repairs immediately,” said Chris Clark, president of Xcel Energy–Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. “We are continuing to work with and inform our state, federal, city and county leaders in the process.”

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RED BARN WIND FARM DELIVERING LOCALLY GENERATED CLEAN ENERGY

A Madison Gas and subsidiary has announced that its newest wind farm is fully operational and delivering cost-effective, carbon-free energy to the electric grid. MGE owns 9.1 megawatts (MW) of the 92-MW wind farm in the Grant County towns of Clifton and Wingville.
 
“This is an exciting time for MGE as the Red Barn Wind Farm begins to generate cost-effective, carbon-free electricity to benefit all our electric customers,” said Jeff Keebler, MGE Chairman, President and CEO. “Red Barn is another important step in our ongoing transition to a more sustainable energy future. We are working aggressively to reduce our carbon emissions at least 80% from 2005 levels by the end of this decade and achieve net-zero carbon electricity by 2050. We have said since announcing our net-zero goal, if we can go further faster through partnerships with our customers and the evolution of new technologies, we will—and we are.”
 
Located on about 10,000 acres and consisting of 28 turbines, the Red Barn facility is expected to generate enough energy to serve about 50,000 households annually. MGE's share is expected to serve about 5,000 households each year.

XCEL ENERGY TO BUILD NEW ST. PAUL SERVICE CENTER

Xcel Energy has signed an agreement with the Saint Paul Port Authority to build a new service center in northeast St. Paul that will allow the company to meet the needs of its customers and employees for many years to come.

The 20-acre property is in The Heights, a new development on the site of the former Hillcrest Golf Course. The purchase agreement follows an extensive search for a larger site to replace the Rice Street Service Center, which has helped Xcel Energy serve its customers reliably for a century but does not meet the company’s future operational needs.

WEC BOARD DECLARES QUARTERLY DIVIDEND

The Board of Directors of WEC Energy has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 78 cents per share on the company's common stock.

The dividend is payable June 1, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 12, 2023. This marks the 323rd consecutive quarter — dating back to 1942 — that the company will have paid a dividend to its stockholders.

WEC ENERGY Q1 EARNINGS SURPASS ESTIMATES, SALES LAG

WEC Energy Group has reported first-quarter 2023 earnings of $1.61 per share. However, the bottom line declined 10.1 percent from the year-ago quarter, down from $1.79 per share.

Operating revenues were $2 ,888.1 million. The top line also declined 0.69 percent from $2,908.1million in the year-ago quarter.

Xcel Energy First Quarter 2023 Earnings Report

  • First quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.76 in 2023 compared with $0.70 in 2022.
  • Xcel Energy reaffirms 2023 EPS guidance of $3.30 to $3.40.

Xcel Energy has reported 2023 first quarter GAAP and ongoing earnings of $418 million, or $0.76 per share, compared with $380 million, or $0.70 per share in the same period in 2022.

Earnings reflect recovery of electric and natural gas infrastructure investment and other regulatory outcomes, partially offset by higher depreciation, operating and maintenance (O&M) expenses and interest charges.

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ENERGY ISSUES IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE

The Wisconsin Legislature kicked off it’s 2023-24 biennial session in late January and is currently busy reworking the State Budget. The revised Budget is expected to be adopted by the Legislature by the end of the fiscal year – June 30, 2023. Then, the Legislature will return to Madison in September to consider individual bills including at least two proposals that could impact your utility investments.

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XCEL ENERGY REPORTS ON PROGRESS RECOVERING WATER LEAKED AT MINNESOTA PLANT

Xcel Energy has reported on steps taken to contain and manage a water leak detected by routine groundwater monitoring systems at its Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant late last year. Xcel Energy took swift action to contain the leak to the plant site, which poses no health and safety risk to the local community or the environment.

Xcel Energy notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as the state, on November 22, 2022, the day the leak was confirmed. The company has since coordinated regularly with state and federal regulators, as well as local officials.

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WEC ENERGY GROUP ANNOUNCES ORGANIC FLOW BATTERY STORAGE PROJECT

WEC Energy has announced that the company will lead a pilot project at its Valley Power Plant in Milwaukee to test a new form of long-duration energy storage. WEC Energy Group is collaborating with EPRI, an independent, nonprofit energy research and development institute, and CMBlu Energy, the developer and manufacturer of the long-duration battery based in California and Germany. This 1-to-2-megawatt-hour pilot project will be one of the first to test this type of energy storage system on the U.S. electric grid.

FOXCONN, WE ENERGIES PARTNERING ON SOLAR PROJECT ON MOUNT PLEASANT CAMPUS

Foxconn and We Energies 2,000 panels on the Taiwan-based company’s Mount Pleasant campus. Foxconn Technology Group describes the effort as “one of the largest nonresidential solar projects in Racine County” and said it is “committed to integrating green and sustainable practices throughout our operations.”

