News

Alliant Energy and QTS Data Centers (“QTS”) have announced an agreement in principle to expand renewable energy resources across Wisconsin, lowering the cost for Alliant Energy’s planned renewable facilities. This proposed agreement will be facilitated by the sale of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from approximately 750 megawatts of new renewable energy sources, which will help meet the growing energy needs of Wisconsin and support sustainable growth across the state, all while providing long-term benefits for Alliant Energy customers. 

“As an essential service provider in communities across Wisconsin, we take great pride in meeting customers’ energy needs as cost-effectively as possible,” said Raja Sundararajan, Executive Vice President Strategy and Customer Solutions, Alliant Energy. “Based on projections and identified trends, adding a mix of energy generation to our balanced portfolio, including wind, natural gas and energy storage, will serve increasing customer energy demands and ensure reliability.”

The partnership supports the addition of new renewable energy necessary for economic development across Wisconsin and enables Alliant Energy to lower costs of planned renewable facilities, bringing benefits to customers. 

To meet expected surges in energy demand from data centers, We Energies is asking state regulators to approve a multi-billion-dollar plan to add almost 3 gigawatts of power to the electric grid.

The utility plans to build and take ownership stakes in seven planned solar projects and one battery project. It also wants to do the same with two new natural gas power plants, as well as to make upgrades to existing power facilities.

Those plans need to be approved by the state Public Service Commission. We Energies says the renewable projects will send energy to the grid every day while the natural gas plants will be used primarily during peak demand times.

A $700 million natural gas pipeline enhancement project designed to improve reliability and meet rising demand came online in Wisconsin and northern Illinois at the start of the month.

TC Energy, a Canadian company with a U.S. headquarters in Texas, announced the completion of the project last month. 

The “Wisconsin Reliability Project” replaced about 51 miles of aging pipeline across Wisconsin and northern Illinois with modern infrastructure. The company said the change would improve safety and reliability.

TC Energy also upgraded natural gas compression facilities in Kewaskum and Weyauwega, as well as meter stations in Lena, Merrill, Oshkosh, South Wausau, Stevens Point, and Two Rivers. The company received approvals from federal regulators for the project in 2023 and 2024. Construction began last year, and the project came into service on November 1.

Xcel Energy plans to build the Midwest’s largest battery energy storage site at the Sherco Energy Hub in central Minnesota. The project is among a series of investments that will strengthen the region’s energy security and expand the company’s investment at Sherco and beyond.

“We’re making a significant investment in battery storage because we see it as a critical part of Minnesota’s energy future,” according to Bria Shea, President of Xcel Energy-Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. “Batteries help us store energy when it’s inexpensive to produce and dispatch it when needed, allowing us to continue delivering reliable electricity to customers while keeping bills low.”

The proposal, filed with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, will:

• Double the amount of battery storage adjacent to the Sherco coal plant in Becker, which is scheduled to retire by the end of 2030. The Commission previously approved 300 megawatts of storage. The new proposal increases the capacity to 600 megawatts.

• Add 135.5 megawatts of battery storage at the company’s Blue Lake facility in Shakopee.

• Expand the company’s Sherco Solar facility with an additional 200-megawatt solar array in Clear Lake Township.

If approved, the company intends to start construction on the battery storage projects in 2026, with the batteries serving customers by late 2027. The projects will use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell technology, which has a strong track record for reliability and safety. LFP batteries discharge energy in four-hour increments and are quick to recharge, allowing for regular use.

Alliant Energy has announced U.S. generally accepted accounting principles consolidated unaudited earnings per share  of $1.09 for the third quarter of 2025, compared to $1.15 for the same quarter in 2024. The ongoing earnings per share for the third quarter were $1.12, compared to $1.15 in the same quarter in 2024.

For the first nine months of 2025, Alliant Energy reported EPS of $2.59, a 23.3 percent increase from $2.10 for the same period in 2024. The ongoing EPS for the first nine months of 2025 were $2.62, a 12.4 percent increase from $2.33 in the same period in 2024. Based on results for the first nine months of 2025, ongoing earnings per share guidance was narrowed to $3.17 to $3.23, with full year 2025 earnings trending toward the upper-half of this range.

Alliant Energy’s utilities Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) and Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL) now have 3 gigawatts of contracted demand from data centers with the inclusion of the recently executed electric service agreement (ESA) for 900 megawatts for the QTS Madison site. With the signed agreement, Alliant Energy expects its peak energy demand to grow an industry leading 50 percent by 2030. The energy resources to serve this expected load, while maintaining safe and reliable service to all customers, have increased the Company’s forecasted capital expenditures for 2026 - 2029 to $13.4 billion.

The Company announced 2026 earnings guidance at $3.36 to $3.46 per share, continuing its strong 10-year track record of compound annual earnings growth of 6%. Also, Alliant Energy has increased its 2026 expected annual common stock dividend target to $2.14 per share.

MGE Energy's third-quarter 2025 earnings were $44.5 million, or $1.22 per share, a year-over-year increase from $40.9 million, or $1.13 per share, in the third quarter of 2024. The increase was driven by rate base investment growth, particularly from new renewable energy projects, and non-utility investment gains. The company reported quarterly revenue of $175.7 million.

The Board of Directors of WEC Energy Group has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.8925 cents per share on the company's common stock.

The dividend is payable December 1, 2025, to stockholders of record on November 14, 2025. This marks the 333rd consecutive quarter — dating back to 1942 — that the company will have paid a dividend to its stockholders.

Workers at Xcel Energy’s Prairie Island Minnesota Nuclear Plant have completed a weeks-long refueling and maintenance effort, allowing the facility to continue providing reliable, carbon-free energy for more than one million customers throughout the Upper Midwest and remain an economic engine for the region.

During the refueling, nearly 500 specialists joined the plant’s full-time workforce. The work helped set up the plant for a future extension of its operations, which will play an important part in achieving Minnesota’s clean energy goals.

“Nuclear energy is essential to achieving Minnesota’s vision to power communities with 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040,” according to Ryan Long, President, Xcel Energy – Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. “Our continued investment in nuclear ensures we can provide reliable, always-available clean energy to customers across the Upper Midwest for many years to come.”

Refueling happens every two years for each of the two units at Prairie Island. While Prairie Island’s Unit 2 is out of service, refueling and plant maintenance will improve equipment and plant reliability and help ensure that the plant continues to provide safe, clean and reliable power to the region. During this outage, Unit 1 will continue operations to provide electricity to customers.

Together, Prairie Island and Xcel Energy’s nuclear plants at Monticello provide 23 percent of the total electricity that the company’s customers use in the Upper Midwest.