This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with returning guest Ben Lipari, assistant vice president of resource development at Alliant Energy.
He provides an overview of the Madison-based utility company’s latest proposed battery storage projects, as well as their role in the company’s overall plan for transitioning to more clean energy resources.
“Reliability is at the forefront of our strategy and how we think about making sure that we’re providing the value and service for our customers,” he said.
Lipari explained utility-scale battery storage projects can help to “enable” renewable use, because “the wind isn’t always blowing and the sun isn’t always shining.” By locating the storage systems in targeted locations, he said Alliant Energy can minimize related cost impacts on energy customers.
“It represents a ‘stepping in’ to this technology, although we’ve been operating some of the lithium-ion [battery] technology for a few years now, they’ve been on a smaller scale and they’ve been on the distribution system versus these larger proposals that will be on the transmission system,” he said.
He shares details on the timelines for these projects, touching on the state’s regulatory approval process, construction plans and eventually bringing them online.
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