“As Foxconn’s operations in Wisconsin expand in response to market demand, the presence of renewable energy resources within the park demonstrates our commitment to environmental stewardship across the manufacturing supply chain to our customers and the community,” the company’s statement said. We Energies will install, own and maintain the 1-megawatt project which is capable of producing enough energy to power 300 homes. Renderings show the solar panels being installed around retention ponds at the company’s Mount Pleasant campus.

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BILL PROPOSED CONCERNING WIND TURBINE PROJECTS

Two Republican state lawmakers want to give local governments more say over wind turbine projects. Citing public health concerns, Senator Andre Jacque and Representative Ty Boden seek co-sponsors on a bill to restore the ability of towns and counties to impose restrictions on new turbine projects that are more restrictive than Public Service Commission rules.

A sponsorship memo cites the January collapse of a wind turbine in Dodge County, and notes turbine projects may potentially not be a good fit in some areas given the density of rural homes.

XCEL ENERGY PROPOSES ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR CUSTOMERS’ BILLS

Xcel Energy has filed a request with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to create a new program to expand assistance to lower-earning households who need additional assistance to pay their energy bills. The proposal for the new program followed several months of discussion and coordination with the Citizens Utility Board.

The company’s proposal would make it the first utility in Wisconsin to offer a targeted assistance program and would increase the total amount of income-qualified support by fifty percent or an estimated five million dollars annually. As part of the new program, customers who already receive assistance from the Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program would be automatically enrolled.

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WEC ENERGY LOOKS TO EMERGING STORAGE TECHNOLOGY AS IT BUILDS OUT RENEWABLES

WEC Energy Group executives say the Wisconsin-based utility holding company will lead a test of a new type of long-duration energy storage at its 266.6MW Valley natural gas plant in Milwaukee. The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute and German manufacturer CMBlu Energy AG will use the site to run a flow battery made with components from abundant, recyclable materials. The battery will be tested for discharge durations of up to 10 hours, starting in the fourth quarter of 2023. "We believe it can store energy for up to twice as long as the typical batteries in use today," Gale Klappa, WEC's Executive Chairman, said during a Feb. 2 earnings call. "We plan to launch the project at our Valley Power Plant near downtown Milwaukee in the fourth quarter of this year when temperatures turn cold. The results will be shared in early 2024 across the industry.

"These batteries are expected to provide safe and reliable operation, with a high energy density that will enable compact solutions for a variety of applications for electric utilities," the company said in its news release. WEC is yet another U.S. utility searching for reliability solutions to replace fossil fuel generation with billions of dollars worth of new intermittent wind and solar plants over the decade. WEC is also partnering with the EPRI on a hydrogen project. Citing the availability of new U.S. tax credits for renewable energy projects, WEC in late 2022 announced a revised five-year capital plan of $20.1 billion. It will allocate $7.3 billion to building up to 3,300 MW in new wind, solar and storage projects as it retires its coal capacity by 2035.”

Klappa said the company expects the five-year investment plan to drive compound earnings growth of 6.5 percent to seven percent per year over the period 2023 through 2027.

WEC ENERGY GROUP TO ACQUIRE EIGHTY PERCENT STAKE IN TEXAS SOLAR PROJECT

WEC Energy Group has announced an agreement to acquire an eighty percent ownership in a large solar project in Texas. 
The company says it will be spending about $250 million on the Samson I Solar Energy Center, located about 140 miles northeast of Dallas. The facility began commercial operation in May 2022 and is currently covered by a long-term power purchase agreement with AT&T, according to a release. 

“The Samson Solar project is an exciting addition to our Infrastructure business and highlights our continued investment in affordable, reliable and clean energy,” WEC Energy Group Executive Chairman Gale Klappa said in a statement. “This project will help one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies meet their clean energy needs for years to come.” 

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MGE FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR-END RESULTS

MGE Energy has reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 and for the full year of 2022.

MGE Energy's earnings for the full year of 2022 were $111.0 million, or $3.07 per share, compared to $105.8 million, or $2.92 per share, for the same period in the prior year.

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WEC ENERGY GROUP POSTS 2022 RESULTS

WEC Energy has reported net income of $1.4 billion, or $4.45 per share, for 2022. This compares to earnings of $1.3 billion, or $4.11 per share, for 2021 — a year-over-year increase of 8.3 percent.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, WEC Energy Group recorded net income of $252.7 million, or 80 cents per share. This compares to earnings of $224.2 million, or 71 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of 2021. 

Consolidated revenues totaled $9.6 billion for 2022, up $1.3 billion compared to 2021 revenues.