MADISON, Wis. (October 28, 2021) – Village of Boaz residents in Richland County, Wisconsin will soon see enhanced energy reliability as part of a new community-based microgrid system announced by Alliant Energy. The project, slated to begin construction this fall, will create a small-scale utility grid with “islanding” capability and a dedicated power source to supply energy to its customers in the event of an outage or service disruption on the central power grid.
“At Alliant Energy, we’re constantly looking for ways to improve reliability and deploy cutting edge technical solutions to our customers,” said Mike Bremel, director of Engineering and Customer Solutions at Alliant Energy. “This innovative project is one of several research pilot projects Alliant Energy is implementing as we continue to develop our renewable energy portfolio and energy storage solutions.”
This first-of-its-kind reliability microgrid project for Alliant Energy will create a small-scale power grid with islanding capability, meaning it can be disconnected from the traditional grid to operate independently in the event of a power outage or service disruption. When disconnected from the central grid, microgrids can serve customers in a defined area with power from one or more distributed generation sources such as battery, wind, solar or a combination thereof, in order to improve reliability. Projects such as this are key to advancing Alliant Energy’s Clean Energy Blueprint and accelerating the transition to cleaner, renewable energy.
“This infrastructure upgrade ensures local community members and businesses will have access to safe and reliable power while providing Alliant Energy operational experience and knowledge that may be applied to future development and research,” said Mike Bremel. “From an engineering standpoint, we are excited for this investment in new energy solutions that will shape the transition to more local, resilient and reliable renewable power production for generations to come.”
The project site is located along County Road E in the Dayton Township, Richland County and will deliver improved reliability for approximately 120 customers in the Village of Boaz. Project development and initial site construction are scheduled to begin this fall followed by the installation of microgrid equipment in the spring of 2022.
